Things didn’t come easy for Colorado on Saturday despite leading for most of the game, but a gritty performance from Tad Boyle’s group helped it prevail in the end.
The Buffs survived a late Baylor run to pick up their second win in Big 12 play, this time in a 76-74 upset of Scott Drew’s ballclub.
“We made that a little bit harder than we needed to down the stretch, there’s no doubt about that,” Boyle said postgame. “We made it interesting and it shouldn’t have been, so we’ve gotta learn from that. But I was proud of our guys’ fight and competitiveness.”
It was an ugly start from both teams, as neither one could get anything going offensively early on. Colorado (11-16, 2-14 Big 12) once again struggled to get good looks against the athleticism of Baylor defensively and continued to turn the ball over while the Bears made just four of their first 20 shots.
In the meantime, Baylor (16-11, 8-8) survived for almost the entirety of the first 20 minutes on the back of its work on the offensive glass. Colorado held a slim lead throughout the majority of an ugly first half, but Baylor was able to stay attached with 10 second chance points off of 10 offensive rebounds.
In the final 90 seconds of the opening half, Baylor took control with a little help from Colorado. The Buffs’ bench was called for a technical foul with 1:22 to go in the frame, allowing Langston Love to knock down two free throws that tied the game at 27. Norchad Omier then gave the Bears their first lead since the opening seconds with an easy bucket inside. Even a quick Andrej Jakimovski 3 couldn’t stem the momentum, as Love drilled a tough 3-pointer at the buzzer to send Baylor into the locker room with a 32-30 lead.
“25% [shooting by Baylor] in that first half was fantastic,” Boyle said. “We shou;ld’ve been up 10 instead of down two, but we weren’t and we kept battling.”
The Bears rode Omier at the start of the second half to the tune of three buckets that helped them stay in front. With 13 minutes to go, Robert Wright III and Jalen Celestine drilled back-to-back 3s to give Baylor a 48-42 lead and it looked like the talent gap was going to get the better of the Buffs once again.
Like it did all game, Colorado continued to hang tough. The Buffs responded quickly with a 9-3 run over the next two minutes, tying the game at 51 on a Jakimovski 3 with just over 10 minutes to go.
As the game passed the six-minute mark, Colorado found one more run to get the separation it needed. With the Buffs leading 62-61, Sebastian Rancik rattled off five points in a row before Trevor Baskin tipped in a Rancik miss to make it an eight-point lead. On the next trip, Bangot Dak drew a foul and sank both free throws to cap off a 9-0 run, giving CU a 71-61 lead with 4:32 to go.
Like most teams near the bottom of the standing do, the Buffs had to make it hard on themselves with a couple of miscues down the stretch. Holding onto a 74-67 lead with a minute to play, Dak missed a dunk, and a chance to salt the game away, allowing Baylor’s Jalen Celestine to drain a 3-pointer. On the ensuing trip, Dak committed a turnover that led to a Celestine turnover and in a blink the lead was down to two with 30 seconds remaining.
Colorado continued to show that resilience despite the late scramble from Baylor. After a timeout, CU calmly got the ball in to Julian Hammond III, who took the foul and drilled both free throws to give the Buffs a four-point lead with 17 seconds remaining. Baylor wasted a lot of clock to get a basket on the other end and ran out of time for a final shot even after Baskin missed two free throws.
Jakimovski had one of his best games of the season in this game, finishing with 17 points, seven rebounds and five assists. He also took the toughest assignment on defense, but held star freshman and potential top 10 draft pick VJ Edgecombe to just eight points on 2-for-9 shooting.
“To hold VJ Edgecombe to eight points – that’s a future lottery pick – is an unbelievable job by [Jakimovski],” Boyle said. “We talked about trying to be a team and be in the gaps and I thought we did a pretty good job on that as well, but Andrej deserves a lot of credit. … That’s what seniors do down the stretch of their senior year.”
RJ Smith also had a very good game for Colorado with 13 points while Hammond added 12. The Buffs shot a blazing 14-for-24 from the field in the second half and finished the game 21-for-25 from the free throw line to help them get the win.
Omier posted 18 points and 13 rebounds for Baylor in the loss, and the Bears finished the game shooting just 36% from the field.
Colorado has a quick turnaround before a massive clash against Kansas in Boulder on Monday night. Tip-off against the Jayhawks will be at 9 p.m. MST.
