Mistakes cost men’s basketball their season opener
The CU men’s basketball team struggled to find an offensive rhythm in its first game of the season against New Mexico Friday night.
The Buffs lost to the Lobos 54-47 after trailing by more than 10 points for most of the game. Head coach Jeff Bzdelik said his team was out of sync on the offensive side of the ball, leaving the Lobos with opportunities to score.
“I think we had more to do with losing this game than New Mexico did in beating us,” Bzdelik said. “We looked like a deer in headlights.”
Bzdelik said his players had trouble recognizing the changes in the New Mexico defense after only playing man-to-man a couple of times in the preseason. He also said the Buffs’ several unforced turnovers hurt the team.
“If we cut down on turnovers and improve the offense, this would be a different game,” Bzdelik said.
Senior guard Marcus Hall led the Buffs with 11 points and six rebounds after not scoring at all in the first half. He said the team has to work on preventing the numerous mistakes they made against the Lobos.
“I don’t think they went too hard tonight,” Hall said. “Most of it was just mistakes on our part.”
Senior guard Richard Roby, who has led CU in scoring for the last three seasons, scored his only point of the game when he made a free throw with about a minute left in the second half.
“It was just one of those days where you can’t get into a flow,” Roby said. “But I’m not going to get down on myself as far as the rest of the season goes.”
CU shot only 34.1 percent against the Lobos. Bzdelik said the team could be more effective with its possessions if they work on starting each one in a more aggressive way.
“I want them pushing the ball up the court, not walking the ball up the court,” Bzdelik said.
Freshmen guards Cory Higgins and Levi Knutson scored a combined 19 points for the Buffs in their first game at the college level. But the team was still unable to create any kind of scoring rhythm.
After trailing the Lobos 30-19 at halftime, the Buffs pulled to within five points in the last two minutes of the game, bringing the fans at Coors Events Center to their feet.
“We had a great crowd tonight,” Bzdelik said. “They were waiting for us to do something and unfortunately we didn’t give them enough.”
The Buffs kept Friday’s game much closer than last year’s match in Albuquerque, when the Lobos won 106-65.
“We had a chance to win, and we didn’t play anywhere near where we are capable of playing tonight,” Roby said. “Most of it was silly mistakes on our part, but those are things we can fix.”
The Buffs will play their next three games on the road before returning home to play Colorado Christian on Nov. 20.
Contact Campus Press Staff Writer Amanda Walck at amanda.walck@thecampuspress.com
