Colorado
7-5, 1-2DHC
Hawai'i (Third Place)
10-4, 2-1DHC
Buffs Lose 69-66 In Diamond Head Consolation Game
December 25, 2014 | Men's Basketball, B.G. Brooks
HONOLULU – Two recurring problems – an inability to defend the perimeter and inefficiency in the final minutes – proved disastrous here Thursday for the Colorado Buffaloes, who lost 69-66 to Hawai'i in the third-place game of the Diamond Head Classic.
"Another disappointing loss for the Buffs; I'm really frustrated," said coach Tad Boyle. "We've had two games over here in my mind that we were in position to win . . . and we let them both slip away. I've got to do a better job as a head coach; we're just not closing out games. We had an opportunity tonight, they hit a big three and made plays down the stretch."
The Buffs (7-5) finished 1-2 in the three-game Classic, defeating DePaul 82-68 before losing 53-50 to George Washington in the semifinals. CU begins Pac-12 Conference play on Friday, Jan. 2 against UCLA (8 p.m., Coors Events Center).
The Warriors (10-4) hit 9 of their 18 3-point attempts, becoming the seventh of 12 opponents the Buffs have allowed to make seven or more shots from beyond the arc. Four CU foes have made nine or more triples this season; the Buffs are 2-2 in those games.
Boyle said the Buffs, who trailed by eight points midway through the second half, "got back in the game with our defense." But he conceded, "We didn't do a very good job of guarding the three-point line, though. It's just a really frustrating night, because it was a winnable game. As a coach those are the ones that just eat you up, and I'm not getting it done either."
Using a 12-0 run, CU rallied from its eight-point second-half deficit to take a 62-58 lead with 4:39 to play. But UH, cashing in on CU's wasted late possessions, outscored the mainland visitors 11-4 in the final 3:30. After Askia Booker's 3-pointer gave them a 60-58 lead with 5:06 left, the Buffs didn't hit another field goal.
"They made plays at the end that we didn't," said Booker, who finished with 22 points but had a team-high four turnovers. "That's something that we have to do; watch film and see where we can get better and not turn the ball over, or what plays we can run against certain teams towards the end. Also get better individually. We have to be able to take care of the ball and you have to be able to get the ball in certain places when guys need it. You have to know the plays, most importantly."
Booker, who tied a career high with 27 points in the win over DePaul, was named to the all-Classic team, joining Isaac Fleming (Hawai'i) and Ron Baker and Fred VanVleet (Wichita State). George Washington's Kevin Larsen was the MVP after the Colonials' 60-54 upset of No. 11 Wichita State to win the Classic championship.
Josh Scott led CU Thursday with 23 points, his fourth 20-point game of the season and the 12th of his career, and Xavier Johnson added 15. Dustin Thomas contributed three points, Wesley Gordon two and Dom Collier one for the Buffs' remaining scoring.
CU finished at 41.7 percent from the field, with UH at 45.0. The Buffs won the board battle 41-29 but their season-high 16 turnovers provided the Warriors with 22 points. Hawai'i also made 9 steals and CU could manage just 10 assists. UH's 50 percent shooting from beyond the arc overshadowed CU's 29.4. Also, in a three-point loss, the Buffs did themselves no favors by hitting 21 of 30 free throw attempts.
The Buffs scored the game's first basket – it was by Scott – then spent the rest of the half trying to catch up. They trailed by as many as six points on three occasions before closing with a 9-2 run and finally moving ahead by a point (33-32) on a pair of Johnson free throws with 0.9 seconds before intermission.
Scott was CU's early offense; he scored 13 of the Buffs' first 19 points and finished with 15 – a career-best for an opening half – and making six of his nine field goal attempts. Booker added nine points, with five of them coming in CU's 9-2 spurt to finish the half. But Booker missed the front end of two one-and-one opportunities in the half's final 4:59 as the Buffs went 7-of-10 from the free throw line.
The Warriors might have been thankful to be trailing by only a point at the half. Their leading scorer, guard Aaron Valdes (16.7 ppg), picked up his third personal foul at the 8:44 mark and went to the bench. Not quite 2 minutes later, starting guard Roderick Bobbitt took an inadvertent elbow to the head from Gordon and went to the locker room.
