Colorado stumbles in opening Big 12 tourney game, loses to OKSU

While No. 11-seeded Colorado (17-15, Big 12 7-11) found a better conference regular season than a year ago, it had two fewer days in Kansas City.

The Buffaloes, without Sebastian Rancik (injury, missed final three games of season), lost to No. 14-seeded Oklahoma State (19-13, Big 12 6-12), 92-83, on Tuesday night, leaving the Big 12 Championship tournament with no victories. They won two games at the tournament a year ago despite being the last-place team.

“When the season is over, it’s over quickly,” Colorado head coach Tad Boyle said. “It’s just one day you’re playing, one day you’re not. Today, we’re playing. Tomorrow, we’re not. We’re heading back home, and it’s not a good feeling.”

The Cowboys, despite being without star big man Parsa Fallah (torn ACL), dominated the interior. They scored 10 more points in the paint than CU, and shot 19 more free throws. OKSU grabbed 10 more offensive rebounds, leading to extra offensive possessions.

Forward Christian Coleman (17 points) was the main contributor inside, grabbing a game-high 14 rebounds (seven offensive). He scored at the rim, helping OKSU to nine more second-chance points than the Buffs.

Yet, his guards got to the rack and shot the 3-point ball well in the second half.

Led by Anthony Roy‘s 24 points, bouncing back from a poor showing in the lone regular season meeting between the two teams, Oklahoma State shot 29-of-64 (45.3%) from the field. Jaylen Curry (five rebounds, four assists) got going with 15 points. And while making just one 3-pointer in the first half, OKSU shot 4-of-7 (57.1%) from beyond the arc in the second half, taking advantage of fastbreak opportunities.

“We need him to vary what he does, and he doesn’t need to shoot just complete 3s all the time,” OKSU head coach Steve Lutz said of Roy. “You need him to be able to be a playmaker and to finish on the perimeter.”

Still, the Buffs scored 83 points on 47.1% shooting from the floor, tying the point total it notched against the Cowboys in Boulder. Forward Bangot Dak (eight rebounds, three assists, three blocks, two steals) tied a career-high 22 points, and guard Barrington Hargress scored 18 points along with nine assists.

“I’m really proud of these two guys to my right (Dak), to my left (Hargress),” Boyle said. “Barrington and Bangot, not only the way they played tonight, but the way they played all year, what they’ve given this program.”

Beyond the junior duo, though, Oklahoma State forced CU into 29 3-pointers, the third-highest it has attempted all year. With Rancik out of the contest, Lutz wanted to shrink the floor and allow the Buffs to shoot away.

“(Rancik) spaces the floor for you, and so if you don’t have him out on the floor and all those ball screens that they run, you’re able to shrink the floor a little bit more and maybe keep your defense together, especially in all the pick and roll actions,” Lutz said. “It’s just tough, man, when you lose good players in this league. There’s very little room for error in the first place, and then you lose a good player, it just makes it really, really tough.”

Colorado started hot against Lutz’s defensive strategy, canning four 3s on seven attempts in the opening nine minutes to lead by nine points. But they kept hucking 3-pointers and jumpers, ultimately finishing 10-of-29 (34.5%) from beyond the arc. And with quick misses and long rebounds, OKSU turned defense into offense, scoring more points in transition.

While Hargress and Dak produced, freshman phenom Isaiah Johnson was held to 14 points on 5-of-15 shooting from the field (2-of-9 3PT) as the Cowboys packed in their defense, limiting driving lanes. Naturally, both teams had under 10 turnovers, but the Cowboys succeeded more at getting to the rim.

With better defensive energy and rebounding, especially after the 3-point shot started to fall for the Cowboys and not for the Buffs, OKSU went on small runs. Oklahoma State erased CU’s early nine-point lead in the first half, then built a lead it held in the second, eventually winning by nine points. Its largest lead was 15 points.

“Defense and rebounding,” Boyle answered when asked what the difference was in Tuesday night’s contest.

