The Buffs (9-7, 0-5 Big 12) and the Bearcats (11-5, 1-4) were both vying for their first Big 12 win ahead of Wednesday evening's matchup, and ultimately Colorado still finds itself winless and last in the conference after falling, 68-62, in a loss to Cincinnati.
Colorado’s offense has seen better evenings as Bangot Dak, who averages 5.9 points per game, led the Buffs on both ends of the floor in a back-and-forth defensive battle against Cincinnati versus a shorthanded Buffs squad missing starters Elijah Malone and RJ Smith. Wednesday night’s bout came down to the final possessions following an improved second half for the Buffs that CU just wasn’t able to close out.
"I feel like this is the poorest coached team in America," head coach Tad Boyle said after the game. "That's how I feel, because the stuff that we talk about in practice, the stuff we talk about in huddles, it doesn't translate to the games, for whatever reason. And maybe they've tuned me out, I don't know, but I'm not getting through to them which is really frustrating."
After a first half of plenty of offensive challenges, shooting just 32.1% from the field (9 of 28), Colorado came out in the second half and shot 50.0% (14 of 28) that led Colorado to ultimately outscore Cincinnati 35-34. However, when the Buffs needed it most, trailing 57-53 with 2:41 remaining, Andrej Jakimovksi was fouled beyond the arc and an optimal opportunity heading to the line to cut the deficit to one. Jakimovski then proceeded to miss all three free throw attempts which ultimately put this matchup out of reach.
Following the game, in an empty CUEC, Jakimovski was at the free throw line shooting free throw after free throw. Colorado came into Wednesday night tied for first in the Big 12 in free throw percentage shooting 77.2 percent. The Buffs then proceeded to shoot 61.9 percent from the line (13 of 21) in a 6-point loss.
Dak dominated the evening from beginning to end as he made the Buffs’ third and final 3-pointer to put the Buffs one possession away in the final minute. Cincinnati took its share of trips to the line within that minute, but despite the loss, Dak displayed a dominant performance with a career-high 19 points and a career-high eight blocks with eight rebounds.
“Bangot played great tonight.” Boyle said. “I can’t think of another guy that did.”
Colorado has tremendously struggled with inconsistency producing multiple close-game situations through its five game losing streak in conference play. Colorado’s leading scorer Julian Hammond (14.3 points per game) finished the evening with just five points following a game where he posted 23 points. Other than Dak, the other seven Buffs in the rotation were unable to reach double-digits.
Whether it’s the offensive shortcomings, the incessant turnovers averaging 15.0 per game (last in the conference) with 15 on the evening, recording a season-low of eight assists, head coach Tad Boyle and his team are desperate to get out of what feels like, “hell.”
“We got to keep going, because we're going through hell right now,” Boyle said. “It's no fun, but nobody's going to feel sorry for us. Sun's gonna rise tomorrow, and we got to rise with it. We got to come to work and get better. And right now, I don't feel like we're getting better. Feel like we're kind of plowing through mud as a team.”
Last year Colorado only lost one game at home, and now the Buffs find themselves with three home losses, on a five-game losing streak at 9-7 which puts them last out of 16 conference teams.
“We have 15 [turnovers] tonight,” Boyle said. “We're 16th out of 16 teams in the Big 12, in Big 12 games in turnover margin. Guess what? We're 16th in the standings too. So until we get those turnovers figured out, I mean, we might win some of these close ones, but we're gonna be in a bunch of them.”
Boyle and the Buffs will continue navigate the challenges of Big 12 play as they head to Stillwater on Saturday at 1 p.m. MT to take on Oklahoma State (9-7 overall, 1-4 in the Big 12).
