Quick break
Why the Buffs misplaced: CU was unable to get locked-in defensively, as Marquette shot .679 within the first half and completed at .618. It was the very best taking pictures share by a CU foe this season.
Three stars:
1. Marquette’s Tyler Kolek. The Golden Eagles level guard dictated the tempo all through and dissected CU’s protection, recording 21 factors and 11 assists.
2. CU’s KJ Simpson. Scored 13 of his 20 factors after halftime and likewise added seven assists and 5 rebounds.
3. Marquette’s Kam Jones. His 4 3-pointers within the first half put the Buffs in an early gap. He completed with 18 factors and 4 rebounds.
Up subsequent: The offseason. CU finishes the season with a program-record 26 wins however will quickly flip the web page to 2024-25.
INDIANAPOLIS — This will all the time be stated concerning the 2023-24 Colorado males’s basketball crew: the Buffaloes by no means backed down from a combat.
Not when a rash of accidents put small dents in CU’s lofty preseason expectations. Not when these accidents helped result in inconsistent play and a collection of dangerous losses. And definitely not in opposition to Marquette, even after a sizzling begin by the Golden Eagles threatened to ship the Buffs again to Colorado with an old school butt-kicking.
Alas, for 67 of the 68 groups within the NCAA Match, the top invariably arrives with disappointment and heartache. On Sunday, it was CU’s flip.
Regardless of a valiant second-half comeback, CU’s Candy 16 desires had been cruelly dashed, as second-seeded Marquette held off the Buffs down the stretch to remove CU with an 81-77 resolution in a second-round thriller at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
The sixth NCAA Match look in 14 seasons beneath head coach Tad Boyle ended just like the earlier 5 — in need of the Candy 16 whereas lamenting what may’ve been. It was the third second-round lack of these six match appearances beneath Boyle, though due to CU’s project within the First 4 spherical, the Buffs gained two video games inside the similar NCAA Match for the primary time in 69 years.
“Give Marquette credit score. They performed nicely. We didn’t have a lot of a solution for all of them (sport),” Boyle stated. “When a crew shoots 61% in opposition to you in a sport, nearly 62%, and you continue to obtained an opportunity on the finish, it means you’re doing one thing proper. For this crew, what meaning to me is that they’ve been competing their tails off the entire yr. You don’t surrender 61% and keep within the sport. However we rebounded the ball nicely, we fought, we battled. We simply got here up just a little bit quick.
“I believed we had our possibilities on the finish. Had some attractiveness. Didn’t go in. It’s disappointing. However I like this crew, I like these guys, I like these guys in that locker room. They’ve obtained nothing to hold their heads about. They competed their tails off.”
CU trailed by 11 factors at halftime however rallied in a rush behind their two leaders all yr, KJ Simpson and Tristan da Silva. That duo mixed for eight factors in a 10-2 run out of the gate after halftime, and Simpson’s third 3-pointer inside the first 5 and a half minutes of the second half gave the Buffs their first lead at 55-54 with 14 minutes, 41 seconds remaining.
It proved to be CU’s solely lead of the sport.
Marquette answered with an 8-2 run to regain the benefit, and the Golden Eagles had a solution every time the Buffs battled again right into a tie.
A 3-pointer from Cody Williams — his first since Feb. 15 at UCLA — adopted by a driving bucket from da Silva pulled CU right into a 64-64 tie with 9:38 to play, however Marquette answered with the subsequent 5 factors to regain the lead. Da Silva’s third 3-pointer of the sport tied it once more at 74-74 with 4:02 remaining, however the Golden Eagles outscored CU 7-3 the remainder of the way in which.
The Buffs had a number of attractiveness within the waning moments, together with an open 3-point try from Williams with CU trailing by one level, however the Buffs couldn’t recover from the hump.
“We knew we weren’t enjoying our greatest sport. It type of felt like we had been purported to be down 20 or 25 (at halftime) the way in which we had been enjoying,” stated da Silva, who recorded 17 factors, 5 rebounds, two assists and a career-high-tying three steals in his remaining sport at CU.
“We had a sense that it was in our fingers to type of flip this sport round. And we had all the arrogance to come back out within the second half and battle the way in which we did.”
CU didn’t get pleasure from its finest sport from lengthy vary, ending 10-for-30 on 3-pointers, however the Buffs shot a stable .470 general and outrebounded Marquette 30-25. This sport was misplaced on the defensive finish, as Marquette’s second-team All-American level guard Tyler Kolek obtained into the lane at will, ending 10-for-14 with 21 factors and 11 assists. The Golden Eagles shot .618 general, with Kam Jones taking pictures Marquette into the lead with 4 first-half 3-pointers.
As is all the time the case on match elimination day, it was a bittersweet finale as CU bids farewell to da Silva and fellow senior Luke O’Brien, whereas Williams seemingly is off to the NBA draft. That might be the subsequent vacation spot for Simpson as nicely, who seemingly will a minimum of check his draft inventory this spring.
Within the aftermath, nevertheless, the Buffs most popular to precise their collective pleasure at a late-season surge of 10 wins in 11 video games that ended on Sunday. That run saved CU’s season and gave the Buffs the chance to achieve the Huge Dance.
“Credit score to Marquette. They had been hitting nearly every part it appeared like,” Simpson stated. “We simply all had the mentality of not giving up. We’ve finished that all through the entire yr. We’ve proven that all through the entire yr. By no means surrender on the hassle. We did that. We simply got here up quick.”
COLORADO (26-11)
da Silva 7-14 0-0 17, Lampkin 6-9 1-1 13, Hadley 3-6 0-0 7, O’Brien 2-8 3-4 8, Simpson 8-19 0-0 20, Williams 5-10 1-2 12, Dak 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 31-66 5-7 77.
MARQUETTE (27-9)
Ighodaro 5-6 0-0 10, Joplin 5-12 2-2 14, Ok.Jones 7-13 0-0 18, Kolek 10-14 1-2 21, Mitchell 1-3 1-2 3, Ross 5-6 0-0 12, Gold 1-1 0-2 3. Totals 34-55 4-8 81.
Halftime — Marquette 45-34. 3-point subject objectives — Colorado 10-30 (Simpson 4-12, da Silva 3-7, Williams 1-2, Hadley 1-3, O’Brien 1-6), Marquette 9-21 (Ok.Jones 4-10, Ross 2-2, Joplin 2-6, Gold 1-1, Kolek 0-1, Mitchell 0-1). Rebounds — Colorado 30 (Lampkin 7), Marquette 25 (Joplin, Kolek 5). Assists — Colorado 21 (Simpson 7), Marquette 18 (Kolek 11). Complete fouls — Colorado 11, Marquette 10.