Buffs drop fifth-straight conference game to UCF

The last few games have been a tough stretch for Tad Boyle and the Colorado Buffaloes, falling to all four of their previous opponents. It didn’t get any better on Saturday afternoon, as the Buffs fell to the UCF Knights in Boulder by a final score of 95-86.

CU entered the game as 3.5-point favorites and looked like the better team early, ripping off a 7-0 run to open the game and establishing a bit of rhythm. However, that rhythm didn’t last long, as the Knights followed up that stretch with a 7-0 run of their own to find their footing.

Even with UCF beginning to establish itself, Colorado continued to play well early in the game. Behind a stellar offensive showing from starting point guard Barrington Hargress, who finished with 18 first-half points, the Buffs were firing on all cylinders. Hargress was hitting his open looks from deep and dishing to his teammates, both down low and on the perimeter, who were also hitting their shots. UCF was able to keep up with the Buffs with elite three-point shooting, but still lagged behind by multiple scores for the first chunk of the period, as CU led by eight with around eight minutes left before halftime.

After watching the Buffs move the ball with ease, UCF coach Johnny Dawkins made the choice to switch his defensive coverage from man to a 1-3-1 zone at that eight-minute mark to try to clog things up down low, which completely flipped the script for the entire game. Suddenly, faced with zone, Colorado was unable to find any sort of penetration on the offensive side of the ball, flipping the momentum to UCF’s side.

The Knights would take that momentum and run with it throughout the first half, raining down a three-point onslaught against Colorado. UCF essentially couldn’t miss for the first 20 minutes of play, hitting 10 of their 13 attempts from deep.

The Buffs did their best to keep up, hitting seven three-pointers of their own and forcing seven steals in the first half. Hargress’s 18 first-half points on a nearly perfect shooting performance help a ton, too. After an Isaiah Johnson moonshot three-pointer to beat the buzzer before halftime, Colorado headed into the locker rooms down 49-47.

The second half could only be described as disastrous for Colorado. UCF’s offense began to cool down, starting the period by shooting only 4-10 from the field. Colorado wasn’t able to capitalize, still being unable to decipher the zone defense the Knights had thrown at them, starting the half by shooting 3-14 from the floor.

The Knights simply outmuscled the Buffs, as they trailed for the remainder of the game.

The Buffs never figured out that 1-3-1 zone, floundering all night offensively. CU lost the rebound battle by a margin of nine and only grabbed four offensive boards all game. The Knights shot an unacceptable 61.1% from the field (33-54) and 62.5% from deep (15-24).

I can go on longer with more stats, but I think I’ve hammered my point home. It just wasn’t a great showing by the Buffs, especially defensively.

Still, some clutch three-pointers from Johnson, Sebastian Rancik and Jalin Holland managed to keep Colorado within range of a comeback, although unlikely. With 2:51 left, a Johnson cut the lead to six, but a lucky banked three from UCF’s Riley Kugel put the stake in CU’s coffin. That stings especially hard, as the Buffs were put on ice by a banked three against Kansas in their last game.

Three of Colorado’s players finished with 20 points on over 50% shooting, being Hargress, Johnson and Rancik. Rancik finished with four steals and Bangot Dak was able to corral nine total rebounds. True freshman Jalin Holland also deserves mention, who played 26 solid minutes and took a clear step forward, hitting two clutch threes and forcing two steals.

Colorado now falls to a record of 12-8 and 2-5 in conference play. It doesn’t get any easier from here for the Buffs either, as their next test will be a road battle with #9 Iowa State in Ames on Thursday. We’ll have coverage of that game here on Ralphie Report.