Riding a three-game winning streak, the Colorado Buffaloes entered Berkeley, California in the hopes of scoring another Pac-12 Conference victory.
The forecast for the Sunday afternoon matchup was cloudy with temperatures in the mid-50s, but the California Golden Bears made it rain from long range, going 11-of-29 from behind the arc. Despite facing a 20-point deficit in the first half, the Buffaloes hung around, coming to within five of Cal with bit more than three minutes remaining.
However, the comeback, and a heroic performance by senior guard Derrick White, who led the Buffs and all scorers with 25 points, was not enough and Colorado’s rally fell short as Cal edged the Buffs in Berkeley, 77-66.
Colorado played without the services of two of its key members. Senior guard Xavier Johnson and senior forward Wesley Gordon were benched by head coach Tad Boyle for violating team rules. Boyle declined to get into specifics on the incident or when it took place.
“[It’s] a situation where two really good kids made a bad decision and we had to address it,” he said after the game. Boyle also did not specify if the two players would play in Colorado’s next contest.
“On the glass [and] offensively, [Gordon and Johnson] are the backbones to our team,” junior guard George King said. “They’re our two bigs. It was kind of weird not having them out there.”
Senior forward Tory Miller scored the Buffs’ first four points, while a three-pointer by White at the 15:15 mark tied the game at seven. For the rest of the contest, Colorado would trail. Cal’s potent three-point game was a problem for the Buffaloes all afternoon. In particular, Charlie Moore made the Buffs pay numerous times. He went 5-of-8 from long range in the Golden Bears’ win.
Moore nailed a three-pointer with 9:52 left in the first half, which put California up 20-12. It would get worse from there. Two minutes later, Cal had taken a 26-12 lead over Colorado. For more than four minutes, every basket the Golden Bears made was from downtown.
Not helping things, Colorado managed to score just two points during that span. A layup by Cal’s Kameron Rooks put the Golden Bears up 39-16 with 3:28 left before halftime. The Buffs fought back a bit, lowering their deficit to 15 as both teams headed to the locker rooms, 41-26.
The beginning of the second half saw a reversal of fortunes for CU, which battled well and got to within seven of Cal a few minutes into the final 20 minutes. Two free throws by King made the score 43-36 with just over 16 minutes left in the contest.
A little over a minute later, Cal had taken a lead less desirable to Colorado, going up 50-38. In the game, the Buffaloes were outmuscled near the glass by the Golden Bears, thanks to their big guys. Cal edged Colorado in the rebounding department, 40-32. It showed in the form of second chance points. Colorado managed just 12 points while Cal got 24 on second chance opportunities.
“Basically, they’ve got three seven-footers and we don’t,” Miller said. “You can’t teach height, you can’t practice height and I think that’s a big part of their defense.”
Miller played well, coming a rebound short of a double-double. He finished with 10 points and nine rebounds.
With 3:19 left, Colorado had fought and clawed its way back into the game and trailed 62-57. But from there, the Buffaloes were unable to further halt Cal. A foul-palooza in the final minute of desperation was not enough to lift the Buffs to victory. In that last minute of play, the closest CU got was an eight-point deficit with 51 seconds left.
“Our guys battled back and to me there’s a lot of positives we can build on,” Boyle said after the game. “I thought Tory [Miller] played well. Our guys battled [but] our offense wasn’t good enough tonight.”
Colorado made about 37 percent of their attempts from the floor. The team struggled from long range in the loss, making just six of their 21 shots from downtown.
The loss snaps a three-game winning streak by the Buffaloes. The Buffs return to Coors Events Center this Thursday for a showdown with the Washington Huskies. Tipoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. (MST) The Buffaloes will certainly be hungry for revenge after the Huskies edged them in Seattle, 85-83, in a heartbreaking overtime thriller.
“We always try to forget about the past but sometimes it’s good to remember,” King said. “Hopefully we can get the win.”
Contact CU Independent Head Sports Editor Justin Guerriero at justin.guerriero@colorado.edu and follow him on Twitter @TheHungry_Hippo.
