FAST BREAK
CU was unable to get locked-in defensively, as Marquette shot .679in the first half and finished at .618. It was the highest shooting percentage by a CU foe this season.
1. Marquette’s Tyler Kolek. The Golden Eagles point guard dictated the pace throughout and dissected CU’S defense, recording 21points and 11assists.
2. CU’S KJ Simpson. Scored 13of his 20points after halftime and also added seven assists and five rebounds.
3. Marquette’s Kam Jones. His four 3-pointers in the first half put the Buffs in an early hole. He finished with 18 points and four rebounds.
The offseason. CU finishes the season with a program-record 26 wins but will soon turn the page to 2024-25.
Feb. 15 at UCLA — followed by a driving bucket from da Silva pulled CU into a 64-64 tie with 9:38 to play, but Marquette answered with the next five points to regain the lead. Da Silva’s third 3-pointer of the game tied it again at 74-74 with 4:02 remaining, but the Golden Eagles outscored CU 7-3 the rest of the way.
The Buffs had several good looks in the waning moments, including an open 3-point attempt from Williams with CU trailing by one point, but the Buffs couldn’t get over the hump.
“We knew we weren’t playing our best game. It kind of felt like we were supposed to be down 20 or 25 (at halftime) the way we were playing,” said da Silva, who recorded 17 points, five rebounds, two
assists and a career-hightying three steals in his final game at CU.
“We had a feeling that it was in our hands to kind of turn this game around. And we had all the confidence to come out in the second half and battle the way we did.”
CU didn’t enjoy its best game from long range, finishing 10-for-30 on 3-pointers, but the Buffs shot a solid .470 overall and outrebounded Marquette 3025. This game was lost at the defensive end, as Marquette’s second-team Allamerican point guard Tyler Kolek got into the lane at will, finishing 10-for-14 with 21 points and 11 assists. The Golden Eagles shot .618 overall, with Kam Jones shooting Marquette into the lead with four first-half 3-pointers.
As is always the case on tournament elimination day, it was a bittersweet finale as CU bids farewell to da Silva and fellow senior Luke O’brien, while Williams likely is off to the NBA draft. That could be the next destination for Simpson as well, who likely will at least test his draft stock this spring.
In the aftermath, however, the Buffs preferred to express their collective pride at a late-season surge of 10 wins in 11 games that ended on Sunday. That run saved CU’S season and gave the Buffs the opportunity to reach the Big Dance.
“Credit to Marquette. They were hitting almost everything it seemed like,” Simpson said. “We just all had the mentality of not giving up. We’ve done that throughout the whole year. We’ve shown that throughout the whole year. Never give up on the effort. We did that. We just came up short.”