Fast break
Why the Buffs lost: CU was crushed on the boards by an average rebounding team, with West Virginia outrebounding CU 38-22 with a 17-8 edge on second-chance points.
Three stars
1. WVU’s Treyson Eaglestaff. Averaged 8.8 points through the first four Big 12 games, but went 9-for-14 with 22 points against the Buffs.
2. WVU’s Honor Huff. Had a quiet game by his standards, but went 4-for-4 on free throws and finished with 14 points.
3. CU’s Barrington Hargress. The Buffs’ point guard went 3-for-5 on 3-pointers and 4-for-4 at the free throw line, recording a team-high 15 points.
Up next: CU returns home for a matchup with Kansas on Tuesday night (9 p.m., ESPN).
MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — The deficit wasn’t as large this time. And so the rally wasn’t quite as dramatic.
Still, it was another comeback that fell short for the Colorado Buffaloes.
The CU men’s basketball team trailed by 12 points in the first half but once again rallied after halftime. Colorado even took a brief second-half lead, yet it wasn’t enough to stop the home dominance of West Virginia, which handed the Buffs a 72-61 defeat at Hope Coliseum on Saturday.
CU suffered its third consecutive loss, while West Virginia remained unbeaten at home this season at 12-0. The Mountaineers extended their home winning streak to 15 games overall.
“Each game itap different, but the last two games we have to be more physical and rebound the ball better as a collective,” CU forward Sebastian Rancik said. “I’d start there. They just wanted to rebound a bit more than us.”
Considering the plentiful shortcomings on display for CU, it was somewhat remarkable the Buffs made it a close game. None of those shortcomings loomed larger than West Virginia’s dominance on the glass.
The Mountaineers entered the game ranked 11th in the Big 12 in average rebounding margin at plus-3.3, but outrebounded the Buffs 38-22 while posting a 17-8 edge on second-chance points. Colorado’s starting frontcourt of Rancik, Bangot Dak and Elijah Malone shot a combined 9-for-23 while grabbing just three rebounds. That trio also shared all six of the Buffs’ turnovers.
Malone managed to foul out after playing just 8 minutes, 33 seconds, committing his fourth foul just 12 seconds into the second half before getting his fifth and final foul just 1:41 later. Colorado also finished with a season-low field goal percentage of .393, while West Virginia’s mark of .520 was the highest surrendered by CU so far in Big 12 play.
“I thought we had enough good shots to win that game, but they finished better than we did,” CU head coach Tad Boyle said. “They shoot 52%, we shoot 39%. And they beat us by plus-16 on the glass. How the hell were we in this game? Thatap what I ask myself. It was because of our fight and our determination, and our guys don’t give up. But we have to finish better offensively. We’ve got to guard better. We hang our hat on defense and rebounding. The problem is there’s no hook there. There’s no hook to hang it on.”
The Buffs trailed 36-29 at halftime but took its first and only lead at 43-42 on a fast-break layup from Felix Kossaras with about 13 1/2 minutes remaining. CU was still within a point after a Barrington Hargress 3-pointer about two minutes later, but West Virginia answered with eight consecutive points and didn’t trail again the rest of the way.
Hargress led CU with 15 points, finishing 3-for-5 on 3-pointers. The rest of the Buffs, however, shot just 4-for-21 from the arc.
“We don’t have very good defenders,” Boyle said. “Cincinnati has been struggling to score on everybody … and they shoot 55% on us in the first half (Wednesday). We didn’t string together enough stops. Thatap the whole key with West Virginia. You’ve got to string together stops. The best way to score on them is in transition. You can’t score on them in transition if you’re taking the ball out of the net.
“They’ve got good players and they played well. They played better than we did tonight and they deserved to win.”
West Virginia 72, Colorado 61
COLORADO (12-6, 2-3 Big 12)
Dak 5-13 0-0 11, Rancik 3-8 3-4 10, Malone 1-2 0-0 2, Hargress 4-10 4-4 15, Johnson 3-7 3-4 9, Michaeli 3-9 0-0 8, Kossaras 3-4 0-2 6, Sanders 0-1 0-0 0, Holland 0-2 0-0 0, Ifaola 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-56 10-14 61.
WEST VIRGINIA (12-6, 3-2)
Lorient 4-8 3-4 12, Obioha 2-3 6-10 10, Eaglestaff 9-14 1-2 22, Floyd 2-5 0-0 4, Huff 4-9 4-4 14, Jenkins 3-6 0-0 6, Thomas 1-3 0-0 2, Moore 1-2 0-2 2. Totals 26-50 14-22 72.
Halftime: West Virginia 36-29. 3-point field goals: Colorado 7-26 (Hargress 3-5, Michaeli 2-6, Rancik 1-4, Dak 1-5, Holland 0-1, Kossaras 0-1, Sanders 0-1, Johnson 0-3); West Virginia 6-22 (Eaglestaff 3-8, Huff 2-7, Lorient 1-3, Floyd 0-1, Jenkins 0-1, Thomas 0-2). Fouled out: Malone. Rebounds: Colorado 22 (Michaeli 7); West Virginia 38 (Lorient, Obioha 9). Assists: Colorado 11 (Hargress 5); West Virginia 10 (Eaglestaff, Jenkins 3). Turnovers: Colorado 6 (Rancik 3); West Virginia 9 (Lorient, Huff 2). Total fouls: Colorado 18, West Virginia 16. A: 12,607.
