BOULDER – Devastating. Heart-breaking. Those were the words Colorado head coach Tad Boyle used to describe the effects of Thursday night’s game against 1-10 Washington State. . . if they had lost. The good news for Boyle and his program — they won. They played terribly but somehow, some way, the Buffaloes dug deep and beat Washington State, 88-81 in double-OT.
It wasn’t easy for Colorado, it certainly was not easy. In fact, the Buffaloes had all but lost the game when Que Johnson went to the free throw line with eight seconds remaining in the first overtime, two makes and the Buffs were down four, effectively dead in the water. First one, cash. Second one, back rim.
George King boarded the ball and decided he wasn’t going to give it up. The Buffs wing took it to the top of the key, dribbled behind his back, crossed over and bolted towards the right corner, followed closely by Washington State star Josh Hawkinson. With less than one second on the clock, King faded and uncorked a shot right over the fingertips of the 6-foot-10 Hawkinson. Nothing but the bottom.
“Halfway there, I thought, ‘this thing might have a chance,’” King said of his potential season-saver. “[Hawkinson] was really close [to blocking the ball.] That was the reason why I had to fade a little bit, to give the shot a chance to get off. That was my biggest point, get it to the rim and give the team a chance for that overtime.”
It was the first buzzer-beater King had hit since he was in seventh grade, “From the left wing, fading,” he remembered vividly. There was no time for celebration, though, the Buffaloes still had a game to go win.
That being said, King’s game-tier may as well have been a game-winner, Colorado took to the court in the second overtime riding a momentum tidal wave. There wasn’t a soul in the Coors Events Center that didn’t know they were about to go win the game. 10-3 was the score in the extra-extra period, the Buffaloes victorious, snatching a “W” from the jaws of a devastating, heart-breaking “L.”
“This says something about the grit and toughness of our team,” Boyle noted. “Tonight we’re missing two players, but we battle and win a game that we’re shorthanded in. When you lose your best player in a game like this, it throws a wrinkle into things and I thought our guys handled it really well.”
A win is a win is a win is a win. It doesn’t matter what it looked like on the floor when you look at the Pac-12 standings it says 7-5 instead of 6-6 and that’s all that matters for Colorado.
HIGHLIGHTS
Buffs up 11-2 early. @X2Bigg with the steal and dunk! #GoBuffs #RollTad https://t.co/0rz2FsdDqp
— Colorado Buffaloes (@CUBuffs) February 12, 2016
Here's another look at the Gordon slam from earlier in the game! #GoBuffs #RollTad https://t.co/aA22fjvdvE
— Colorado Men's Basketball (@CUBuffsMBB) February 12, 2016
Here's the George King 3 to send this into double OT. More free hoops. #GoBuffs #RollTad https://t.co/0Qzz0osXUb
— Colorado Men's Basketball (@CUBuffsMBB) February 12, 2016
King George! @MJohnsonKOA's call of King's buzzer beater that sent the game into 2OT, where CU won 88-81. #GoBuffshttps://t.co/ArbJJUnf4B
— Colorado Buffaloes (@CUBuffs) February 12, 2016
PLAYER OF THE GAME
Wesley Gordon
Look, We already gave GK his shine, Wesley deserves some of his own.
On a night when Kareem Abdul-Jabar Award finalist Josh Scott was on the mend with an ankle injury, Gordon needed to step up and boy did he.
15 points on 6-of-8, 12 rebounds, four blocks and 45 minutes on the floor. Forty-five minutes. Forty-five.
Gordon was a force on the floor for Colorado, playing aggressive, efficient basketball on the offensive side and holding things down in the paint on the defensive end. King was the hero but Gordon was the rock.
QUOTE OF THE GAME
King on not giving the ball up when he got the rebound before his buzzer-beater:
“If you are not a point guard and you get the rebound, you have to outlet it to the point guard. I wasn’t going to outlet the ball. Luckily it went it or I would be getting yelled at right now.”
Boyle on if that’s true:
“Yeah. . . That’s probably true.”
BY THE NUMBERS
13 – Colorado is 13-0 when leading at halftime this season.
17 – Colorado is 17-1 when scoring 70 or more points this season.
37 – Josh Scott had started 37 straight games before missing Thursday night.
53 – Wesley Gordon now has 53 blocks on the season, putting him ninth all-time on the single season list.
WHAT’S NEXT
The Buffaloes welcome the Washington Huskies to the Coors Events Center on Saturday afternoon, a quick turnaround for the Buffs are such a hard-fought game.
