Second-chance points lift Washington State past CU
PULLMAN, WASH. >> Turnovers have generally been an issue for the Colorado men’s basketball team. Rebounding generally has not.
Yet despite the offensive struggles the Colorado men’s basketball team suffered against the strong defense of Washington State, it was the Cougars being opportunistic with the Buffaloes’ shortcomings in those two areas that played critical roles in a 78-69 defeat on Saturday afternoon at Beasley Coliseum.
CU finished with nine turnovers, which actually counted as the third-lowest total of the season (all three of those low-turnover marks have occurred in the past five games). However, the Buffs recorded seven of those giveaways in the second half, and the Cougars recorded a 13-5 advantage in points off turnovers. WSU finished with just six turnovers, the second-lowest mark by a CU foe this season.
The Buffs were outrebounded for just the third time in 21 games, with WSU posting a 40-35 advantage with 12 offensive rebounds. While that was only the fifth-highest total of offensive boards by a Buffs’
Colorado head coach Tad Boyle directs his team against Washington State on Saturday in Pullman, Wash.
opponent this season, the Cougars seemingly took advantage of every extra opportunity, finishing with a 16-4 edge in second-chance points.
“I believe this game was lost in two areas,” CU head coach Tad Boyle said. “One is second-chance points. Because we knew how important rebounding was against these guys. Limiting them to one shot. One of the best things they do is crash the glass. And they outscored us 16-4 in second-chance points. And then in the second half, we had seven turnovers. Points off turnovers and secondchance points, you take those out of the equation and just even it out, and we win this game.”
Costume change
After the game, Boyle confirmed that starter J’vonne Hadley did not suffer a broken nose during CU’S win at Washington on Wednesday, although Hadley began the WSU game with a clear mask over his face. After going 0-for-3 without a point in the first half, Hadley ditched the mask after the break.
It didn’t help. After scoring a CU career-high 24 points at UW, Hadley finished just 1-for-6 with a season-low two points.
Hammond rekindled
Besides the play of KJ Simpson, one other encouraging aspect for the Buffs in Saturday’s defeat might have been the play of backup guard Julian Hammond III.
Hammond had given steady production off the bench before missing the losses earlier this month at Arizona State and California due to a back injury. It has been a slow return to form for Hammond, who went 2-for-15 overall and 0-for-5 on 3-pointers in his first four games after returning to the rotation. The junior from Cherry Creek looked more like himself on Saturday, going 4-for-10 overall and 2-for-4 on 3-pointers with 10 points.
“It was nice to see the ball go in for him for sure,” Boyle said. “Julian can help this team, there’s no doubt about it. They all need to play better in every area of their game, but I have to coach better.”
Notable
Simpson scored 25 points for his 12th 20-point game of the season. He increased his career points total to exactly 1,100 — moving into 33rd on the program’s all-time scoring list. … Simpson is 27for-28 on free throws over the past four games, and his 8-for-8 showing at WSU increased his season free throw percentage to .892 (99-for-111). … CU finished its tenure in the Pac-12 with a 4-6 regular season road mark at WSU (including one game played in Spokane).