Names and numbers

Starters:

CU: Barrington Hargress, Isaiah Johnson, Jalin Holland, Bangot Dak, Elijah Malone

OKSU: Kanye Clary, Benjamin Ahmed, Christian Coleman, Ryan Crotty, Anthony Roy

Head-to-head:

• FG%: CU – 32-68 (47.1%)/OKSU – 29-64 (45.3%)
• 3PT%: CU – 10-29 (34.5%)/OKSU – 5-17 (29.4%)
• FT%: CU – 9-16 (56.3%)/OKSU – 29-35 (82.9%)
• Assists/Turnovers: CU – 18-8/OKSU – 17-7
• Rebounds/Offensive: CU – 34-10/OKSU – 44-15
• Steals/Blocks: CU – 5-4/OKSU – 6-5
• Fouls: CU – 20/OKSU – 17

Colorado:

• F, Bangot Dak (30 min.): 22 points (10-13 FG, 2-3 3PT, 0-1 FT), 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 turnover, 2 steals, 3 blocks, +1
• G, Barrington Hargress (38 min.): 18 points (6-11 FG, 1-4 3PT, 5-6 FT), 4 rebounds, 9 assists, 1 turnover, 1 steal, -14
• G, Ian Inman (17 min): 11 points (4-7 FG, 3-5 3PT), 1 rebound, 1 assist, 1 steal, -7

Oklahoma State:

• G, Anthony Roy (29 min.): 24 points (6-9 FG, 2-5 3PT, 10-11 FT), 5 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 turnover, 1 block, +15
• F, Christian Coleman (35 min.): 17 points (7-16 FG, 0-2 3PT, 3-4 FT), 14 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 turnover, 3 blocks, -7
• G, Jaylen Curry (25 min.): 15 points (6-9 FG, 1-2 3PT, 2-2 FT), 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 turnover, +2

Half-by-half

1st half: OKSU, 41-40

Before the game, Colorado’s bench was assessed a technical foul. Roy, however, missed the free throw.

Once the contest picked up, it was off to the race. Getting up and down the floor, the Buffs started 4-of-9 from the floor as OKSU started 3-of-6. Dak and Hargress hit three mid-range jumpers, and Dak tipped in a shot, scoring four points each in the opening minutes. But C. Coleman, who had five points, helped the Cowboys to a 9-8 lead by the first media timeout.

Out of the break, OKSU went to a zone defense, though Dak nailed a triple on the first possession. While the Cowboys scored two buckets, one by C. Coleman and the second by Mekhi Ragland, CU kept up the 3-point shooting thanks to good play by Johnson. The freshman got going with a corner shot from deep off a baseline out-of-bounds play, then hit Hargress for 3 after a steal. Colorado opened up an 11-0 run, forcing an Oklahoma State timeout after Ian Inman hit his team’s fourth 3-pointer of the game.

The Buffs led 22-13 with 11 minutes and 32 seconds before halftime, forcing four consecutive empty possessions on the defensive end.

Oklahoma State ended the run with an unconventional 3-point play: Benjamin Ahmed got fouled, making the first free throw before Isaiah Coleman putback the missed second. The sequence began a 10-2 Cowboys’ run, as Ryan Crotty made his team’s first 3-pointer of the game. The Buffs, falling cold, went just 1-of-5 from the field out of the timeout, holding a slim 24-23 lead with just under eight minutes to go. And OKSU grabbed one more offensive rebound before the half.

“15 offensive rebounds,” Boyle said. “We were minus 10 against a team that’s not a good rebounding team.”

While I. Coleman scored an and-one, briefly giving Oklahoma State the lead, Jalin Holland hit CU’s fifth 3-pointer, as it shot 6-of-18 from deep in the opening 20 minutes. Then Colorado’s guards got to the rim for back-to-back layups. Yet, the Cowboys went for another 6-0 run, taking back the lead and forcing a Buffs’ timeout after three consecutive scores off of successful drives.

The Black-and-Gold trailed 33-32 with just three-and-a-half minutes left in the half, shooting just 16-of-37 (43.2%) from the field in the half despite a 9-of-16 start. While the Cowboys only briefly went zone, they sagged off Colorado, forcing it to shoot jumpshots.

“We shot way too many 3s in the first half, we got very impatient,” Boyle said. “We took a lot of them with a lot of time left in the shot clock. We didn’t show much maturity or patience in the first half offensively.”

