NORMAN, OKLA. — Colorado died by the “three” today.
The Buffaloes hit just one of their 10 3-point attempts before the final minute. Then, trailing in the final 60 seconds, the Buffs didn’t even try from long distance as they fell 67-60 to Oklahoma inside Lloyd Noble Center.
But the missed shot weren’t the things that upset coach Tad Boyle, who said the Buffs blew a road game they had a chance to win.
“Oklahoma deserved to win because they out-played us, they out-toughed and they out-scraped us,” CU’s first-year coach said. “It’s extremely frustrating and disappointing day for our basketball team and our basketball program. This is a game we could have won, we should have won and we didn’t win. That’s hard to swallow when you are a coach.”
Cade Davis had 15 points and four other OU players scored in double figures as the Sooners defeated Colorado for the 24th straight time in Norman.
Colorado (14-6 overall, 3-2 in the Big 12) had been shooting 37.5 percent from the field, but finished 1-for-10 from behind the arc and missed its first eight attempts.
That lone make came when Levi Knutson brought the Buffs within two points with just more than four minutes remaining.
The Sooners went on a 13-4 run to take a 32-26 halftime lead, and they scored the first five points of the second half to push their lead to 11. But Colorado rallied to tie it at 52 with 3:25 remaining when guard Alec Hines scored two of his 15 points. He also added nine rebounds.
Oklahoma regained command by making 13-of-16 free throws down the stretch as the Buffs failed to make key shots.
“Sometimes you have good days, sometimes you don’t,” guard Alec Burks said. “That’s the game of basketball.”
Senior guard Cory Higgins scored 15 points and forward Andre Roberson added 10 off the bench for the Buffs.
Colorado, which hosts No. 2 Kansas at 6 p.m. Tuesday, had three turnovers and three missed shots in the vital two minutes after tying the score late in the game.
Both teams traded runs in the first half but neither team led by more than six points. Colorado’s largest lead was four points.
Boyle said his Buffs never did enough to overcome poor shooting.
“If we are not going to make shots, we better defend and rebound well enough to win the game,” Boyle said. “We didn’t do it Tuesday night against Nebraska and we didn’t do it Saturday afternoon against Oklahoma. There are some teams you’d rather have a second crack at and you don’t get it. We’ll have to live with this one for the rest of the year.”
Higgins recorded 37 minutes to become Colorado’s all-time leader with 3,877 minutes. He passed Jay Humphries, who finished his career in 1984 with 3,864 minutes.
But Higgins, like his coach, wasn’t pleased with the Buffs’ performance.
“I thought everybody felt and knew the importance of this game,” he said. “I guess we didn’t.”
