Quick break
Why the Buffs misplaced: CU once more was porous on protection, permitting Northern Colorado to complete with a .525 taking pictures proportion after the Bears went 17-for-23 (.739) within the second half.
Three stars
1. UNC’s Quinn Denker. Returned from a two-game harm absence to go 12-for-18 with a career-high 33 factors.
2. UNC’s Ibu Yamazaki. Went 4-for-6 on 3-pointers with 19 factors and 7 rebounds.
3. CU’s Isaiah Johnson. The freshman supplied one other enormous activate the bench, posting season-highs of 25 factors and eight rebounds to guide the Buffs in each classes.
Up subsequent: CU begins Massive 12 Convention play Saturday at Arizona State (3 p.m. MT, ESPN2).
At occasions, the Colorado males’s basketball group has been sensible offensively.
Defensively, although, the Buffaloes have been inconsistent at finest. As a rule, the Buffs have been each porous and beneficiant defensively. It’s a trait that when once more bit the Buffs, this time in historic trend.
CU turned in one other listless defensive efficiency and Northern Colorado gladly took benefit, handing CU a surprising 86-81 defeat Sunday afternoon on the CU Occasions Heart. The victory ended the Bears’ 13-game dropping streak towards the Buffs and gave UNC its first win towards CU since Feb. 18, 1936.
“We don’t have anyone who’s going to take satisfaction sufficient and say, ‘I’m going to close this dude down,’” CU head coach Tad Boyle mentioned. “Our offense, though we shot 39%, I don’t assume our offense is that dangerous once you rating 81 factors. However there’s no one that had particular person satisfaction, and we don’t have collective satisfaction defensively. Till we determine it out, it’s going to be like this.”
UNC completed with a .525 taking pictures mark, turning into the fifth CU opponent in 13 video games to shoot at the least 50% towards the Buffs. 4 of these plus-50% taking pictures performances by CU foes have occurred on the Occasions Heart.
The Bears did a lot of that harm after halftime, taking pictures a whopping .739 (17-for-23) through the second half. UNC went 11-for-21 on 3-pointers, turning into the fourth CU foe this season to hit at the least 10 towards the Buffs.
Very similar to the loss towards Stanford final week, the Buffs turned in a good recreation offensively. Though CU shot simply .395, with a 7-for-23 mark on 3-pointers, the Buffs shot .466 after halftime and completed with a season-low 5 turnovers. The Buffs additionally went 14-for-15 on the free throw line. But these numbers together with the efforts of guards Isaiah Johnson, who recorded season-highs of 25 factors and eight rebounds, and Barrington Hargress (18 factors, 5 assists) weren’t practically sufficient to beat the lapses defensively and on the glass.
Regardless of not getting an offensive rebound within the second half, UNC outrebounded the Buffs 39-37. CU wasn’t outrebounded in any of its first 11 video games however has been outrebounded in every of its back-to-back defeats.
“We’re letting groups shoot 21 threes and hit 11. They hit 11 and we wish to maintain individuals to 6,” Hargress mentioned. “Simply permitting groups an excessive amount of freedom, and never making their finest gamers really feel uncomfortable. We’ve bought to do higher with simply being disruptive.”
UNC jumped to a 10-point lead within the first half, and though the Buffs trailed by solely two at halftime, CU by no means led by greater than six within the early levels within the second half. UNC broke a 68-68 tie with eight consecutive factors, getting back-to-back 3-pointers from Quinn Denker and Zach Bloch.
After the Buffs took an 80-78 lead on a jumper within the lane by Hargress with 1 minute, 50 seconds remaining, Denker answered with a pair of post-up buckets to place the Bears again in entrance by two factors. Johnson completed 5-for-6 on the free throw line, however his solely miss left the Buffs trailing by one level with 26.1 seconds remaining, and the Bears iced their historic victory with 4 free throws within the ultimate 24 seconds.
Denker returned from a two-game harm absence to attain a career-high 33 factors.
“Credit score goes to UNC. They got here in right here and beat us in our personal constructing,” Boyle mentioned. “They shoot 74%, 73.9, within the second half, you ain’t beating anyone doing that. I wish to use a unique phrase than ‘stuff.’ However it’s the identical stuff, only a totally different day.”
Northern Colorado 86, Colorado 81
NORTHERN COLORADO (10-3)
Nyeri 2-4 0-0 5, Wisne 6-15 0-0 13, Yamazaki 5-8 5-5 19, Bloch 3-6 0-0 8, Denker 12-18 6-6 33, Shields 3-6 2-6 8, Delano 0-2 0-0 0, Mawien 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 31-59 13-17 86.
COLORADO (10-3)
Dak 6-14 2-2 16, Rancik 4-13 4-4 14, Malone 2-5 2-2 6, Hargress 8-15 1-1 18, Kossaras 1-2 0-0 2, Johnson 9-20 5-6 25, Sanders 0-3 0-0 0, Holland 0-4 0-0 0, Ifaola 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 30-76 14-15 81.
Halftime: Northern Colorado 37-35; 3-point subject objectives: Northern Colorado 11-21 (Yamazaki 4-6, Denker 3-5, Bloch 2-4, Nyeri 1-2, Wisne 1-3, Delano 0-1); Colorado 7-23 (Dak 2-4, Johnson 2-6, Rancik 2-6, Hargress 1-3, Holland 0-1, Kossaras 0-1, Sanders 0-2). Rebounds: Northern Colorado 39 (Denker 8); Colorado 37 (Johnson 8). Assists: Northern Colorado 17 (Denker 8); Colorado 11 (Hargress 5). Turnovers: Northern Colorado 13 (Denker 5); Colorado 5 (5 gamers with 1). Whole fouls: Northern Colorado 12, Colorado 14. A: 8,347.