KJ Simpson’s March moment lifts Buffs into second round
For the entirety of his junior season, KJ Simpson has done much of his work in the shadows. His head coach, Tad Boyle, has begged and pleaded the national media to give Simpson his shine as the star point guard carried the injury-riddled Buffs through all of their highs and lows.
After Friday, Simpson will have no shortage of coverage.
With the score tied and just 6 seconds to play, the Buffs put the game — and the season — in the hands of their star point guard. He responded with a magical March moment that will be remembered in Boulder forever.
Simpson received the feed from Cody Williams, dribbled once into the corner, pulled up and fired away. The shot bounced softly off of the rim, came back down and rolled around every part of the cylinder before dropping for a 102-100 win for the No. 10-seeded Buffs over No. 7 Florida in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in Indianapolis.
“Yeah, we always go through preparation, time and score situations like that in practice,” Simpson said of the final shot. “It was just another one of those times where we had to execute. Obviously, it was a play that was set up. There was multiple actions out of it, happened to break free and was just looking to drive, create something, whatever was the best play, and noticed the defender got a little bit off balance, and that's a shot I shoot a bunch of times. Credit to my teammates, and Cody threw me a great pass that was able to guide me and lead me in that direction, and just stepping up and hitting a shot.”
Walter Clayton’s desperation heave at the buzzer fell harmlessly off the backboard, and the Buffs erupted into joy and celebration as they extended their season with a matchup against No. 2-seed Marquette on Sunday morning.
“Well, can't ask for much more out of a game in March than the one you just saw,” Colorado coach Tad Boyle said. “These guys and the way they battled -- I thought both teams battled. Hats off to Florida. They played well. To show the poise and composure that we did down the stretch when they made their run back at us, it was a tough, tough game. I thought to myself at halftime, if we don't start guarding better, midway through the second half, if we don't start guarding better, we've got to score 100 to win tonight, and we needed 102. Actually we only needed 101 but we got 102.
“Just enough at the end, great execution, great play by KJ. Every one of our players that played made plays. Bench was great. Just a hell of a game in March. What else can you say?”
After getting through a First Four slugfest on Wednesday against Boise State, the Buffs entered a totally different style of game in Indianapolis. Florida is one of the nation’s best offensive teams and plays at a breakneck pace, and the Gators showcased it right from the opening tip. The Buffs struggled to adjust to the tempo and the shooting of the Florida guards in the early going, allowing the Gators to build a 24-14 lead after 8 minutes.
But after a win on Wednesday night where the defense had to show up, the offense was ready to answer the bell on Friday. The Buffs settled in after that initial Florida run, and answered with a 10-2 surge of their own to get back within a possession.
The rest of the first half was nip and tuck, with balanced scoring and phenomenal shotmaking on both sides. By the time the half hit, 15 of the 16 players who had stepped on the court had scored and the lead had changed hands 10 times. Neither had made any progress on the scoreboard though, as the two were tied at 45 heading into the locker room.
Colorado (26-10) was the first to make a push in the second half. After the two went back-and-forth coming out of halftime, the Buffs took a 7-point lead with an 11-2 run thanks to back-to-back Luke O’Brien buckets. At that point, Florida was not able to cut into the deficit, trading baskets with the Buffs. The Gators defense didn’t help, but Colorado continued to come up with clutch scores to halt any Florida momentum.
First, Cody Williams got involved with a nice finish inside, a welcome sign after the freshman had a brutal game on Wednesday. Then it was Eddie Lampkin, scoring two quick buckets, the second one through a foul that earned Florida head coach Todd Golden a technical foul, to put Colorado up by 10 at the under-8 media timeout.
A few minutes later, it was Tristan da Silva punctuating a great game with a monster drive and left-handed dunk that, at the time, felt like the final nail in the Gators’ coffin. The senior’s emphatic slam gave the Buffs a 94-81 lead with 4:28 to go. But the Gators were ready to go down kicking.
All of a sudden, Florida (24-12) amped it up on the offensive end. After Thomas Haugh got 3 the old fashioned way, star guard Walter Clayton began to take over to get the Gators back in it. He started the run with four free throws, then got to the rim a few times, scoring nine straight Florida points to cut the CU lead to 97-93 with a minute to play. Simpson answered with a huge layup as the shot clock was winding down, but Clayton answered right back with a 3-pointer to get Florida within one possession.
That’s when disaster began to strike for Colorado. After checking in for the fouled out O’Brien, Javon Ruffin threw the ball away against the press, allowing Clayton to cut into the deficit by one more point with a free throw. Then, Williams split a pair at the charity stripe, giving the Gators a chance to tie it with a 3, and Clayton wasted no time. The junior sprinted up the court and launched a pull-up 3 that splashed through the net, completing the Florida comeback and tying things at 100.
“We didn't do a great job down the stretch. Again, you've got to credit Florida,” Boyle said of the final minutes. “They drew some fouls. Look, that was a tough game to officiate. We were going downhill, they were going downhill. It really was. But I thought we didn't do a great job of guarding them off the bounce. They got some and-ones. We wanted to take away 3s. That's one of the reasons we went small, so we could switch everything. But they kept coming, and we weren't great. Had one big turnover there in the press offense.”
Clayton’s effort to get Florida back in it was nothing short of heroic. He scored the final 16 Florida points over the final 4 minutes, including that clutch 3 to tie it. But Simpson one-upped him with that final blow at the very end.
“They run good action for him,” Boyle said. “He's got a quick release. He's got great balance in his shot. He's one of those guys that's better in person than when you watch him on film. He's a good player.”
Simpson was incredible throughout, and finished his day with 23 points (14 after halftime), five rebounds and five assists. However, getting to that point where he could become the hero took an amazing team effort that saw all five starters play some of their best basketball of the season. The Buffs wouldn’t have been able to survive without it, as Simpson sat for an extended stretch due to foul trouble in the second half. His 34 minutes were his lowest total since Jan. 20 against Oregon State.
After a great second half against Boise State, Lampkin was again dialed-in all day, ending up with 21 points, five rebounds and five assists. Tristan da Silva added 17 points, J’Vonne Hadley poured in 16 and O’Brien finished with 12 to round out the starting five. The Buffs moved the ball extremely well, racking up 27 assists and had one of their best shooting performances of the season. For the day, Colorado shot 63% from the floor and made 6 of its 10 three-pointers.
Clayton finished the day with a game-high 33 points for Florida and got 26 of those after halftime. Will Richard added 15, but the Buffs did a good job against the Gators’ other star Zyon Pullin, who finished with just 13.