Emotions and court stormings aside, Colorado's 79-63 victory over No. 2 Arizona on Senior Night will go down as one of the top wins in CU men's basketball program history.
All images via Ron Chenoy, USA Today
CU's win tied 1992's upset over No. 2 Oklahoma State for the highest-ranked opponent the Buffaloes have ever taken down.
The victory, with a sellout crowd of 11,079 witnessing a game full of excitement and emotion, brought back memories of Askia Booker's game-winning three-pointer to lift the Buffs over No. 6 Kansas in December of 2013.
That game will maintain a special place on the Colorado all-time wins list, but the Buffs' upset of Arizona may well go down as being an even sweeter memory for fans, players and coaches alike.
Following the win, the Buffs' four seniors each took turns addressing the crowd of students and fans assembled on Sox Walseth Court.
After Benan Ersek, Will Loughlin and Elijah Parquet had taken turns celebrating with fans, the man of the hour, Evan Battey, took the microphone, attempting to encapsulate his Colorado career in a brief address.
"He’s the mayor," Tad Boyle said after the game. "Everybody knows him, everybody loves him, and to see him get up on the scorer’s table tonight, address the crowd, and proclaim that he wants to be the head coach at the University of Colorado sometime — I mean, how many kids do that? He loves this place and he’s special. I love Evan Battey.”
Following the Buffs' ugly loss Thursday to the lowly ASU Sun Devils, a major recalibration was going to be needed if they were to stand a chance against Arizona.
Boyle took one considerable step to provide that from the get-go, inserting true freshman Julian Hammond III for his first career start at point guard.
Hammond III finished the night with seven points and had a number of nice defensive plays in the win.
But aside from that, Colorado's players deserve the bulk of the credit.
They held the Pac-12's most potent offensive team to a 39% make rate on the night, and Arizona was effectively held in check from long range, too, finishing with a 5-of-18 (28%) clip from beyond the arc.
Sophomore forward Tristan da Silva led the Buffaloes with 19 points, with Jabari Walker contributed his Pac-12-leading 15th double-double of the year, finishing with 15 points (6-of-9) and 14 boards.
Keeshawn Barthelemy, CU's normal starting point guard, scored 15 points off the bench, while Battey added 11 and K.J. Simpson scored 10.
Colorado three-pointers did not fall often vs. U of A (4-of-15, 27%), but on the whole, the Buffs shot 48% (31-of-64) from the floor.
The Buffs lit it up big time in the second half, shooting 65% (19-of-29) in the decisive final 20 minutes.
Things got off to a less-than-ideal start for the Buffaloes, who took over six minutes to hit their first field goal of the game, coming at the 13:44 mark off a Barthelemy layup.
Arizona had built a quick 8-2 advantage leading into that moment, and within a few more minutes, the Buffs were leading by five, 16-11.
The Wildcats would take a six-point lead, 33-27, with 2:17 left before halftime and maintained something of a comfortable lead over CU for the remainder of the half.
After 20 minutes of play, Arizona led, 37-32.
The Buffs (19-10, 11-8 Pac-12) came out swinging to begin the second half, with Hammond III scoring a quick pair of baskets and da Silva hitting a second-chance layup to put the Buffs up, 43-42, with 17:16 to play.
"We played (Arizona) close the first half (in Tucson) and kind of kicked it away the second half, but it's about progression," Battey said. "I said (at halftime), 'let's show some growth, let's show some maturity and show how far we've come after our last game.'"
The game was by no means won at that point, but da Silva'a basket proved to be notable in that for the remainder of the game, Colorado maintained a lead over the visiting Wildcats.
Simpson, who scored a then-career high 17 points at Arizona on Jan. 13, made his presence known in the second half of Saturday's game, too.
After hitting a free throw to complete a three-point play, Simpson then managed a steal in the defensive zone before taking the ball downcourt and dunking it to the loud applause of Colorado's fans.
The basket gave CU its biggest lead of the night, 54-46, with 13:33 to go.
Arizona got it to within four points about two minutes later, but with 11:02 to play, a 9-0 run by the Buffs, sparked by another layup via Simpson, had Colorado in front, 63-50.
The Wildcats would come within striking range of CU one final time, lowering their deficit to six with 5:28 left in the game, but a three-point play from Barthelemy followed by a pair of free throws by da Silva put Colorado's lead back at nine with 4:43 left.
From there, Colorado would lead by at least 10, piling it on Arizona in the closing minutes of the game.
With each basket the Buffs hit late in the game — a pair of Battey free throws, a three from da Silva, a Barthelemy dunk — the decibel levels at the CU Events Center grew larger as the inevitable grew closer.
One final dunk from Barthelemy with 33 seconds left proved to be the final basket of the night.
As the lock ran out, pandemonium ensued, with fans and students rushing the court to celebrate with the Buffs.
"I forgot that the plan was to storm the court if we won, and so it kind of caught me off-guard when that happened," Walker said. When it happened, I got scared. I was like 'what's going on?'"
"I wish I would have had my head on a swivel but it was just amazing."
For Boyle's club, Saturday's win keeps them in the hunt for a top-four finish in the Pac-12.
Oregon (18-11, 11-7 Pac-12) lost to No. 16 USC Saturday, and remains one game ahead of CU for fourth place in the Pac.
While Colorado prepares for next Saturday's season finale at Utah, Boyle plans to relish tonight's accomplishment.
"You've got to play with great energy and emotion, but not let the emotion boil over and I thought our guys did a good job of that — that shows maturity," Boyle said.
