Any wiggle room is gone. Consecutive losses in the Big 12 Conference leave Colorado with no margin for upset losses if it hopes to make the NCAA Tournament.
“We’ve got to win five of our last seven (games),” CU junior guard Marcus Hall said.
That would leave Colorado with 20 regular-season victories and a 10-6 record in conference play – probably enough to impress the NCAA Tournament selection committee.
It won’t be easy.
Up next for the Buffaloes (15-5, 5-4 Big 12) are tough tests in Boulder against Texas Tech Saturday and 20th-ranked Oklahoma on Wednesday. Then it’s back on the road for three of their next four games.
Even a sweep of their last four home games requires the Buffs to win another road game from among Kansas State, Nebraska and Kansas. The last two home dates are Feb. 25 against Missouri and the March 4 regular-season finale against Iowa State.
CU is coming off a 61-58 loss at Texas A&M on Wednesday night, when the Buffs lost a 10-point second-half lead and committed a season-worst 24 turnovers.
With 21.7 seconds remaining, Richard Roby appeared on his way to a breakaway dunk that would have put the Buffs up by four points. But he was called for carrying the ball, which he disputed.
“This one is going to be tough to swallow; we had the game,” Roby said afterward.
The 6-foot-6 shooting guard scored a game-high 22 points but managed just two points in the final 15 minutes. Teammates told Roby not to blame himself for the loss.
“I told him to keep his head up,” Hall said. “We still control our own destiny to get into the NCAA Tournament. There’s too much basketball left to have this hang on our shoulders.”
Tech is 12-11, 4-5 in Big 12 play and 0-4 in Big 12 road games.
Footnotes
The three CU players who did not accompany the team to College Station – Martane Freeman (attitude), Dominique Coleman (foot injury) and Calvin Williams (academics) – are expected to be available Saturday. … CU fall signee Dale Vanwright, a 6-6 forward at Houston Bellaire, ranks eighth among Class 5A (largest classification) scorers (20.2) in the Houston metro area and is seventh in steals (3.8) and fifth in free-throw shooting (.823).
Tom Kensler can be reached at 303-820-5456 or tkensler@denverpost.com.