Elijah Malone scored a quick post hook, but a 3-pointer by Vyctorious Miller kept OKSU ahead. Getting to the free-throw line for four free throws, the Cowboys held a multiple-possession lead. Oklahoma State held a four-point lead up until the final shot of the half, where Hargress pump-faked and hit an and-one mid-range jumper. Scoring 12 points, leading the half in scoring, Hargress cut the Cowboys’ lead to 41-40 entering the break.

Oklahoma State controlled the inside, scoring eight more points in the paint, drawing nine more free throws and grabbing four more rebounds than Colorado in the opening 20 minutes. The interior play helped salvage OKSU’s 1-of-10 3-point shooting in the half, as it shot 45.5% from the field. Both teams had five turnovers each.

2nd Half: OKSU, 92-83 (OKSU, 51-43)

Holland picked up his third foul less than a minute into the second half. While Oklahoma State started 2-of-8 in the half, it kept getting to the line, drawing two free throws before Roy converted a tough and-one at the rim. OKSU’s leading scorer on the year nailed a deep, transition triple on the next possession, and the Cowboys grabbed several offensive boards before the first media timeout.

Layups by Dak and Josiah Sanders helped CU to a 2-of-6 start from the floor, though it trailed 49-44 with 16 minutes to play.

“It really was just our shot selection, whether it was early 3s or whether it was just some contested shots that led to just bad misses. A bad shot is just as good as a turnover, because it’ll give an unpredictable miss where you’re when you’re rebounding is uneven,” Hargress said. “And then you’re looking at transition defense coming right back at you. And that’s something that (OKSU) was very good at, and that’s something that was on our board, was transition and to spread back.”

While Hargress hit two free throws out of the timeout, OKSU opened a 6-0 run, going up by nine points. Roy got to the line, Curry hit a floater and I. Coleman scored at the rim. Back-to-back inside scores by Dak and Malone ended the run. Yet, while both teams were shooting 33.3% from the field in the half’s opening nine minutes, Oklahoma State had four more offensive rebounds in the half, keeping it ahead 59-50 by the mid-period media timeout.

“Just finishing possessions with finishing possession of the rebound,” Hargress saidwhen asked what Colorado’s struggles were. “They won the board by 10. Christian Coleman had seven offensive rebounds, which just puts (them) in the position to be right at the rim and draw fouls, which is kind of what they did. They kind of just bullied their way to the paint.”

The Buffs didn’t go away, making four consecutive field goals, capped by an and-one by Johnson and a 3-pointer by Holland. Still, Roy and the Cowboys answered each make, as there was only one miss between the two teams for four straight minutes; he hit his third 3-pointer and reached 20 points with a layup. Oklahoma State led 68-60 with just over seven minutes to play. Ahmed dealt with foul trouble, picking up four fouls.

“He really was comfortable getting downhill and putting pressure on the rim,” Hargress said of Roy. “That also came from trying to get him off the line. But yeah, he’s a really good player, and he was very aggressive. And he picked his spots, and we had to be better in a rotational defense. He was just a really aggressive player.”

Out of the timeout, though, Johnson split his free throws, leaving room for OKSU to take advantage. Inman fouled Miller on a 3-point attempt, then Miller drew two more free throws on the next possession. While Holland found a backdoor dunk, Kanye Clary hit a triple on the next play, giving the Cowboys a 12-point lead.

Inman responded with a 3-pointer, and Hargress scored a floater following a steal, cutting back within single digits. But after another OKSU board led to more free throws, Clary picked the ball from Johnson, leading to a dagger 3-pointer from Curry; OKSU shot 4-of-7 from deep in the final 20 minutes.

The Cowboys led 83-71 with three-and-a-half minutes to go.

Still, the Buffs didn’t go away. They cut the lead to seven points with 37 seconds to go, forcing back-to-back timeouts by Oklahoma State.

Yet, with just too little time left on the clock, Colorado couldn’t claw back, losing 92-83.

“Just keeping these guys together, we’re still a family at the end of the day,” Hargress said about approaching the offseason. “We say that and mean it at the end of every game. So just understanding that we’re still going to be together, we’re still going to be around each other all the time. So just letting that steer our pathway, and steering us until next season, and building us into a better team.”

What’s next

The Buffs’ season is over for now. They will await a potential bid for the National Invitation Tournament or College Basketball Crown.