The Colorado Buffaloes lost 73-56 to the defending NCAA champion Kansas Jayhawks Saturday afternoon.
Colorado is now 8-8 overall and 0-2 in the conference, while Kansas improved to 13-4 and 2-0 in Big 12 play.
Sophomore Cory Higgins led the Buffs with 20 points. He continued his free throw shooting, making all 12 of his attempts. He has now made 63 out of his last 64 attempts from the charity stripe.
Austin Dufault and Dwight Thorne each chipped in with ten points. Trey Eckloff played big minutes as well, and he had six rebounds.
However, CU lost the game because of problems that have hurt them all season—lack of rebounding and turnovers. They finished with 18 turnovers and were out-rebounded by ten. The Jayhawks also had nine offensive rebounds.
“In order to have a chance for success, you have to value the possession of the basketball and yield nothing easy for your opponent,” coach Jeff Bzdelik said. “Those are the two areas where our team hasn’t consistently done these things.”
Turnovers or second-chance opportunities led to 37 of the Jayhawks’ 73 points.
“We haven’t done a good job of executing,” point guard Nate Tomlinson said. “We more lost this game instead of them winning it.”
Tomlinson had by far his worst game of the year. He went scoreless and had seven turnovers. He called his game “terrible.”
Sherron Collins led Kansas with 18 points, hitting four threes. Cole Aldrich dominated the paint with his double-double of 15 points and ten rebounds.
The Buffs held a five-point lead with about seven minutes left in the first half, but Kansas responded with a 13-1 run that gave them a seven-point lead, 34-27, at the half.
However, CU cut the lead to two at 34-32 quickly into the second half, but that was the last time they ever threatened. Kansas went on an 18-4 run to put the score to 52-36 and took home the game.
“Their runs came off of our turnovers,” Higgins said. “We just have to take care of the ball and not allow offensive rebounds.”
Once again, the near full crowd was packed with Kansas fans, making it seem as though it was a road game for the Buffs. There is a reason that Kansas fans call the Coors Events Center Allen Fieldhouse West.
The Buffs travel to Lubbock to take on the Texas Tech Red Raiders on Tuesday as they look to grab their first conference win.
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Ryan Atherton at ryan.atherton@colorado.edu.
