BOULDER — Burn the tape? Are you kidding? Oregon 66, CU 51 isn’t the kind of tape you burn.
Itap the kind of tape you place in the path of the nearest oncoming train.
Oregon 66, CU 51 is the kind of tape you tie to a cinder block and drop from a 40-story window. Oregon 66, CU 51 is the kind of tape you strap to the outside of one of Elon Musk’s magic starships and fire at Mars.
“Honestly, I felt at the end we kind of quit a little bit,” Buffs sophomore guard Keeshawn Barthelemy, who netted 16 points, all in the first half, said of CU’s first-ever home loss to Oregon late Thursday. “We weren’t playing as hard as we should have been.”
When the Ducks switched to a matchup zone in the second half, the Baby Buffs (13-9, 5-7 Pac-12) went into a fetal position and never uncurled. Over the final, futile 20 minutes at the Events Center, CU posted twice far more turnovers (16) than buckets (six). After halftime, the Buffs managed 16 points. At home. They had 16 attempts at the free-throw line, and whiffed on eight of them.
At one point, late in the second half, they went six minutes and 56 seconds without scoring. A good chunk of CU fans left the building after that. The rest started having football flashbacks.
“I don’t know if I would agree with (Barthelemy) that the guys kind of quit,” said Buffs assistant Mike Rohn, who served as acting head coach with Tad Boyle in COVID-19 isolation.
“I think that when they’re not playing well and they’re turning it over, they kind of get in a little bit of a mindset where (itap), ‘Oh, here we go again.’ And we can’t get out of it.”
The Baby Buffs have turned into the Pac-12 basketball version of the Broncos, haven’t they? Fabulous front-runners. Great with a second-half lead. Iffy when playing from behind, especially late. Nowhere near good enough to overcome giving the ball away. And especially painful to watch when it comes to the most important, most critical position on the team.
In the NFL, thatap quarterback. In college hoops, itap point guard. When CU needed to circle the wagons Thursday, the Buffs’ young backcourt started circling the drain instead.
With six minutes left and CU down 58-47, Oregon senior guard Will Richardson shoulder-barged Buffs freshman point man KJ Simpson, who was waiting for a short pass, snatching the rock for himself. Giveaway No. 18.
Next CU possession? Another Simpson turnover, this one forced by Eric Williams Jr. The Ducks forward ran Giveaway No. 19 back the other way for a layup and a 60-47 Oregon lead.
“We turned the ball over and kind of lost hope,” senior forward Evan Battey (10 points, five turnovers) sighed after the game. “Coach (Boyle) instills confidence in me and my teammates and there was that sense of (his) presence missing.
“But that doesn’t have anything to do with the game. Itap just moreso on us throwing away the ball. (Boyle) can’t save us from turning the ball over 20 times.”
Only the Buffs can save themselves from … well, themselves.
Simpson turned it over six times against Oregon, the most he’s put up in a single game since Dec. 18 (five). Barthelemy, Nique Clifford, Julian Hammond III and Luke O’Brien posted a combined four giveaways against three assists.
CU is averaging 17.8 turnovers over its last six contests. Shocker: Of those six, the Buffs have won only one.
“Obviously, we can’t play against (a) zone,” Battey mused. “We’ve seen (a) zone for three straight games and have to get better against it.”
As silver linings go, Rohn said he expected Boyle to be back on the bench for Oregon State’s visit on Saturday afternoon.
So at least the reported 7,611 in attendance on Thursday can lay claim to watching a little history: The Buffs played their first game at the Events Center without Boyle calling the shots since March 6, 2010.
Then again, Tad didn’t miss much.
“His TV is probably not working anymore (after) the second half,” Rohn cracked with a wry, fleeting smile.
“I haven’t seen what his text messages were (to us) in the second half because, obviously, I didn’t have my phone with me.”
Burn the tape? Heck, no.
Bury that bad boy. Forever.
