Regardless of the sting of a surprising loss within the house finale on Saturday, Colorado level guard Jaylyn Sherrod tried to take a look at the massive image.
Washington State’s beautiful 72-63 victory on the CU Occasions Middle actually ruined the ambiance on senior day. Particularly because the Thirteenth-ranked Buffs led by 5 with 2 minutes, 57 seconds to play and gave up a 14-0 run to shut the sport.
And, particularly as a result of the loss left the Buffs (21-8, 11-7 Pac-12) with a 1-5 document within the final three weeks of the common season.
The Buffs, nonetheless, now flip their consideration to the Pac-12 event. Fifth-seeded CU will face Twelfth-seeded Oregon on the MGM Backyard Area in Las Vegas on Wednesday at 1 p.m. MT (Pac-12 Community).
“Yeah. I imply, everyone knows what’s on the road,” Sherrod stated. “Like (head coach JR Payne) stated, none of our targets will not be attainable at this level. No person’s taking a look at it as if we are able to’t do it. So I don’t assume that’s the case.”
WSU simply received scorching late, Sherrod stated, including, “That’s simply how basketball goes, so I’m probably not hanging hats on this sport.”
CU has to get better from extra than simply Saturday’s loss, nonetheless.
The Buffs, ranked as excessive as No. 3 this season, have been within the prime eight for 14 consecutive weeks earlier than this latest slide.
The tough stretch started after they have been dominated at house by No. 17 Oregon State on Feb. 11. That was adopted by a three-game street journey towards top-25 groups. CU had an opportunity to win all three, however by no means performed an entire sport in any of them.
The Buffs almost overcame a horrible begin at No. 22 Utah on Feb. 16, however misplaced on a buzzer beater. They performed phenomenal on offense at No. 7 USC on Feb. 23, however horrible on protection in a six-point loss. Three days later at No. 8 UCLA, they performed distinctive protection and horrible offense in an eight-point loss.
That loss to UCLA was the primary in what’s now a three-game streak of abysmal fourth quarters.
CU trailed 46-43 with 5:22 to play at UCLA, however then had a scoreless stretch of 4:16 and missed its final 10 area purpose makes an attempt of the sport.
On Thursday, CU beat Washington 68-62, however struggled to shut it out. The Buffs led by 12 with 5:57 to play and went scoreless over the subsequent 5:23 because the Huskies pulled with 5 within the final minute.
Then got here Saturday, when the Buffs went 0-for-6 down the stretch. They have been 5-for-16 with three turnovers within the last quarter, whereas WSU went 8-for-12.
Within the final three video games, CU is a mixed 9-for-40 (.225) from the ground within the fourth quarter, whereas its opponents are 18-for-40 (.450). These struggles are uncharacteristic for this Buffs workforce.
For many of this season, CU has owned the fourth quarter in shut video games.
The Buffs rallied from fourth-quarter deficits to beat Oklahoma State and Utah at house and Arizona and Washington State on the street. In addition they had robust finishes to shut out a number of different wins and dominated the fourth quarters towards Oregon State on Feb. 11 and Utah on Feb. 16, almost getting back from large deficits earlier than shedding.
Heading to Las Vegas, the Buffs will goal to regain the successful edge, particularly within the fourth quarter.
“I simply assume we’ll must be actually intentional about ensuring that we’re taking part in to win a sport, not taking part in to not lose, as folks say,” Payne stated.
Via the ache of Saturday’s defeat, Sherrod expressed confidence the Buffs can regroup.
“Vegas, I do know all of us really feel the, I suppose, crunch time of it and everyone knows that this workforce may be actually particular,” she stated. “In order that’s nonetheless on the desk. No person right here is writing us off. We’ve simply received to go on the market and deal with enterprise.”
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