Colorado
8-3
Hawai'i
7-5
Buffs Fall To Hawaii In OT In Diamond Head Classic
December 23, 2018 | Men's Basketball, Neill Woelk
HONOLULU — Beaches and Buffaloes evidently are not a good mix — not, at least, for the Colorado basketball team.
Sunday, the Buffs lost their second game in as many days in the Diamond Head Classic, dropping a 70-62 decision in overtime to Hawaii on the Rainbow Warriors' home floor. The Buffs, who landed in Hawaii with a six-game win streak, saw their record drop to 8-3 while Hawaii improved to 7-5.
Despite shooting poorly for most of the game, the Buffs still had their chances to win. After trailing for much of the game, Colorado fought back to regain the lead with just more than eight minutes to play, and led by six, 52-46, with just under four minutes to go.
But a 10-2 run by Hawaii in the final three-plus minutes put the Rainbow Warriors back in the lead, and it took a McKinley Wright IV layup with 16 seconds remaining to tie the game and send it into overtime.
The Buffs, though, managed just one field goal in the extra five minutes of play while Hawaii hit a pair of big 3-pointers, including one from Jack Purchase with 55 seconds remaining that basically iced the win.
"Disheartening loss, but the one thing I can promise our fans is this team's not going to lose their heart," head coach Tad Boyle said. "I can promise you that. They really aren't. … I take ownership in this loss. I'm not going to blame our players. We're going to get better. We've taken a step backward, there's no doubt about it, but we are going to get better."
Wright led the Buffs with 20 points on 9-for-12 shooting to go with eight rebounds and Lucas Siewert added 19 points on 7-for-14 shooting. But after those two, the rest of CU's roster was an anemic 5-for-36 from the field, as Colorado finished the day just 21-for-64. (34 percent). Hawaii wasn't much better — 22-for-61 — but the Rainbow Warriors did hit 9 of 30 3-point tries, and they also held a commanding 48-35 edge on the boards.
HOW IT HAPPENED: After entering intermission tied at 24-24, the Buffs found themselves down by eight, 34-26, just five minutes into the second half.
But following a timeout, Colorado slowly climbed back into the game, putting together an 11-3 run to tie the game at 37-37, then finally taking a 42-41 lead on a deep Wright 3-pointer with eight minutes to go. Colorado held onto the edge for the next four minutes, and even threatened to put the game away when a Siewert three-point play with 3:57 remaining gave the Buffs their biggest lead of the game, 52-46.
But the Rainbow Warriors answered with a 10-2 run over the next 3:30 to take the lead before a Wright drive to the bucket with 16.9 seconds remaining tied the game at 56-56. Wright was fouled on the play and had a chance to put the Buffs back in the lead with a free throw, only to see the charity shot clang off the rim. Hawaii then missed a shot at the buzzer to send the game into overtime with the score tied at 56.
"Our defense for 37 minutes was good enough,but the last 3 minutes of regulation and overtime, it was not good enough," Boyle said. "That's unfortunate."
Indeed, the Buffs could not establish anything resembling rhythm on either end of the floor in the extra period. Siewert hit another three-point play with 4:27 remaining to tie the game at 59-59, but his was only last field goal the Buffs managed in overtime. The Buffs missed three of their next four free throws before Purchase's long 3-pointer and two free throws from Brock Stepteau gave Hawaii a 67-60 lead with 30 seconds to go.
"We are not executing from the neck up," Boyle said. "We didn't do it against Indiana State (in the tourney opening loss), we didn't do it against Hawaii tonight. We talk to our guys about communication all the time.  But these guys are very reluctant to talk, reluctant to communicate on the floor. … It was just absolutely atrocious execution by the Buffaloes and that's on the coach. I have to own it."
For the second night in a row, the Buffs were indeed their own worst enemy. Late in the first half, they had possession with 30 seconds remaining and called a timeout — then couldn't get a shot off before the buzzer. They also had a miscommunication that allowed Purchase to get open for his key 3-pointer in overtime, and they finished with 13 turnovers, which Hawaii converted into 13 points.
And, for the second night in a row, they were beaten on the boards. Hawaii's Zigmar Raimo finished with 17 rebounds, a big reason for Hawaii's 48-35 edge.
"We went from a good rebounding team to an absolutely horrid rebounding team overnight," Boyle said. "You don't want to oversimplify things, but we outrebounded our opponents every game that we've won and we've gotten outrebounded every game that we lost."
Both teams struggled from the floor in the first half, as the period ended in a 24-24 tie, Colorado's lowest-scoring half of the year. CU shot just 27.6 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes (8-for-29), including a 1-for-9 effort from 3-point range. The Rainbow Warriors fared little better, hitting just eight of their 26 attempts from the field.
TURNING POINT: After Siewert's 3-point play in overtime tied the game at 59-59, the Buffs scored just one more point in the next four minutes. They got a free throw from Shane Gatling to pull within two, 62-60, but their next four possessions resulted in two missed shots and two turnovers, leading to a decisive 3-pointer from the Rainbow Warriors.
WHAT IT MEANS: The confidence and momentum the Buffs carried with them to the islands has obviously taken a hit. CU will have one more chance to get a win before opening Pac-12 play with a pair of difficult road games — at Arizona on Jan. 3 and at Arizona State on Jan. 5.
KEY STATISTICS: The Buffs shot just 33.9 percent from the floor (21-for-62) and were outrebounded by 13, 48-35.
QUOTEWORTHY: "We have five of our first seven on the road in league play so we're going to have to grow up and grow up quickly between the ears and in our chests, with our hearts. I have confidence that this team can do that." CU head coach Tad Boyle.
NEXT UP: After a day off Monday, the Buffs wrap up the tournament Tuesday (Christmas Day) in the seventh-place game against Charlotte at 11 a.m.
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
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