Ducks take their first ever win in Boulder
The Colorado Buffaloes hit a high point in their season 10 days ago with a big road win over Oregon, marking the Buff’s first win in Eugene since 2013. On Thursday, the Oregon Ducks returned the favor, beating the Buffs 66-51, in the visitors’ first-ever win in front of the Flatirons.
While Dana Altman finally beat the Buffs in Boulder, he didn’t beat Tad Boyle. The head coach was sidelined due to COVID-19.
“We turned the ball over and kind of lost hope,” senior Evan Battey said of missing Boyle. “Coach (Boyle) instills confidence in me and my teammates and there was that. We turned the ball over and kind of lost hope. Coach instills confidence in me and my teammates and there was that sense of presence missing, but that doesn’t have anything to do with the game. It’s just more so on us throwing away the ball. He can’t save us from turning the ball over 20 times.”
The CU Buffs have lost three straight games, all with more than 15 turnovers per contest, including 20 against the Ducks. The Buffs admitted they need to reframe conversations about their turnover issues.
After a solid first half going into the intermission down one, Colorado could only muster 16 points in the second half, their fewest in a final frame since playing Wyoming in 2019. They were outscored 30-16 in the final 20 minutes of the contest.
But that’s not how the Buff started. Keeshawn Barthelemy notched 16 points and CU only had three turnovers before halftime. It was quite the improvement from last week’s display against Washington State.
CU quickly tied up the affair after the half with a pair of free throws and the momentum on the court was promising, but a nasty second half pushed the Buffs down past the point of no return.
CU had 20 turnovers, most of which were given up in the (13) second half. The game total was one short of the season high, recorded against UCLA, marking their fifth straight game with at least 16 turnovers. The Buffs now average 17.8 turnovers over their last six games.
“Turnovers but the scoring in transition,” Battey said. “We can’t guard live ball turnovers, obviously. We were hesitant and obviously, we can’t play against a zone, we’ve seen zone three straight games and have to get better against it.”
The CU giveaways led to easy points at the rim for the Ducks, committing 12 turnovers in just 12 minutes in the second half.
“My energy level was good and it should have been the same in the second half,” Barthelemey said.
Jacob Young led Oregon with 21 points on 8-of-17 shooting. The Ducks dominated both offensively and defensively in the second half, ending any hope for the Buffs.
Colorado is back in action Saturday, Feb. 5 at 4 p.m., taking on Oregon State who just came off of a loss to Utah earlier Thursday. Boyle is said to return this weekend.
