Poor shooting and turnovers, again.
The Colorado Buffaloes dropped another road game on Sunday afternoon, falling 65-56 to the Kansas State Wildcats. Credit to the Buffs for not giving up on the season or the game, but it was never as close as the final score, as K-State was in control start to finish.
The Buffs dug themselves an early hole. They started 3/13 from the field and 1/4 from the free throw line as K-State took advantage of some defensive breakdowns to build a 20-7 lead in the first nine minutes. CU was getting good looks, but they couldn’t make their layups, open threes or even FTs early on (or ever, really).
There were moments of positive play, as there always are for a young team like Colorado. Yet there were far more head scratching play for a Tad Boyle squad that has solidified in the last month or os. Those defensive breakdowns shouldn’t have happened. The Buffs just weren’t communicating, didn’t hustle back in transition, and lacked that bit of fight that’s helped them win twice in their previous four games.
It’s hard to say if CU played better in the second half, or if the Wildcats just played worse. It was not a good game of basketball in terms of execution, energy or suspense. K-State played like they had it in the bag, while the Buffs did just enough to make this game look competitive. Maybe if the Buffs had shot the ball decently well they could have pulled off the upset. But it’s hard to win when you shoot sub-40% from the field, sub-20% from three and sub-60% from FT — putrid numbers.
The Buffs play their final away game on Wednesday night, as they travel to Lubbock to take on the top-10 Texas Tech Red Raiders. After, the Buffs will celebrate their seniors on Saturday afternoon with a winnable game against TCU.