After the Colorado Buffaloes’ men and women secured entertaining victories over the Arizona Sun Devils’ respective hoops teams, both CU squads found themselves in prime position to make some noise against the Arizona Wildcats.
Colorado’s men had a chance to upset the nation’s No. 8 ranked men’s basketball team, and greatly change the narrative surrounding this disappointing season. Meanwhile, the women had a chance to continue to climb the rankings and solidify their place as title contenders.
Unfortunately, both squads came up woefully short.
Colorado Buffaloes men fail to secure upset, lose 68-78
The Colorado Buffaloes came out with a thunderous start against the Arizona Wildcats, and for a brief moment, it felt like the upset was not only possible, but extremely likely.
Tad Boyle’s defense was swarming, and forced four early turnovers, while Tristan Da Silva and the Buffs’ offense was cooking. By the first media timeout, every starter for the Colorado Buffaloes had scored, and Da Silva already had seven, as CU held a 16-6 lead.
It was the perfect start for a team that was so incredibly desperate to pull off the upset, and yet still, they quickly soiled it.
Coming back from that first break, CU’s big man, Lawson Lovering, hit a rare jumper, only for ‘Zona to rattle off 10 unanswered in a flash, as Da Silva picked up his second early foul, and went to the bench.
With the score now 18-16, and Da Silva out of the picture, with 11 minutes left still in the first half, that perfect opening had been wasted, and the game was back in the Wildcats’ control.
Colorado held onto their lead for the next three minutes, but over the half’s final eight, Arizona outpaced CU 22-11, and entered the half with a commanding 46-34 lead.
Halftime. Arizona pulls away quickly to take a 46-34 lead at the break. After early 12-point lead for #CUBuffs, Wildcats outscore CU 40-16
— Pat Rooney (@prooney07) February 19, 2023
The Wildcats never looked back in the second half, as they cruised to another victory over the Buffaloes, and completed the season sweep.
CU Buffs women’s team sputters on offense and falls to Arizona 61-42
For as much as the men had on the line, the women arguably had even more at stake, and their performance was even more disheartening.
JR Payne’s squad was cruising, as winners of five straight, and had a chance to earn their highest ranking in a decade. A win would’ve also secured their first sweep of the Arizona Wildcats in a decade, and their first win over the Wildcats in Tucson since the 2014-2015 season.
But, after a strong 7-3 opening, their offense fell off a cliff, and wouldn’t return until the fourth quarter.
The Arizona Wildcats slowly unraveled an 18-3 scoring barrage over the remaining minutes of the first quarter, and into the start of the second quarter, as they completely changed the game’s complexion, in irreversible fashion.
Once the Wildcats garnered a double-digit lead, they held it for all but 15 seconds of the remaining 25 minutes.
During that stretch, and for much of the first three quarters, it felt like CU’s offense had been sabotaged by the antagonistic aliens from the first Space Jam film, with every Buff player’s offensive talents drained from them, without any better explanation.
Every possession seemed to end in either a turnover or a bricked shot, and although they were still managing to keep the came relatively close on defense, their offense couldn’t take advantage of any of the looks that were created for them.
Colorado's top four scorers – Miller, Vonleh, Formann and Sherrod – came in averaging 48.3 combined points per game. Today, they finished with 20 on 8-of-35 shooting. #cubuffs
— Brian Howell (@BrianHowell33) February 19, 2023
In the third quarter, CU got their offense rolling for just long enough to cut the lead down to eight, only for Arizona to immediately fire back with an easy coast-to-coast lay-up that jump-started a 15-0 Wildcat run that just about put the game away for good.
The Buffaloes opened the fourth quarter with another run, which made the final frame interesting at least, but the 12-1 run wasn’t even enough to trim the deficit back down to single digits, and the Wildcats’ offense woke up in time to avoid choking away the game.
Colorado’s women are still in an excellent position to make some noise come March, but a victory on Sunday would’ve demanded the world of women’s college hoops take notice of their underrated program.