After a 4-0 start to the season against lesser competition, it was time for Colorado to test itself against top competition. The Buffs took the long flight out into the Pacific to do so at the Maui Invitational and what awaited them was a humbling 40 minutes of hoops.
Tom Izzo and Michigan State handed it to Colorado in the quarterfinals of the tournament Monday, pulling away near the end of the first half and never looking back in a 72-56 victory.
Colorado started this one with arguably its best 8 minutes of offense yet this season. The Buffs moved the ball well and knocked down some shots early in the game to keep pace with the Spartans in a fast-paced opening stretch. Julian Hammond III knocked down a 3 on Colorado’s opening possession and Andrej Jakimovski followed that with a triple of his own to get the offense started.
The Buffs also willed their way to the free throw line early on in this one, forcing the Spartans to foul them around the basket. However, Michigan State was able to hang with them by getting to the basket on its own. Freshman guard Jase Richardson, son of longtime NBA veteran Jason Riuchardson, provided an immediate spark after coming in the game with six points in his first 5 minutes of game action.
The Buffs’ production on the offensive end fell off a cliff late in the first half and Michigan State was able to create some separation. Colorado’s ball movement slowed to a halt and it failed to get the ball inside with the dribble or by passing. As a result, it was forced to settle for a lot of bad shots at the end of the clock.
CU scored just four points over the final 9:14 of the first half as Michigan State went on a 17-4 run to take a 38-25 lead into halftime.
Tad Boyle came out of the half with a changeup. After going to a 2-3 zone near the end of the first half, Boyle put the Buffs into a 1-3-1 half court trap defense to try to throw the Spartans off and buy Colorado some time to climb back into the game. The plan worked, at least on defense, as Michigan State’s fast tempo immediately.
Offensively, Colorado wasn’t able to capitalize, though.
The Achilles heel of this CU team has been committing turnovers during this young season and that came back to bite it in this one. After a first half where the Buffs only gave the ball away four times, Colorado coughed it up five times in the first five minutes of the second half.
By the time the Buffs settled back in, Michigan State had found its flow again on the offensive end. Richardson knocked down a 3-pointer with just under 14 minutes to go in the game to stretch the Spartans’ lead back to double digits. From there, Michigan State began to move the ball very well and score on a multitude of cuts to the rim.
Colorado finally got things going by establishing Elijah Malone down in the post, but it was too little, too late. Michigan State answered every small run the Buffs made with sound offense of its own, and Boyle’s squad never got within 14 points in the final 10 minutes.
Colorado finished this game with just 12 turnovers, a season low. However, that stretch of sloppy play early in the second half proved to be very costly. Hammond led the team in scoring with a game-high 15 points and Malone added 14 as just two Buffs finished in double figures.
Eight Spartans scored at least six points, but Richardson was the only one to get into double figures with 13. Michigan State missed plenty of opportunities to wrap this one up even earlier with some open looks on the outside, but it finished just 2-for-21 from 3.
Michigan State moves on in the winner’s bracket and will take on Memphis in the semifinals on Tuesday. CU will look to respond from this game on Tuesday when it takes on No. 2 UConn in the consolation bracket. Tip-off is at 1:30 p.m. MST.
