The Colorado men’s basketball team hasn’t played an abundance of close games this season. Most of the finishes for the ones that were close haven’t gone the Buffaloes’ way.
Certainly that hasn’t always been the case at home, as the Buffs held off Washington for a four-point win on Dec. 29. And the Buffs had to rally from a 16-point deficit (13 at halftime) before pulling out a relatively comfortable 10-point home win against USC on Jan. 13.
However, the past three road losses for CU have been decided by three points (Arizona State), four points (California) and nine points (Washington State, in a game where the margin was just four when CU missed a chance to regain possession with 32 seconds left). Itap a trait, and a trend, head coach Tad Boyle said he expects to address this week as the Buffs prepare for what could be another tight battle on Saturday at Utah (3 p.m., Pac-12 Network).
Boyle cited that critical sequence during Saturday’s loss at Washington State as an example of his club’s recent late-game shortcomings. Instead of immediately taking a foul on the ensuing inbounds play that would have given WSU an one-and-one free throw opportunity, the Buffs allowed Isaac Jones enough free space to get a bucket and a foul, essentially clinching the win for the Cougars.
“One thing we haven’t practiced enough of is fouling at the end,” Boyle said. “Those are the little things I have to coach better. We have to execute better. And we all have to get better, thatap the bottom line.
“We’re halfway through Pac-12 play. We’re not where we want to be. We’re probably middle of the pack, and the only way we can separate ourselves is to start stacking some wins. (WSU) was an opportunity to put ourselves in the upper echelon in the league, and we didn’t do that.”
Weekly honors
Jordan Pope’s dramatic buzzer-beater against Arizona helped the Oregon State guard earn the latest Pac-12 Player of the Week honor, while the performance of WSU’s Myles Rice against Colorado played a part in him landing the league’s Freshman of the Week award.
The last three of Pope’s career-high 31 points came at the buzzer on Thursday against the ninth-ranked Wildcats, giving OSU its first win against a top-10 team since a 2015 win against Arizona (No. 7). Pope went 5-for-8 on 3-pointers with five assists. Two days later, Pope posted 19 points, six assists and four rebounds as the Beavers completed the home sweep against Arizona State. In the two wins, Pope went 17-for-28 from the floor (.607).
Rice began his week with 10 points, seven rebounds and six assists in a win against Utah before scoring 12 of his 17 points against the Buffs in the second half. Rice went 7-for-13 and scored four straight points after the Buffs had cut WSU’s lead to just three points with 1 minute, 33 seconds remaining.
Notable
Tipoff for the Feb. 10 home date against Arizona is set for 8 p.m. It will air on either ESPN or ESPN2, to be determined this week. … Monday’s NET rankings in the Pac-12: Arizona (4), Colorado (29), Utah (37), Washington State (40), Oregon (54), Washington (75), USC (100), Stanford (109), Arizona State (120), California (133), UCLA (135), Oregon State (160). … After losing at the buzzer at Oregon State, Arizona dropped two spots to No. 11 in this week’s Associated Press Top 25. For only the second time this season — but the second time in the past three weeks — CU did not receive a vote.
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