Senior forward Tristan da Silva makes a free throw during the game against the University of Arizona on Saturday, Feb. 10, 2024. (Tyler Phillips/CU Independent)
On Saturday night, the University of Colorado Boulder men’s basketball team lost their first home game of the season 79-99 to the No. 8 ranked University of Arizona Wildcats.
The team previously brought their win streak to 13-0 in Boulder after an 82-70 win against Arizona State University on Thursday, but couldn’t keep it alive against their highest-ranked opponent of the season. The Buffaloes now sit at 16-8, 7-6 in the Pac-12, and are currently tied with Stanford University for fourth in the conference standings.
“I’ve done a lot of these postgame press conferences after losses, and some after wins as well, but sometimes it’s necessary where we just have to tip our cap to the other team,” Buffaloes Head Coach Tad Boyle said after the loss. “I really do think they deserved to win, they were the more aggressive team. They made shots, and they were physical and we didn’t play well enough to win, that was obvious.”
There were two main problems for the Buffaloes against the Wildcats. There were 16 turnovers and allowed a season-high 99 points. While the Wildcats shot 53% in the game and made 10 three-pointers, the Buffaloes struggled to be efficient against one of the nation’s top teams.
The Buffaloes were only down 40-47 coming out of halftime, but they were never able to gain a lead in the second half.
Both Tristan da Silva and K.J. Simpson scored 20 points and played all but two minutes for the Buffaloes on Saturday. Simpson also had a season-high nine assists in the game to become the 14th Buff in history with 300 or more assists in their college career. J’Vonne Hadley added 13 points and six rebounds, and Julian Hammond III collected nine points and five rebounds against the Wildcats.
The Buffaloes didn’t have trouble scoring the ball and finishing the game at 48% shooting, but couldn’t stop the Wildcats from doing the same at a much higher rate.
Junior guard Julian Hammond looks at the net from the 3-point line during the game against the University of Arizona on Saturday, Feb. 10, 2024. (Tyler Phillips/CU Independent)
“They never got rattled. That’s why they rank for reason. That’s why they have the success they have for a reason. Good team like that, they play poised, they play under control,” Simpson said in the postgame press conference about the Wildcat’s momentum. “Every time we scored, they never hung their heads or got frustrated with one another, they just stuck to the game plan and just kept on playing.”
The loss against the Wildcats leaves CU Boulder fans with a bitter taste in their mouth just days after beating the Arizona State Sun Devils in a game Thursday where the Buffaloes always held the lead.
Hadley was the leader for the Buffaloes that game. The senior finished with 19 points and 11 rebounds for his first career double-double. In a game where the Buffaloes controlled the rebounding and battle against the Sun Devils all night, Hadley made a large impact. Simpson was also everywhere on the court, finishing with 17 points, six rebounds and eight assists.
The Buffaloes dominated in free throws as well, making 26/29 compared to 9/14 for the Sun Devils.
Junior guard KJ Simpson waits for J’Vonne Hadley to set up a screen during the game against Arizona State University on Thursday, Feb. 8, 2024. (Kaitlyn Riordan/CU Independent)
“Arizona State is a feel-good team when things start rolling. They’re like a snowball or an avalanche coming downhill if they’re tough to stop. J’Vonne’s plays at the end of the shot clock were huge,” Boyle said after the win against the Sun Devils. “So J’Vonne Hadley is not a small hero anymore. He was one of our players of the game tonight for sure in my opinion.”
For most of the season, the Buffaloes have played with a seven-man lineup, but the added minutes have taken a physical toll on players.
Both Hadley and Cody Williams wore facemasks due to injuries over the two games this past weekend. Williams has found it a little tougher to come back from his injury, finishing with 11 points against the Sun Devils and only eight against the Wildcats. Luke O’Brien has also been dealing with an ankle injury, only seeing 14 minutes on the floor against Arizona in an attempt to play through the pain.
“When he first arrived on campus (I) said, ‘Cody, you’re a freshman. You’re going to have good nights, and you’re going to have bad nights,” Coach Boyle said about Williams after the loss to the Wildcats. “You have good practices, and you have bad practices. You got to put the bad ones behind.”
Freshman forward Cody Williams avoids guard Caleb Love during the game against the University of Arizona on Saturday, Feb. 10, 2024. (Tyler Phillips/CU Independent)
Though the Buffaloes come out of the weekend with another in-conference loss and without their unbeaten at home streak at home, there are still many positives to where they are at.
Simpson is currently averaging 20.6 points, playing like one of the best players in the conference. As a team, the Buffaloes are averaging 79 points a game. The only problem is they lost three of those past five games and haven’t found a way to consistently outperform the other middle-of-the-road Pac-12 teams like Utah and Washington State.
Due to injuries and players coming in and out with their availability, the Buffaloes haven’t found the groove they’ll need to find in order to keep their season alive.
“This is not going to define us,” Tristan da Silva said in the press conference after the Wildcats loss. “We had some really good shots on offense, we had some good possessions on defense, so we know what we’re capable of, and we just have the opportunity to go out there and prove that on the road.”
Senior forward Tristan da Silva scores on a jump shot during the game against the University of Arizona on Saturday, Feb. 10, 2024. (Tyler Phillips/CU Independent)
The CU Boulder men’s basketball season will continue on as they go to California to play the University of California, Los Angeles Bruins. That game will be at 7 p.m. MST on Thursday, Feb. 15, live on ESPN. That game will quickly be followed by a trip to University of Southern California to take on the Trojans, which will be at 8 p.m. MST on Saturday, Feb. 17.
The Buffaloes currently have seven games left on their schedule, with four being away games. With their road record at 1-6 this season, wins away from Boulder will be more important than ever.
Contact CU Independent Assistant Sports Editor Eli Gregorski at elgr9735@colorado.edu
