Following Colorado's first Big 12 win against UCF over the weekend, the Buffs were unable to use that momentum in Ames, Iowa in a 79-65 loss versus No. 8 Iowa State.
The Cyclones have shown this season why they’re an NCAA Tournament team and ranked as one of the top teams in the country. ISU’s physicality left three Buffs with four fouls, and Sebastian Rancik, who recently has been trending upward, fouling out with just four points after his back-to-back double-digit performances.
“Iowa State, man, they’re good,” head coach Tad Boyle said after the loss. “They came out and punched us in the face tonight.”
Colorado’s performance on Tuesday night was a similar story to past games with a lackluster first half that put the Buffs in a hole leading to a better second-half effort only not enough for CU to overcome the early deficit.
The Buffs (10-16, 1-14 Big 12) opened the game with a pair of free throws from Bangot Dak only to see Iowa State put together a 20-3 run. CU found itself trailing 20-5 in the first 8 minutes. Eventually, the Buffs began to settle in, but they just couldn’t manage the impending force of the Cyclones.
The excessive fouling from Colorado allowed ISU to make 21-of-31 (67.7%) attempts from the free-throw line in addition to Iowa State shooting 51.1% from the field (24 of 47) with 10 3-pointers.
“[Iowa State] is going to win some games in the NCAA Tournament … especially if they shoot like that from 3,” Boyle said.
Iowa State (21-5, 11-4) stands second in the Big 12 averaging 81.4 points per game and fifth, defensively, allowing 67.0 points per game with one of the best backcourts in the country. The Cyclones once again kept Colorado scraping for opportunities on both ends of the floor, holding CU to 45.3% (24 of 53) from the field while the Buffs struggled to collect stops as five Cyclones finished with five players in double figures.
Tuesday's matchup was ultimately decided at the free-throw line. RJ Smith, Elijah Malone and Bangot Dak were the three CU players to commit four fouls each. Despite the foul trouble, CU’s star of the evening was Dak as he posted a career-high 20 points while shooting 8 of 14 from the field and hitting all three of his attempts from the line.
CU had other double-digit performances from Malone (10 points) and Harrison Carrington (11 points), but buckets were difficult to come by with ISU’s relentless defense.
The Buffs did manage to end things with a solid showing over the final 8 minutes of the game. CU outscored the Cycloes 23-13 over that stretch and connected on six of its last eight shots from the field but was only able to ever get as close as 14 points in the second half.
Colorado has five more opportunities before the Big 12 Tournament (March 11 to March 15) to snag its potential second conference win starting with Baylor at the CU Events Center on Feb. 22 at 2 p.m. MT.
“Tonight we had some guys that did not play up to their capabilities and this is one of those teams, especially down the stretch, I’m going to play the guys that are playing the best,” Boyle said.
