It’s not only cliche to describe Colorado’s 2022-23 men’s basketball season as a roller coaster thus far, but it also might be an understatement.
A team and program that has achieved joyous highs in the season’s first two weeks has been just as capable of handing itself disheartening lows.
On Thursday, we saw the latest turn in an ongoing drama with increasingly predictable twists.
Four days after defeating No. 11 Tennessee by double-digits in a de-facto road game in Nashville, the Buffs opened their stay in the Myrtle Beach Invitational with a 66-63 loss to UMass, dropping them to 2-2 on the season.
Colorado’s road to obtaining that record has been unconventional, to say the least. After opening the season with a 16-point win against UC Riverside, the Buffs were stunned on the road against Grambling, 83-74, only to turn around two days later and upset a Tennessee team that entered the season with sizable expectations, particularly after throttling Gonzaga in a preseason exhibition. Oh, and to complicate matters a bit more, Colorado offset its puzzling early season losses by securing commitments from two Rivals top-150 recruits for the 2023 class over the past eight days.
Now, a loss to UMass can be added to that ongoing saga.
Tristan da Silva was the Buffs’ best, most effective offensive weapon Thursday, finishing with a team-high 17 points on eight-of-15 shooting. Fresh off being named Pac-12 player of the week, KJ Simpson added 13 points, but he reached that total on 16 shots, only four of which he made.
For all of Colorado’s missteps Thursday, it was still competitive for much of the afternoon, with a J’Vonne Hadley transition layup tying things up at 47 apiece with 13:19 remaining.
From there, however, things fell apart. The Buffs went nearly six minutes without a point, a stretch of time in which they missed nine straight shots, four of which were layups. As Colorado languished offensively, the Minutemen took proper advantage, scoring 11 unanswered to build a comfortable lead in what had been a tight, back-and-forth game.
Colorado fought back to get within three, 61-58, after a pair of Simpson free throws with 4:12 remaining and a da Silva 3-pointer with 53 seconds left got it within two, 65-63.
It was the closest the Buffs would get. After the Minutemen missed a jumper on the other end, Colorado had a chance to tie the score or take the lead, but da Silva missed a pick-and-pop 3 with 13 seconds remaining. After Noah Fernandes, who had a game-high 22 points, made one of two free throws after being intentionally fouled, the Buffs still had a chance to send the game into overtime, but Simpson missed two relatively open 3s in the final three seconds, the second of which came off an offensive rebound from Hadley.
Offensive woes
The Buffs shot just 34.3% from the field and 24% from 3 in the loss. Even on higher-percentage looks that could have earned them crucial, game-changing points, they struggled. Though a number of them were contested, Colorado made just 12 of its 31 layup attempts. It sank only seven of its 13 free throws (53.8%) after making 70% of its attempts from the charity stripe as a team in its first three games.
It wasn’t just that the Buffs struggled offensively – it was who they did it against. They scored 63 points on 77 possessions against a team that came into the day ranked 188th among 363 Division I teams in defensive efficiency, according to KenPom.com. It’s a lower points-per-possession average than either of the Minutemen’s first two opponents – Central Connecticut State and Towson – recorded.
The parade of missed shots helped UMass tremendously on a day in which two of its top three scorers entering the contest – Matt Cross and Dyondre Dominguez, who combined to average 23.5 points per game in the first two games – had a total of just three points between them.
Numbers of note
66: Three of the Buffs’ first four opponents have finished with exactly 66 points.
13-4: The disparity, in UMass’ favor, in fast-break points. For a Colorado team that wants to get out and run, that’s not an encouraging figure.
8: Lawson Lovering’s final point total, a career high. The sophomore big man made four of his five shots and had some emphatic dunks.
6: Assists for Simpson, matching a career high.
17: Number of rebounds for Simpson in Colorado’s past two games (10 against Tennessee, seven against UMass). For a 6-foot-2 guard, that’s a pretty nice total.
19: Offensive rebounds for Colorado in the loss. Despite that total, it had just 11 second-chance points.
35: Bench points for UMass, lifted mostly by freshman guard RJ Luis’ 18 points on eight-of-11 shooting. By contrast, the Buffs had 19 bench points.
What’s next
Colorado will look to regroup tomorrow against No. 24 Texas A&M, which lost Thursday afternoon to Murray State, 88-79. Tipoff for that game will be at 10 a.m. MT.
