Colorado
13-11,3-8Pac-12
California
17-6, 8-3Pac-12
Shorthanded Buffs Rally But Fall Short At Cal
February 05, 2017 | Men's Basketball, Neill Woelk
BERKELEY, Calif. — Playing without the services of senior starters Xavier Johnson and Wesley Gordon, the shorthanded Colorado Buffaloes put forth a valiant effort Sunday at Cal before eventually falling, 77-66.
The Buffs, who trailed by as many as 23 in the first half, cut the lead to five with just more than three minutes to play, but that was as close as they could come as the Bears held the Buffs at bay down the stretch.
The loss ended a three-game winning streak and dropped Colorado to 13-11 overall and 3-8 in Pac-12 play. Cal improved to 17-6, 8-3.
"I'm proud of our guys' fight and toughness and determination," head coach Tad Boyle said. "The guys that were out there just played there hearts out."
Derrick White, who fueled the CU comeback, finished with 25 points — 15 in the second half — and Tory Miller had 10 points and nine rebounds for the Buffs.
HOW IT HAPPENED: With big men Johnson and Gordon benched for violating team rules, the Buffs were at a decided disadvantage inside, where the Bears boasted two 7-footers in the starting lineup.
Making it even tougher on the Buffs was Cal's outside shooting, as the Bears hit nine 3-pointers in the first half.
"We buried ourselves into a hole in the first half with them hitting nine threes," Boyle said. "Obviously our zone wasn't very good in terms of guarding the 3-point line."
The Bears broke open a tight game midway through the first period with a 19-0 run that was fueled by five 3-pointers, giving Cal a 32-12 lead with 6:20 still to go in the first half. The CU deficit ballooned to as much as 23 minutes later before Colorado finally shaved it down to 15 at the half, thanks to seven straight points to finish the period. White had a pair of free throws and a 3-pointer in the stretch.
White then continued his run early in the second half, scoring CU's first eight points of the period and George King hit a pair of free throws at the 16:12 mark to cut Cal's one-time 23-point lead to seven, 43-36.
The Bears then built the lead back to double digits, but the Buffs had one more run in them. An 8-2 Colorado burst that began at the seven-minute mark saw Colorado cut the Cal lead to six, 60-54, on a pair of Lucas Siewert free throws with 4:28 to go. A minute later, CU narrowed the margin to five, 62-57, on a White 3-pointer.
That, though, was as close as the Buffs could come. The Buffs had several good looks at the bucket in the final minutes but couldn't connect, forcing CU to foul and send the Bears to the free throw line.
"We just couldn't get over the hump," Boyle said. "Critical times in the game we broke down defensively and let them kind of expand that thing back to 10. We made shots to get ourselves back into it. You really have to play almost a flawless second half to come back from that kind of deficit. I thought we tried, we just weren't quite good enough in the critical stages."
The Buffs did a solid job on Cal's leading scorer, Ivan Rabb, holding the 6-foot-11 forward to just 11 points on 4-for-10 shooting, five under his season average.
"I thought George King defensively on Ivan Rabb did as good of a job defensively as anybody we had tonight," Boyle said. "He really took on the challenge and battled him."
CU junior Tory Miller, getting just his second start of the season, finished with 10 points, nine rebounds and a pair of assists while senior Josh Fortune had five points, five rebounds and five assists.
The Buffs refused to blame the loss on the absence of Miller and Johnson.
"You always want to have Wes and X, but we're always ready to play," Miller said. "(Cal) went on a shooting streak and kudos to them. … We've got to move forward. We're going to need everybody to step up like they did tonight. "
TURNING POINT: The Bears' 19-0 run in the first half put the Buffs in a hole that they could never completely overcome.
WHAT IT MEANS: All the momentum generated by a three-game win streak went away in a hurry. It will now be interesting to see how the Buffs respond to this one.
CU STANDOUTS: Derrick White had 25 points, four rebounds and three assists. … Tory Miller had 10 points, nine rebounds and two assists. … Josh Fortune had five points, five rebounds and five assists. … George King had seven points, eight rebounds and played solid defense on Cal's best player, Ivan Rabb.
KEY STATISTICS: The Bears hit 11 3-pointers, outrebounded Colorado 40-32 and had a 26-16 edge in points in the paint.
NOTEWORTHY: Miller's 10 points tied his season high and his nine rebounds and two steals were both season highs. … White has averaged more than 22 points per game over his last three games. … Fortune's five assists were a season high. … The Buffs were 13-for-13 from the free throw line in the second half.
QUOTEWORTHY: "It was one of those situations where two really really good kids made a bad decision so we had to address it. We're going to handle it and we're going to move on from it. That's really all I have to say is they did something they shouldn't have done and we're handling it. Two terrific young men and they'll be back." — CU head coach Tad Boyle on Xavier Johnson and Wes Gordon not playing.
NEXT UP: The Buffs return home for a pair of games next week at the Coors Events Center, beginning with an 8 p.m. game Thursday vs. Washington, followed by a 6:30 p.m. game Sunday vs. Washington State.
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
