With a visit from No. 13 Tennessee Saturday looking like a good opportunity for CU to chalk up an NCAA Tournament resume-building win, the Buffaloes were not up to the challenge, falling to the Volunteers, 69-54.
After a hot start that saw them take an early 8-0 lead over Tennessee, the Buffs (6-3) did not shoot the ball well for the rest of the game, finishing with a 35% make rate (19-of-55).
Before the game got out of hand down the stretch of the second half, multiple sloppy turnovers in the offensive zone prevented Colorado from finding any offensive rhythm.
CU had 15 turnovers Saturday, 12 of which came in the first half.
With Saturday's loss coming on the heels of a loss on the road at No. 5 UCLA earlier this week, the Buffaloes have dropped back-to-back games for the first time in 2021-2022.
“In my four years here, I haven’t lost very many games on my home floor,” Evan Battey said. “I haven’t lost many games against ranked opponents on my home floor. It definitely hurts, but it’s a learning opportunity for me and my team.”
Defensively, the Buffaloes had absolutely no answer for Tennessee freshman guard Kennedy Chandler, a former five-star recruit. Chandler was 13-of-20 from the floor, torching CU for 29 points.
“He got balls to the rim,” Tad Boyle said after the loss. I think he had one three, he had 10 layups and one or two pull-ups. He just got the ball to the rim whenever he wanted...Kennedy Chandler was the difference in the game.”
Keeshawn Barthelemy, who was limited to just two points in Colorado’s recent loss at No. 5 UCLA, was cold once again Saturday, going just 2-of-13 from the field with four points.
To his credit, he did snag a team-high nine rebounds and dish out four points, but on the whole, inconsistency at point guard continues to plague the Buffs early on into the 2021-2022 season.
Battey led CU in scoring with 12, while Tristan da Silva scored 11 and Jabari Walker contributed 10.
The Buffaloes and Volunteers battled closely for the majority of the first half, with Tennessee leading, 20-19 at the 6:54 mark.
From there, CU managed just five points, with Tennessee ending the half on a 6-0 run to take a 34-24 lead.
Da Silva scored five straight points for Colorado to open up the second half, trimming the Buffs’ lead to five, but a Chandler three-pointer shortly thereafter blunted the comeback effort.
Colorado clawed back to within five points of the Vols three separate times about midway through the second half, but in each instance, Tennessee was able to answer, keeping the game out of reach for CU.
Earlier this week, Boyle commented after the UCLA loss that his team had missed an opportunity to steal a win against a ranked team.
Following Saturday's game against the Volunteers, he had a similar reaction, lamenting that CU couldn't find a way to take control of the game when things were close in the first half.
"It's really, really frustrating because Tennessee — I really believe, especially early, they were ready to be beat. If we could have kept the pressure on them, the crowd in the game, got a little momentum, made a couple threes, got this building rocking — the fans were ready, everybody was ready but our team wasn't. That's disheartening."
Up next for the Buffaloes is a home game this upcoming Wednesday vs. Eastern Washington.
With lackluster defense accompanying a less-than-potent offense over the last few games, Colorado will have plenty of work to do on the practice court before the Eagles come to town.
"Right now, we're an average team," Boyle said. "Colorado is an average college basketball team right now. We've got to change that and it starts at practice on Monday morning."