UH's Bobbitt didn't open the second half, but returned less than 3 minutes in. Yet almost as Bobbitt was entering, Valdes was leaving with his fourth personal foul. But the Warriors compensated for their leading scorer's mounting bench time with 3-point shooting.
After Scott hit one of two free throws for a 2-point lead, the Buffs once again found themselves playing from behind. Negus Webster-Chan, who hit two of his three first-half long balls and finished with 12 points, connected on his third trey, which was followed by a triple from Garrett Nevels (12 points).
CU trailed by five (42-37) before a Booker trey cut the deficit to one point twice and looked unwilling to let UH pull away. But that would change. After Nevels hit another 3-ball – the Warriors' eighth of the game – for a five-point lead, Isaac Fleming (18 points) hit a layup in transition to give them their largest lead of the game, 54-47. And Fleming missed an and-one free throw on the play.
Hawai'i increased its advantage to 58-50 on an up-and-under move by Stefan Jovanovic that also drew a foul from Gordon. Jovanovic missed the free throw, but down by eight points with 8:24 to play the Buffs needed to find some energy – and points.
They got both from Thomas, who hit his first triple of the season, and back-to-back baskets from Johnson. That 7-0 run brought CU to within 58-57 – the closest the Buffs had been since 45-44. And they weren't finished.
A Booker trey from the left corner with 5:06 left gave CU its first lead – 60-58 – since the first possession of the second half (34-32). Johnson followed with a pair of free throws after he and Stefan Jankovic were assessed technical fouls, and the Buffs' lead went to 62-58 – their largest to that point – at the 4:39 mark.
With the home team on its heels, the Buffs needed to do what they hadn't against George Washington – keep their composure down the stretch. Guarding the perimeter would have been nice too, but they didn't do either.
Boyle said the Buffs' current problems are "above the neck, it's between the ears, that's where are issues are and we have to get better. I think mentally, sometimes our guys overthink the game. It's funny, when we run offense that we've practiced, we're not very good. When stuff breaks down and guys just ball and make plays, we're pretty good. It's really something I have to look at because I don't understand it."
When Fleming knocked down UH's ninth triple with 3:30 left, the Warriors were down only 62-61. Scott's two free throws restored a three-point CU lead (64-61), but Valdes cut it to one with his first basket of the game then promptly picked up his fifth foul.
With Booker's pair of foul shots, the Buffs led 66-63 but a Fleming layup brought the Warriors to 66-65 with just over a minute left. After Johnson missed a short jumper in the paint, UH called timeout with 32 seconds left and Webster-Chan's free throw jumper pushed the Warriors up 67-66.
Dribbling fast to the other end, Booker had the ball poked away from behind by Bobbitt. Booker, who had two critical late turnovers, fouled him and Bobbitt hit both ends of one-and-one with 17.2 seconds to play for a 69-66 UH led.
"I like to try and attack before the defense is set, I don't like calling a timeout in that situation," Boyle said. "But, when you turn it over, you second-guess yourself as a coach that you should have called a timeout. I just believe philosophically when the defense isn't set get the ball where you want to get it and make plays, and if you get stuck in a difficult situation, then you can call a timeout."
Needing a triple, CU called a timeout. Out of that break, Johnson shot an air ball and Fleming was fouled to stop the clock. After he missed his one-and-one opportunity, the Buffs used their final timeout, offering a last-gasp chance with 2.1 seconds showing.
That gasp disappeared on a hurried half-court heave by Booker – and the Buffs were left with their second three-point holiday loss. CU's five losses mark the first time that's occurred under Boyle before the start of conference play.
"What this program has done in the past has absolutely no bearing on where we are today," he said. "That's what our players have to understand. The world doesn't owe us anything and people are coming at us. Hawai'i played a hell of a game and we're going to face a hell of a UCLA team on January 2nd. We have to get better. My vow to our team and to all of Buff Nation is we will get better. I'm going to seek to it, and our players are resilient and they will bounce back. But we've put ourselves in a hole, there's no question about it."
