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Colorado men's basketball beaten down at Utah

pat rooney, daily camera, boulder, colo.
·5 min read

Feb. 12—Snapshot: Utah 73, CU Buffs MBB 62

Turning point: Utah took the lead for good with a 14-3 run early in the first half, then took control for the duration with a 12-2 run early in the second half.

Buff of the game: KJ Simpson finished just 5-for-13 from the field, but he went 3-for-3 on free throws and finished with 14 points, five rebounds, five assists and only one turnover in nearly 32 minutes.

What's next?: CU's road swing continues on Thursday at Arizona State (6 p.m. MT, Pac-12 Network).

SALT LAKE CITY — Colorado men's basketball coach Tad Boyle began the season by lamenting his team's lack of toughness as the Buffaloes surfed through some wild ups and downs out of the gate in November.

Three months later, little has changed with the Buffaloes.

In a showdown between two of the top defenses in the Pac-12 Conference on Saturday, Utah's showed up while CU's absolutely did not. The Buffs were outhustled and out-toughed, while the Utes bottled up the previously red-hot Tristan da Silva to keep the Buffs' road woes intact, sending them home with a 73-62 defeat at the Huntsman Center that further diminished CU's chances at making a run at even an NIT bid.

The Buffs fell to 1-8 in true road games.

"Coming into this game, we knew Utah was a good defensive team. And I felt like we had made some strides defensively," Boyle said. "The unfortunate thing for us this year is we just can't sustain anything defensively.

"Our guys fight. They compete. We were not tough enough tonight defensively and we weren't tough enough on the boards."

Utah used a 14-3 run early in the first half to take the lead for good, eventually building a 38-32 lead at halftime. CU converted the first bucket of the second half, but the Utes answered with a 12-2 run that gave the hosts a 14-point lead. The Utes maintained a double-digit lead the rest of the way.

The Buffs were outrebounded for just the sixth time this season, with the Utes posting a 41-29 advantage. It was the second-largest rebounding deficit of the season for CU, which entered the game ranked second in Pac-12 games in rebounding margin.

"They were better at doubling in the post than we were. They were tougher than we were because they outrebounded us by 12," Boyle said. "And they were the better defensive team. They beat us at our own game. They held us to less than 40% field goal percentage and they outrebounded us by 12. That's exactly what we aspire to do to other teams. Utah was the tougher team."

Utah had not shot better than 39% in any of its previous three games but shot .517 in the first half, eventually finishing with a .491 mark. Branden Carlson scored 17 points for the Utes. So did Marco Anthony, who recorded a season-high after entering the game mired in a scoring slump in which he had averaged just six points over the previous eight games.

After five consecutive 20-point games, da Silva was held to six points on a frustrating 3-for-12 night from the field. KJ Simpson went 5-for-13 but finished with a team-high 14 points, adding five rebounds and five assists.

But, as has been the case all season, the Buffs couldn't generate points when needed. The Utes led just 38-32 at halftime, and CU forced turnovers on each of the Utah's first two possessions of the second half. The Buffs came up empty on each of their ensuing possessions, however, and soon Utah reeled off the 12-2 run that put the hosts in control.

CU finished 4-for-18 on 3-pointers, including 1-for-11 in the second half.

"They were tougher than we were, especially on the glass," Simpson said. "They had second-chance opportunities. That's something we're pretty good at, but they were just the tougher team at boxing us out. It's tough when our offense isn't where we want it to be. When we're having trouble getting them off the glass and their hitting tough shot and hitting threes and we're not scoring, it's kind of hard to get over that hump."

Utah 73, Colorado 62

Colorado (14-12, 6-9 Pac-12)

da Silva 3-12 0-0 6, Lovering 2-4 0-0 4, Simpson 5-13 3-3 14, Gabbidon 0-4 0-0 0, Clifford 3-7 0-0 7, O'Brien 4-8 1-2 10, Hammond III 2-5 6-6 11, Wright 2-4 0-0 4, Ruffin 2-5 2-2 6. Totals 23-62 12-13 62.

Utah (17-9, 10-5)

Be. Carlson 4-6 0-2 10, Br. Carlson 7-13 3-3 17, Anthony 6-13 4-6 17, Stefanovic 1-4 6-7 9, Worster 3-9 0-1 7, Exacte 2-3 0-0 5, Keita 4-7 0-0 8, Tarlac 0-0 0-0 0, Brenchley 0-0 0-0 0, Holt 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 27-55 13-19 73.

Halftime — Utah 38-32. 3-point field goals — Colorado 4-18 (da Silva 0-2, Simpson 1-3, Gabbidon 0-1, Clifford 1-2, O'Brien 1-4, Hammond III 1-3, Wright 0-2, Ruffin 0-1); Utah 6-17 (Be. Carlson 2-4, Br. Carlson 0-3, Anthony 1-2, Stefanovic 1-4, Worster 1-3, Exacte 1-1). Rebounds — Colorado 29 (O'Brien 6); Utah 41 (Be. Carlson, Anthony 8). Assists — Colorado 12 (Simpson 5); Utah 17 (Worster 6). Total fouls — Colorado 16, Utah 15. Fouled out — Worster. A — 6,133.