KANSAS CITY, Missouri — Colorado's fight in the Big 12 Tournament came to an end after falling 77-68 to top-seeded and No. 2-ranked Houston in the quarterfinal Thursday in Kansas City.
The Buffs were the first team to advance to the quarterfinals of any conference championship after finishing 16th or lower in the regular season standings since 1931. The Buffs once again aimed to defy the odds following wins over TCU and West Virginia. However, the magic of March was not on Colorado's side Thursday afternoon as the Buffs fumbled against a dominant Cougars squad.
"They're the second best team, by rankings, in the country for a reason," CU head coach Tad Boyle said. "Our guys battled. I got no problem with our fight and our competitiveness. We came here with a new season in mind. We played like it, and I'm proud of these guys for it."
The Buffs built a bit of momentum midway through the game and trailed by just 5 points, 38-33, after trimming down what was once a 14-point deficit with 10:04 to play in the opening half.
Andrej Jakimovski, who shot the lights out and posted a career-high 25 points in the loss, was a key element in the Buffs' first-half fight with 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting from the floor. Despite a solid first half, Houston continually kept Colorado at a comfortable distance by holding Jakimovski to 9 second-half points.
The Buffs cut the deficit to single digits just a handful of times in the second half and only were able to get as close as 8 points over the final 20 minutes.
They have big-time players," Boyle said. "... You had big-time 3s, back to back, that just kind of kept us at bay and couldn't get over the hump so credit to them."
The last time Colorado encountered Houston, the Cougars were without second-leading scorer Emanuel Sharp (11.8 points per game). Thursday, he was back on the floor and led Houston with 19 points while L.J. Cryer (14), Milos Uzan (14) and Joseph Tugler (10) combined for 38 points.
The Cougars shot 49% from the field (24 of 49) while holding Colorado to 40% from the field (23 of 57).
Stringing together stops and scores in the second half was a challenge for Colorado. The Buffs did improve in defending the Cougars' 3-pointers by allowing just two made 3s compared to six in the first half. The majority of the stoppages on the floor were due to Colorado committing fouls as Houston hit 15-of-25 shots from the stripe in the second half alone.
Trevor Baskin eventually fouled out after he picked up four fouls in the second half. Bangot Dak also found himself in foul trouble finishing the game with four fouls for CU.
Houston found a way to mitigate Jakimovski's 3-point shot as he drained just one 3-pointer in the second half after hitting three shots from beyond the arc in the first. The Cougars were able to target the Buffs' strengths in Thursday's matchup and limit role players such as Elijah Malone (6 points), RJ Smith (5) and Julian Hammond (9).
Colorado was also without Sebastian Rancik (6 points per game) for the second half after he had to be helped to the locker room in the first due to an injury.
The Buffs had to battle through several rough patches throughout the first run in their return to the Big 12. Still, CU was able to put together an impressive finish to the season, and that is what Boyle focused on following Thursday’s defeat.
“I'm proud, but in terms of the body of work for the season, obviously I point to January as a point where we really didn't answer the bell,” Boyle said. “... I probably didn't do as good a job as a coach as I needed to. But in February, our guys battled, started getting better, and when we came here in March, it’s something we can hang our hat on. I'll live with what we gave the last three days, win or lose.”
