PALO ALTO, Calif. — The Buffaloes aren’t in Kansas anymore.
It just feels like it.
Colorado, which began the week undefeated in the Pac-12 and on top of the men’s basketball standings, flew home with the look of a mediocre, middle-of-the-pack team after an 84-64 drubbing from Stanford on Saturday at Maples Pavilion.
The Buffs (11-6, 3-2 Pac-12) shot only 33.3 percent from the field in the second half and allowed the Cardinal (15-3, 5-1) to outscore them 45-31.
On Thursday, CU led California by seven points at halftime but made only 7-of-27 shots after the break while getting outscored 35-21 by the Bears in a 57-50 loss in Berkeley.
Saturday, coach Tad Boyle’s Buffs let an announced crowd of 5,850 fans leave happy as they scurried out quickly to catch the end of the San Francisco 49ers’ dramatic playoff victory.
“We’re coming from the Big 12. And quite frankly the Big 12, up to this point, I would say has tougher road environments than the Pac-12 right now,” Boyle said before the Buffs were swept by the Bay Area’s first-place teams. “I’m being honest. So this shouldn’t be anything we’re not used to and can’t handle.”
CU began the second half against Stanford with a 9-3 spurt to tie the score 42-42 with 17 minutes remaining.
And then the wheels came off.
Stanford went on a momentum-swinging 19-3 run that was capped with a 3-pointer by Anthony Brown. That made the score 61-45.
Things really turned ugly as the Cardinal completed a 13-0 run to take its largest lead (74-47) with 7:47 remaining.
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“We didn’t get stops, we didn’t execute offensively, we let the crowd and the refs get to us,” CU senior guard Carlon Brown said after finishing with 13 points on 4-for-11 shooting. “Some of the things we can’t have happen, happened.”
A frustrated Boyle received a technical foul after the Bay Area split had already slipped out of the Buffs’ grasp.
“Momentum is a big part of college basketball, and we tried to call a couple of timeouts to stem the tide. But they made big shots when they had to,” Boyle said. “I like our team, I like our guys. We just weren’t good enough. It was just an old-fashioned butt whipping.”
Stanford shot 52.9 from the field and outrebounded CU 35-27. Chasson Randle (18 points) and Aaron Bright (14) burned the Buffs from the outside, while Josh Owens (10 points, seven rebounds) drew most of the attention in the paint.
The Cardinal was 20-for-31 at the stripe. CU attempted only 13 free throws, making 10.
“We beat a good team tonight,” Stanford coach Johnny Dawkins said. “Our kids played terrific. That’s as well as we’ve played all year on both ends of the floor.”
CU trailed 39-33 at halftime despite getting a combined 23 points from André Roberson and Austin Dufault on 10-for-14 shooting.
“We came into the game with the right mind-set. We just didn’t play it out the right way,” Dufault said after finishing with 14 points, three assists and two turnovers. “We didn’t defend and rebound the way we needed to against a tough team in their building.”
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COLORADO (11-6)
Roberson 7-12 0-0 15, Dufault 6-12 0-0 14, Tomlinson 1-2 0-0 3, Dinwiddie 3-10 3-3 11, Brown 4-11 5-5 13, Booker 1-5 0-0 2, Harris-Tunks 0-0 1-2 1, Chen 1-2 1-1 3, Adams 1-3 0-0 2, Cain 0-0 0-2 0.Totals 24-57 10-13 64.
STANFORD (15-3)
Owens 4-6 2-4 10, Zimmermann 3-5 2-4 8, Bright 3-6 6-6 14, Ant. Brown 2-5 2-2 8, Randle 6-11 2-4 18, Nastic 1-1 1-2 3, Lemons 0-1 0-0 0, And. Brown 0-0 1-2 1, Ryan 0-0 1-2 1, Morgan 0-1 0-0 0, Mann 1-2 0-2 2, Huestis 5-9 1-1 13, Powell 2-2 2-2 6, Gage 0-2 0-0 0.Totals 27-51 20-31 84.
Halftime —Stanford 39-33. 3-point goals —Colorado 6-17 (Dinwiddie 2-3, Dufault 2-4, Tomlinson 1-2, Roberson 1-3, Brown 0-2, Booker 0-3). Stanford 10-23 (Randle 4-8, Huestis 2-3, Bright 2-5, Ant. Brown 2-5, Lemons 0-1, Gage 0-1). Fouled out —None. Rebounds —Colorado 27 (Dinwiddie 6), Stanford 35 (Owens 7). Assists —Colorado 8 (Dinwiddie 2, Tomlinson 2). Stanford 16 (Mann 4). Total fouls — Colorado 21, Stanford 16. Technical — Colorado bench. A — 5,850.
