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Bet on Red: Colorado sent home by Arizona once again

Ryan Koenigsberg Avatar
Ryan Koenigsberg
March 11, 2016
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LAS VEGAS – It looked as if the Colorado Buffaloes were set to be blown right out of Las Vegas and the MGM Grand Garden Arena as the Arizona Wildcats jumped out to a 22-point lead in the first half. Down to their last few chips, the Buffaloes went all-in, responding with a vengeance and bringing the game all the way down to the river. Unfortunately for the Buffaloes, they couldn’t get one last card to turn in their favor, losing the game by a count of 82-78.

“Obviously, we’re extremely disappointed,” head coach Tad Boyle said after the game. “We came here to win this tournament and felt like we were in a good place mentally and physically to do that, and we came up short tonight.

“The one thing about our team is there is no give-up,” he added. “They’ve got tremendous fight, tremendous resolve, and I’m really proud of the comeback that we staged to get ourselves back in the game.”

For a program as proud as the Buffaloes have become under Tad Boyle, you wouldn’t expect to ever use the term “moral victory” when talking about a loss. This one had that feel to it, though. Colorado scored a whopping 58 points in the second half, 58. It was a gritty, gutty comeback that wasn’t fueled by a quick, big run. It was fueled by an all-around out-performance of the Wildcats. It was a performance that  could give the Buffs confidence heading into the real post-season.

“Honestly, for me, it was just that we were getting stops,” senior Josh Scott said of the confidence he took from the game. “We were rebounding the ball even if we weren’t finishing it, and that’s all stuff we talk about it all the time, it travels. So it’s something we can take into whoever we’re playing next.

George King led the way for the Buffaloes with a 22-point effort that will surely land him on the all-tournament team. On the other side, it was Allonzo Trier who consistently hit the Buffs with body blows, pouring in 23.

It was a tale of two halves, but in the end, the difference came at the free-throw line, at least in Tad Boyle’s mind it did.

“We could not get to the free-throw line, and that was the difference in the game,” he told. “We could not get there, and we were trying to get there. . . I don’t know what the breakdown was on foul shots. I know we shot 21-for-25, which is a really good percentage. But we got there 25 times. They got there probably – my guess is 34 times.”

Arizona actually got to the line 44 times but Boyle doesn’t count when the Buffs were intentionally fouling late.

The bad news for the Buffs —whether it was the lack of getting fouls, the inability to finish when they didn’t get those calls or the fact that they dug themselves into too deep of a hole early—the comeback fell short and they were sent home by Arizona for the third time in four years. The good news—they are not done playing basketball. The Buffaloes will sitting comfortably at the Boyle residence on Sunday afternoon as they wait to find out who and where they will be playing in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

HIGHLIGHTS

PLAYER OF THE GAME

George King

For the second-consecutive game, King was the life for the Buffaloes. After a shaky first half, the sophomore came out with aggression in the second period. Attacking the basket and giving the Buffs the lift they desperately needed. In both games in Vegas, King displayed his ability to score from anywhere on the court.

QUOTE OF THE GAME

BY THE NUMBERS

0 – The amount of time Colorado led the game for.

51 – Colorado out-rebounded the Wildcats 51-35, it was the first time Arizona had 50 rebounds put on them in a game since 2008.

69 – There were 69 free throws shot in the game between the two teams.

WHAT’S NEXT

Colorado awaits the selection committee’s decision on their seeding and location in the NCAA Tournament.

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