Colorado University Athletics
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Buffs Storm Back From 16 Down, Sink USC On Road In Double OT
February 17, 2024 | Men's Basketball, Neill Woelk
LOS ANGELES — Colorado erased a 16-point second half deficit to force overtime Saturday and the Buffaloes then fought through a second overtime to collect a 92-89 victory over Southern California at the Galen Center.
Tad Boyle's Buffs improved to 17-9 overall and 8-7 in Pac-12 play while the Trojans slipped to 10-16, 4-11.
KJ Simpson led CU with 30 points — 24 coming in the second half — and nine rebounds as the Buffs collected a much-needed road victory. J'Vonne Hadley had a 13-point, 10-rebound double-double, his second of the season, Tristan da Silva tallied 18 points and Cody Williams chipped in 14.
Boogie Ellis led USC with 30 points.
The Buffs trailed by 16 with 9:52 to play in regulation but never quit, slowly chipping away at the lead. CU used a 9-0 run to narrow the deficit to single digits with just under six minutes to play, then whittled the USC lead to one with just more than a minute to play.
Colorado finally tied the game at 73-73 with 3 seconds remaining in regulation when Simpson dished a pass underneath to Luke O'Brien, who delivered a thundering dunk to force overtime.
USC then forced a second overtime with a layup to tie the game at 83-83 at the end of the first extra period but the Buffs outscored the Trojans 9-6 in the second overtime to collect the win. Simpson hit two free throws with 1:09 remaining to give the Buffs the cushion they needed.
The Buffs were once again hampered by turnovers, committing 21. But they made up for the miscues by shooting 52.5% from the floor (31-for-59) while also holding a commanding 47-22 edge on the boards.
USC shot 47% from the floor (34-73), but the Buffs held the Trojans to just 15-for-35 shooting over the last 17 minutes of regulation and 10 minutes of extra play.
"I'm not big on historical wins and stuff like that, but I know this was the grittiest, grittiest win I've experienced at Colorado in a long, long time," Boyle said. "Our guys deserved it for all the things we've been through. All the injuries and just coming up short so many times. Tonight we figured out a way to come out a winner. Sometimes it's not pretty but you find a way to win and our guys did that tonight."
HOW IT HAPPENED: Colorado trailed by just six at intermission, 39-33, after a first half that saw CU turn the ball over nine times, leading to eight USC points.
But the Buffs dug their hole deeper in a hurry in the opening minutes of the second half. CU turned the ball over on each of its first three possessions and less than five minutes in, the Trojans extended their cushion to 14. With 9:52 to play, the deficit reached 16 when an Ellis 3-pointer and a Bronny James layup gave USC a 65-49 lead.
"We didn't quit," said Simpson, who was a nearly unstoppable force down the stretch. "Everybody stepped up. We just wanted to come out and play each game like it's our last."
Indeed, Colorado refused to go away. Simpson pulled Colorado to within 10 with a pair of free throws at the 6:31 mark before the Buffs crafted a quick 9-0 run to shave USC's lead to just two. Da Silva hit a short jumper, Williams added a three-point play and another free throw and Simpson buried a long 3-pointer and CU trailed just 68-66 with 3:42 on the clock.
USC then temporarily bumped the lead back to four before the Buffs got another Simpson 3-pointer to cut the Trojans' lead to one, 70-69, with 1:58 to play.
"We just had to keep stacking stops and making plays," Boyle said. "Our guys did that."
The Trojans then got two free throws from DJ Rodman before da Silva answered with a bucket underneath to keep CU with one, 72-71, with 1:05 to play.
Both teams then came up empty on ensuing possessions before USC's Isaiah Collier hit one of two free throws with 11 seconds remaining to give the Trojans a 73-71 lead.
Colorado then called timeout and drew up the perfect play. Simpson brought the ball down court, dribbled underneath into a crowd and dished to O'Brien, who slammed home a dunk to tie the game with 3 seconds remaining in regulation, sending the game into overtime.
"That's our winner play," Boyle said. "We don't run it a lot during the season because we don't want people to scout it. There's three different options to that play and the key is to get players that make the right read and KJ made the appropriate read."
Colorado then took its first lead since early in the game halfway through the extra period. Simpson delivered a layup to give CU a 78-77 edge, then forced a turnover and handed another assist to O'Brien underneath to give CU an 80-77 lead with 1:58 to play.
USC cut the lead back to one with two free throws but da Silva answered with a 3-pointer with 1:08 to play to give the Buffs an 83-79 lead.
The Trojans answered with two more free throws and the Buffs came up empty on their next possession. That left just enough time for USC's Collier to hit a driving layup with four ticks left on the clock to tie the game at 83-83, sending the game into a second overtime.
The Buffs made sure the second extra period would be the last one. CU jumped out to a quick five-point lead, getting a banked 3-pointer from Simpson and two free throws from O'Brien.
The Trojans fought back to cut the CU lead to one, 90-89, before Simpson hit two free throws with 1:09 to play.
Both teams then came up empty on ensuing possessions before USC grabbed a rebound and called timeout with 11 seconds to go.
CU's defense came through, forcing a wild USC 3-pointer that was nowhere close at the buzzer and the Buffaloes slipped away with the win.
The comeback from 16 points down was the largest in program history with under 10 minutes to play.
"We've been talking about defense all year long," Boyle said. "To win a game on a great defensive stop is appropriate."
Both teams were hot from the field out of the gate to open the game. The first half featured 13 lead changes, with Colorado's last lead coming at the 11:24 mark when a KJ Simpson 3-pointer gave the Buffs a 21-20 edge.
But the Buffs gave up a transition dunk off a turnover a minute later and USC slowly built its lead to as much as nine, 37-28, as Colorado committed four turnovers in a four-minute span late in the half.
The Buffs finally ended a long scoring drought with a Cody Williams three-point play, and a J'vonne Hadley bucket in the final minute pulled CU to within 39-33 at the break.
Williams led the Buffs in scoring in the first half with 10 points.
DECISIVE MOMENT: While the Buffs never led in the second half, it was a 9-0 run that started with 6 minutes to play that switched momentum in CU's favor. The surge cut USC's lead from 11 points to two and the Buffs hammered away to force overtime, then get the win in the second extra period.
WHAT IT MEANS: Colorado collected just its second road win of the season and stayed within striking range of a top-four finish in the Pac-12 standings, which would give the Buffs a first-round bye in the conference tournament.
KEY STATISTICS: CU shot 52.5% from the floor (31-for-59) while also holding a commanding 47-22 edge on the boards … The Buffs also held the Trojans to just 15-for-35 shooting over the last 17 minutes of regulation and 10 minutes of extra play.
NEXT UP: The Buffs play just once next week, a 7 p.m. home matchup Saturday against Utah at the CU Events Center (Pac-12 Network). They then wrap up the home portion of their schedule the following week with a 6 p.m. game Feb. 28 against Cal and a 7 p.m. matchup March 3 against Stanford.
