Before the season started, Colorado coach Tad Boyle said he thought his team was overrated. Although that statement seemed to resonate in the first half of CU’s 89-83 loss to Notre Dame on Monday night, the Buffs showed true grit in the second half as they tried to stage an epic comeback.
The game, held at the Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn, New York, couldn’t have gone worse for the Buffaloes in the first half. Nothing seemed to click on either side of the ball, and multiple players could be seen slapping the ball back and forth near the rim as one of them hoped to get the ball in the net, several times. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t.
They took a complete 180 in the second half.
After going down 18 near the end of the first half, the Buffs battled back in the second to give the Irish reason to pause. With 49 seconds left in the game, they cut that lead to just four points. But that deficit proved too much to overcome.
Despite the tough loss, the Buffs (3-1) saw three bright spots on Monday night. Senior forward Xavier Johnson quietly attacked the Leprechauns on offense as he scored 23 points. His efforts were followed by a double-double performance junior guard from George King (17 points, 11 rebounds) and a near double-double from senior guard Derrick White (20 points, eight assists).
Throughout the entire first half, the Buffs couldn’t get anything going on offense or defense. Although they got on the board first with a layup from White, things quickly spiraled out of Colorado’s reach.
Wesley Gordon picked up his second foul three and half minutes in, forcing him to sit the rest of the half. The Fighting Irish notched their first double-digit lead less than a minute later, 17-6. The Buffs tried to put up a fight of their own, but couldn’t get closer than five points below Notre Dame.
Just before the end of the half, the Buffs went down by as much as 18, 48-30, and they trailed 50-35 at the break. They shot just 40.6 percent to Notre Dame’s 50 percent.
But the Buffs came alive in the second half.
Throughout the final 10 minutes of the game, Colorado staged a near legendary comeback. With 10 minutes left in the game, the Buffs were down 14 points, 66-51. Fast forward about nine minutes to when George King nailed a three-point bullet from the corner. By that point, the Buffs had inched to within four points, 81-77.
But still, the Buffs couldn’t muster enough offense in the last 49 seconds of the game, as Colorado desperation fouls and Irish perfection from the charity stripe ended Colorado’s comeback campaign. The Irish went on to win the game, 89-83.
