Buffs split weekend series against Washington schools

After being down the entire game, the Buffs clawed their way back in the final seconds against Washington on Thursday night, reducing the Huskies lead to one point. However, after a critical turnover on their last possession of the game, the Buffs came up short and left their fans disappointed, losing by a score of 75-72. 

“This building was ready to explode tonight,” said head coach Tad Boyle in the postgame press conference. “We couldn’t get over the hump to give them a win. And for that, I apologize.”

The Buffs were coming off two painful losses against the University of Southern California and UCLA. They competed hard in both matchups on the road, however, frustration penetrated the locker room going into Thursday night’s game. 

Starting their conference season with a 3-5 record and a 12-9 record overall, the Buffs have already begun to feel the pressure of the high expectations imposed by the fan base. 

The Huskies beat the Buffs earlier this season 73-63 in Seattle, but this time the Buffs leaned on their electric student section. 

The Buffs had a slow start to the first half after point guard KJ Simpson committed two early fouls and had to sit the bench for the majority of the half. With Simpson sidelined, head coach Tad Boyle had to depend on other players to help get defensive stops by forcing turnovers while also creating offensive opportunities. 

“Julian (Hammond III) was great. You just gotta ride the guys you know, when you’re coaching a team like this, where you don’t know what you’re gonna get from a particular player on a given night,” Boyle said after the game. “It’s like you’re just throwing them out there saying, ‘Okay, who’s got it tonight?’” 

Washington did a good job defensively, forcing CU to take tough shots inside the paint and defending the three point line intensely as the Buffs went 2-12 on perimeter shots. The Buffs struggled to get their momentum back as they took contested shots and struggled to get rebounds.

Hammond was subbed in at point guard for Simpson early in the game and contributed 18 points. Tristan da Silva was able to pull down seven rebounds and add on 17 points for the Buffs. With Hammond and da Silva setting the pace, the Husky lead was cut down 33-26 going into half time. 

“It started from the get go. I feel like we didn’t come out in the first half like we were supposed to,” da Silva said. “That kind of sluggishness I feel like kind of continued throughout the whole game.”

With Simpson back in the game for the second half, Boyle had a deeper bench to work with, but the Buffs still struggled to take the lead for the first eight minutes of the half. As the Buffs inched closer to tying the game by getting defensive stops, the Huskies were able to get back on track and knock down shots in order to maintain a seven point lead. 

At the four minute mark of the second half, many in the stands thought the game was over. However, Simpson was able to steal the ball, leading to a da Silva dunk. Fans got on their feet forcing Washington to call a timeout with a five point lead. 

Coming out of the time out, CU was able to force a turnover on an out of bounds play, leading to a Hammond three pointer. CU fans were electric as if the Events Center was struck by lightning, and victory was only three points away. 

For the last two minutes, as both teams came up with empty possessions, the Buffs could feel their comeback slip from their fingertips. It wasn’t until KJ Simpon came up with a spectacular play as he drove to the basket for a lay up. Which brought the Buffs within one point of taking the lead with 33 seconds left.

In the final seconds of the game, the Buffs had the ball with time for one last play. With Washington playing lockdown defense, they forced a CU turnover with three seconds left. The crowd fell quiet as Washington was fouled and made two free throws, bringing the final score to 75-72. 

“It stinks, there’s so many more possessions that you could have picked out where we didn’t do our job, where we let them off the hook defensively,” Hammond said. “We’ve got to come to practice tomorrow ready to practice hard and just be ready to go.”

The Buffs redeemed themselves Sunday night against the Washington State Cougars, winning 58-56 behind a heroic effort from KJ Simpson. The sophomore guard lit up The Keg with a massive poster dunk in the second half before sinking the Cougars with an ice cold pull-up three to win the game.

After being down 26-25 at halftime, the Buffs were able to take control in the second half behind 27 points from da Silva and 16 from Simpson. After Sunday’s victory ended their three game losing streak, the Buffaloes will hopefully regain their confidence and now sit at 4-6 in Pac-12 play. 

“It was huge. The past three losses I feel like could have gone either way. We could have come away with a W too but we kind of let them slip away,” Boyle said after Sunday’s win. “Today, kind of with the work and energy that we put in these past couple of days in practice, and then today on the court, I feel like we earned it and it was a great play at the end, Mr. KJ Simpson to kind of save the day.”

As the team’s young roster gains more experience with each game, Boyle will have his hands full these next few weeks. Hopefully he doesn’t Boyle over as the Buffs hit the road against the Oregon Ducks and the Oregon State Beavers this upcoming weekend.