In this file photo, Junior guard Cory Higgins (#11) leaps for the basket during the second period of Saturday's game against Texas Tech. Despite last weekend
After a 9-22 season a year ago, the three straight wins to end the Colorado Buffaloes men’s basketball team’s 2010 season put them on the cusp of a postseason berth.
Then they played like it was 2009 again.
After jumping to an early 18-8 lead, the Buffs were outscored 24-6 over an eight-minute span of the first half and never recovered, falling 82-67 to a Texas Tech Red Raiders team that they romped in Boulder only four days ago.
Junior guard John Roberson led Tech with 19 points, and senior guard Nick Okorie followed up his 34-point performance at the Coors Event Center, with 18 more as his squad avenged their 101-90 loss last Saturday.
The ninth-seeded Red Raiders (17-14) overcame their seven game losing streak with the victory and dominated in almost every phase of the game, including field goal percentage (49-to-42 percent), rebounds (39-to-29), and bench points (30-to-9).
Colorado (15-16) played uncharacteristically sloppy, turning the ball over 19 times and struggling to maintain any sort of rhythm on offense.
Senior guard Dwight Thorne, who was held to five points in his final game as a Buffalo, put his team’s struggles bluntly.
“We just got complacent,” Thorne said afterwards. “We weren’t making the right passes and weren’t being sure in our passes.”
CU freshman guard Alec Burks’ double-double (24 points and 10 rebounds) might have been the lone bright spot for the team, and he said he felt that the team played too selfish a style of basketball.
“I think everybody started staying in place and the ball started sticking,” Burks said. “We weren’t passing, giving our teammates better looks. We were trying to do it ourselves and be the hero. I feel like that was our downfall.”
With the win, Texas Tech strengthened its shot at an NIT bid, assuring itself of finishing above .500 regardless of the outcome of their quarterfinal matchup with top-ranked Kansas.
Meanwhile Colorado’s season is all but over, its 15-16 record eliminating them from qualifying for the NIT.
CU head coach Jeff Bzdelik said afterwards that, despite the setback, he’s proud of the growth his team showed over the course of the season.
“We’ve taken a step forward this year,” Bzdelik said after the game. “And we need to just keep taking steps forward.
“We need to get stronger. We need to defend better. We need to rebound better. We need to go out and recruit and continue to strengthen this basketball team.”
As for Thorne, though he wasn’t able to reap any postseason benefits from his time in Boulder, said he foresees a bright future ahead for his teammates.
“This team is going to be a good team next year,” Thorne said. “I’m the only guy leaving, to have everything pretty much coming back. So I’ll be excited to see where they’re headed…and it’s going to be up.”
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer David Starcer at david.starcer@colorado.edu.
