It could’ve been better, it could’ve been worse, but the Colorado Buffaloes went down to Tempe and defeated the Arizona State Sun Devils in a hard-fought, 95-89 contest.
Colorado had no problems scoring the ball early in the game. The Buffs played tremendous team basketball, passing the ball patiently through the teeth of the ASU defense, just waiting for a crease to attack the basket or pull the trigger.
Everyone looked good, but Barrington Hargress looked best. The junior guard was on another level
in the first half, easily getting into the paint for layups and short middies. Add in a made three and a fast break layup and he had 17 points on 8/9 shooting in the first 20 minutes.
The Sun Devils, meanwhile, were flummoxed by CU’s zone press. The Buffs were less focused on forcing turnovers than slowing down the ASU offense and forcing them to make smart decisions and difficult passes. This worked well, as Massamba Diop was the only who looked any sort of comfortable.
Colorado did allow some gimmes, however. Four points were gifted on Josiah Sanders’s flagrant foul and Barrington Hargress’s ‘too small’ taunt, respectively. CU also had some bad turnovers and ghastly transition defense to allow easy baskets. Yet each time ASU had any momentum, the Buffs answered. Hargress did his thing, Isaiah Johnson made two timely threes and a Felix Kossaras triple cut short an ASU run.
As hard as Colorado worked to build that lead, they worked just as hard to give it away. Those gimmes spiraled, as the Buffs were undone by sloppy passes, mental mistakes and bad habits on the defensive end. ASU played at their pace, many thanks to those turnovers, and players like Moe Odum, Anthony Johnson and Allen Mukeba tore them apart. (This dunk also happened.)
Colorado cleaned it up but remained in an offensive funk. They looked scared to attack the basket, apparently afraid of 7’1 Diop and his seven blocked shots. The outside shots weren’t going in either, not that they were taking any. The saving grace, really, was that ASU couldn’t stop fouling and CU was in the bonus after six minutes and change.
That’s when the Buffs put their head and drove hard to the basket. Sometimes they got a layup, but most of the time the refs whistled for a foul. Colorado scored 47 points in the second half — 25 from the free throw line, 18 inside the paint, and just four points on mid-range jumpers from Sebastian Rancik and Jalin Holland.
While ASU made some plays, the Buffs did just won enough to stay in the game. From there, cool heads prevailed; none cooler than Rancik and Johnson. The Slovak carried the offense for large stretches, scoring 13 in the half, before the freshman took over down the stretch. Johnson, so crafty and clutch, scored 9 points in the final three minutes to take the lead and ice the game.
There’s much to be improved upon, especially on the defensive end, but the Buffs prevailed and won on the road in the Big 12. It’s not an easy feat, even if Tad Boyle low-key owns Bobby Hurley. CU is now 11-3 on the season, 1-1 in conference play, and will next host Utah and #15 Texas Tech on the 7th and 10th of January. Plenty of chances for the Buffs to build on what should be an NIT resume.
