It’s been a tough week for the Colorado Buffaloes. After dropping a neutral-site game in Phoenix to the Stanford Cardinal last Saturday, the Buffs lost their first game in Boulder of the season, falling short to the Northern Colorado Bears by a score of 86-81.
Right from the tip, it became clear that this game might get a bit sloppy. Both teams came out of the gates struggling to score, as CU began the game making only two of their first 11 attempts from the floor. Despite a slow start of their own,
UNCo figured out their scoring woes first, ripping off an early 15-2 run to put Colorado in an early hole.
Enter Isaiah Johnson. Colorado’s true freshman sixth man and leading scorer checked into the game and quickly began to nearly singlehandedly dig Colorado out of their deficit. Six early points from Johnson put CU back into the game and his hot hand didn’t cool, as Johnson tallied 19 points at the half.
With the jumpstart given to them by Johnson, Colorado managed to fend off the Bears’ early scoring onslaught by heading into the break down only by a score of 37-35.
Both teams showcased their A game to begin the second half, as the Buffs and Bears began to shoot the lights out of the gym. For the first ten minutes of the period, CU and UNCo went shot-for-shot, with seven second-half lead changes. As soon as one team would build a small lead, the other would immediately erase it to tie the game.
Midway through the period, it became clear that the Bears had the clear advantage. Led by Ibu Yamazaki and
Quinn Denker, Northern Colorado seemingly refused to miss. Every shot Denker put up found the net, as he finished with a perfect shooting performance in the second half, and three-second triples from Yamazaki put the Buffs in serious danger. CU was only able to keep things close because of UNCo’s 13 turnovers, which they were able to convert into 16 points.
With the game knotted at 68-68, an 8-0 run from UNCo put the Buffs on the ropes late in the period. Colorado responded accordingly, ripping off an 8-0 run of their own to tie the game at 76-76 with 3:16 to play.
Unfortunately, it was all downhill from here for CU. Denker drilled two back-to-back midrange jumpers to put Colorado in a two-point hole with 42 seconds to play.
With their backs against the wall and only one surefire possession to tie things up, Sebastian Rancik inbounded the ball, found his way to the top of the arch and missed an open three. Thankfully, Johnson was situated right under the basket, easily grabbing the offensive rebound and drawing a foul to head to the line to shoot two.
Johnson, who was 4-4 from the line to this point, made his first free throw, but missed his second and Denker was able to grab the rebound. Down one, with 23 seconds left, Colorado sent Denker intentionally to the line to preserve time on the game clock. Unsurprisingly, Denker hit both his freebies to extend Northern Colorado’s lead to three.
Down 84-81, it was now or never for the Buffs. They needed a three-pointer for overtime. They inbounded the ball and once again found Rancik, who took a nearly identical shot from deep as his previous attempt and once again missed. Like deja vu, Isaiah Johnson grabbed the offensive board and did his best to put up a three-pointer of his own. Despite drawing plenty of contact from a UNCo player, Johnson’s shot fell short and no foul was called. Ballgame.
Northern Colorado finished the game shooting 73.9% from the floor. That stat should tell you all you need to know. Even though losing to a mid-major is a tough look, UNCo gave No. 15 Texas Tech a legitimate scare in Lubbock just a month ago, so there’s a very good chance this loss doesn’t look as bad in a few months.
Now with a record of 10-3, the Buffs head into Big 12 play with a sour taste in their mouth. Their conference opener will be against the Arizona State Sun Devils in Tempe on January 3. Tipoff will be at 3:00 p.m. MT on ESPN2.
