By Daniel Paiz

One Buffs team punches their ticket to the Sweet 16, while another Buffs team sees their season end after two very good victories in March. Coach JR Payne and the women’s squad marches onward, while Coach Tad Boyle and the men’s team say farewell to Luke O’Brien, Tristan da Silva, and a record-setting season.

Buffs Rally falls short as Colorado loses 81-77

The Buffs comeback effort falls short as they lose to Marquette, 81-77. KJ Simpson dropped 20 points, seven assists and five rebounds, while departing senior Tristan da Silva added 17 points and five rebounds. Colorado notched a 26-11 record and earned the most wins in a season in school history for the men’s team. Coach Tad Boyle has to appreciate those first two tournament wins against Boise State and Florida, while likely learning a few tough reminders for next season.

Colorado trailed by 11 points at halftime, and the second half is where da Silva and freshman Cody Williams started to hit shots. The Buffs also started to guard the three-point line better, as Marquette finished with a pedestrian 9-21 from downtown. CU tied the game at 52 and at 74 with KJ Simpson dropping a dime each time to da Silva from downtown. That 4:03 mark where the game was tied at 74 might be the most frustrating part of the game for Buffs fans.

Urgency Lacking as Clock Ticks…

Marquette outscored the Buffs seven to three in that last four minutes, and it was due to a couple of key factors. Marquette’s Tyler Kolek prefers to dribble to his left, and CU permitted him to do so the entire second half. There wasn’t an overt effort to get the ball out of his hands, and there didn’t feel like any urgency was exuded by the Buffs on defense.

Colorado also got away from feeding Eddie Lampkin Jr. the ball in the post, despite the big fella getting 13 points and seven rebounds. Marquette has no forwards or centers who can really battle with Lampkin Jr. in the paint, but it seemed to not matter as the offensive gameplan changed. There was a focus on swinging the ball around, but at times it appeared there wasn’t a plan to break down the defense.

What hurt the Buffs chances’ the most was the lack of clock awareness in offensive possessions. Marquette played good defense, but it wasn’t enough to completely shut down ball movement. Instead, the Buffs would dribble into multiple defenders with no real passing option, and the clock routinely got down to 12 seconds or less before any scoring attempt took place. Ball possession in college gives teams 30 seconds to score, and Colorado played as if they needed to kill time rather than save it.

Despite coming up short, Coach Tad Boyle is clearly proud of the effort of this team over the past few months. Getting to the Pac-12 Tournament Final and then winning two games in March Madness are certainly memories and progress to build on for next year. Boyle did have some important words in CU’s final tournament press conference:

It’s the no excuse-mentality these players played with all season long.

Part of the pride I have in this year’s team, in winning 26 games, is overcoming the things we had to overcome as a group, not just individually, you know, the individuals who got injured and had to rehab and come back; but the guys who didn’t, who had to pick up the slack for the guys who were out.

And that’s what a team does, and that’s why I love this team.

-Colorado HC Tad Boyle on his team overcoming injuries and coming together this season

Colorado’s defense fuels tenacious win at Kansas State, return trip to Sweet 16

Colorado seems to have a habit of facing a home team in the second round, and absolutely responding to the pressure. The Buffaloes did it last year at Duke, and they did it this year at Kansas State, winning 63-50 in a game that was much closer than what the final score shows. Aaronette Vonleh had nine points, eight rebounds, and seven steals, while Maddie Nolan scored 11 points, most of which were downtown daggers. Kansas State started off with a bit of momentum and had a nine-point lead in the second quarter, but that’s when CU started to figure it out.

Breaking down the key parts where CU began to figure it out

Jaylyn Sherrod is the engine that powers CU’s women’s squad by getting steals, applying defensive pressure, and passing the ball around. Maddie Nolan and Aaronette Vonleh are the scorers at the end of this first half, rallying the Buffs down from nine to a 33-35 halftime score. Vonleh’s seven steals in the first half are a crucial part of CU turning things around.

Kansas State’s home crowd advantage almost seems to be fueling some of the Buffs’ players on defense. Quay Miller and Sherrod are getting steals and forcing turnovers, much to the dismay of that crowd. At the 6:41 mark in the third, Sherrod cuts to the basket and gets a tough layup that leads to an and-one opportunity and ties things up at 39. Always in the play, Sherrod then gets elbowed in the face and gets called for the foul; after an officials’ review, the foul on Sherrod still stands but a flagrant foul on KSU’s Serena Sundell also gets called.

Since those free throws, the Buffs are on a 9-2 run as a KSU timeout gets called at the 2:15 mark. Buffs defense and pushing the ball on offense leads to a 52-42 lead going into the fourth quarter. Kansas State can’t seem to find the basket from three-point range.

Defense continues to aid the Buffs, as halfway through the fourth KSU has only scored four points; the problem is, CU hasn’t and it’s 52-46 Colorado at the 4:19 mark. The quarter proceeds with lots of defense, several missed shots, and very little scoring, outside of Tameiya Sadler’s clutch jumpers towards the end. KSU has no choice but to foul to try and slow the clock down, but the Buffs capitalize on their trips to the charity stripe, winning 63-50. No Buffs player scored more than 11 points (Maddie Nolan had 11), but all five starters scored nine or more points.

The Buffs are going to the Sweet 16 for the second year in a row and will play the winner of Iowa-West Virginia on 3/25. The Buffs lost to Iowa last year in the Sweet 16 so a rematch might be in the cards. The defensive effort will have to be repeated regardless of who they play, but the scoring trouble has to turn around. It seems that the offense slowed down when Sherrod was benched, but that’s partially also due to fewer fast break runs in the fourth.

Vonleh will need to dictate their game in the post offensively for four quarters. Their seven steals on the defensive end made up for the lack of scoring and were huge in disrupting KSU’s post offense. Three-point shooting will also have to improve, as Nolan and Frida Formann were a combines 2-of-11 from downtown; that won’t do in a Sweet 16 matchup. Quay Miller will also need to keep up the defensive pressure, and have a repeat 10-point, 10 rebound performance to help Colorado punch a ticket to the Elite Eight.