Providing a spark
Buffs hope double OT thriller over USC leads to late-season push
LOS ANGELES >> At long last, the Colorado men’s basketball team stopped the bleeding.
Now the challenge for the Buffaloes is to make certain Saturday’s stirring double-overtime victory at USC isn’t an aberration and instead becomes a springboard to a hot final stretch of the regular season.
There was a sense of battling back from possible NCAA Tournament elimination at USC, where the Buffs completed a memorable 16-point comeback in the second half to record a 92-89 victory.
With the Buffs’ postseason picture on life support, they received a welcome shot of adrenaline as they returns home for a onegame week against Utah on Saturday at the CU Events Center (7 p.m., ESPN).
However, the Buffs (17-9, 8-7 Pac-12), still have plenty of work to do to fully resuscitate those postseason hopes. And despite the thrilling win, a result that saw CU commit a seasonhigh 21 turnovers while struggling on defense until the final 9 minutes of regulation and the extra sessions left head coach Tad Boyle mulling familiar themes regarding what his team must accomplish going forward.
“We’ve got to learn to take care of the basketball. And we’ve got to become better defensively. I would start with those two areas right there,” Boyle said. “If we get better defensively — incrementally, and we don’t have to change everything that we’re doing. We just have to get better at what we’re doing. We had 21 turnovers, and USC has nine. You’re lucky to win that game. I talked to the team at halftime. They shot 51% in the first half, they made seven threes, and we had nine turnovers. We’re down six. I’m like, ‘Guys, we’re lucky we’re not down 26.’
“But we’ve got to take better care of the basketball, and then we have to guard better. That’s the two things we have to do to start stacking wins and get some momentum together.”
CU won despite the glut of turnovers, which included a season-high 19 in regulation, and a defensive effort that allowed the Trojans to shoot over 50% essentially until the rally began.
Although the preseason goal of competing for the Pac-12 title is more than likely out the window with Arizona sitting atop the standings with an 11-3 league mark, the Buffs still have an opportunity to make noise over the final five games of the regular season.
Unfortunately for CU, Saturday’s win did little to alter the team’s status in the national power rankings. The Buffs held steady at No. 42 in Sunday’s NET rankings while actually dropping one spot to No. 38 at Kenpom.com. The Buffs, though, have a favorable schedule over the final five games of the regular season, with three home games and only one remaining date against any of the teams ahead of them in the Pac-12 standings (at Oregon on March 7).
The Buffs also are very much alive in the race for a top-four finish and the accompanying first-round bye at the Pac-12 tournament. CU is in sole possession of fifth-place going into Monday.
“After a win like this, everybody’s feeling good about ourselves, and we proved to ourselves we’re capable of going out there winning real tough games,” CU guard KJ Simpson said. “Our fight is never going to leave us. We just have to go out there and compete and fight like we’ve been doing. Games will start coming our way if we guard like we did (Saturday). USC also shot the ball really well, but down the stretch that’s where we really dug deep on defense.”