McKinley Wright IV hit a jumper, putting Colorado within three points of UCLA and then registered a block on the Bruins' next offensive possession — exactly what needed to happen with the clock under 40 seconds and the Buffs hoping to tie the game.
Wright IV called a timeout in the offensive zone while Tad Boyle and Co. drew up one final play.
After the inbound, it was Maddox Daniels who took both shots to tie the game up.
The first was a clean look from the left side of the arc that failed to fall and moments later, with about eight seconds left, he took another from the corner — this one a bit more rushed — following an Evan Battey rebound in the paint of his first shot.
That one wasn't close, getting wedged between the glass and rim and handing back possession to the Bruins.
Colorado desperately fouled Johnny Juzang, who sank both free throws and the Buffs, now trailing 64-59, rushed up the court to try to get off one final basket.
In agonizing fashion, Daniels again took aim from deep and this time made it, although by that point a long second remained on the clock.
After UCLA's Jules Bernard made one of his two free throws, making the score 65-62, Battey inbounded the ball with less than half a second remaining, a Hail Mary heave all the way down the court that failed to connect with Jeriah Horne.
And that was that. The Buffs dropped a lose one on the road to the Bruins.
Sometimes they just don't go in.
That's at least what Wright IV tried to tell a dejected Daniels after the game.
“Obviously, it’s tough," Wright IV said. "He got two really good looks and he’s our best three-point shooter. We’re going to live with him taking those shots. He shed some tears afterwards and I did my best to pick him up, telling him that I think he’s the best shooter in the country."
"I wouldn’t trade those last two shots or any other ones. We’re going to live with Maddox taking those. Especially on the road and we can get a look like that to tie the game, we can’t be too made about that."
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Daniels tied Wright IV with a team-leading 12 points on Saturday. He grabbed four boards, was a perfect 4-of-4 from the free throw line and also was the only Buffalo who played more than 10 minutes to record a positive +/- with a +6.
But in the end, Daniels undoubtedly will be losing some sleep tonight over those two final shots that he failed to make, with the extra added salt in the wound of hitting one out of transition when it didn't really matter anymore.
For Wright IV, the last thing he wants Daniels to do is beat himself up about things.
"Those two last looks were great looks and if we could go back again and have Maddox shooting again, we’d do the same thing," he said. "We believe in him and I let him know about that: keep shooting the ball well in practice, keep shooting the ball well in games, we’re going to keep getting him looks and he’ll be OK.”
Of course, it is worth examining what led to the second Daniels three-pointer with about eight seconds left to play.
Battey snagged the offensive board and without hesitation dished it back out to the arc, where Daniels wound up taking a second straight three-pointer.
After the game, Boyle quickly backed up Battey's decision not to take the two-point shot himself and pray for a foul.
“To be honest with you, if we get that offensive rebound and there’s 10 or 12 seconds to go, I’d like to go up for the two, but I thought it was a really good decision by Evan to kick it back out again," Boyle said.
There's no comparable basketball high than draining a game-tying or game-winning shot and obviously, on the other side of the coin there are few things that make an individual player more miserable than failing to hit such a shot in the clutch.
For Daniels, tonight he got a taste of the latter.
Moving forward, he'll need to prevent Saturday's disappointment from bringing him down in the Buffs' upcoming four-game homestand and more importantly, make sure he translates the countless made baskets he gets in practice against thin air to when it counts in crunch time.
"Maddox Daniels has been shooting the ball so well in practice," Boyle said. "Evan saw him over in the corner, we got him a good look — gave him a better look on that shot than the play call we had coming out of the timeout — and I was fine with that."
"(If there was) a little time left, then yeah, maybe take the quick two but we were out of timeouts. It’s not like we could call a timeout to set up our press, so I liked the decision to kick it out for three, being down three and going for the tie on the road.”
Up next for the Buffaloes is a four-game home stretch, beginning Saturday, Jan. 7 against Oregon. The Buffs and Ducks tipoff from the CU Events Center at 9 p.m. MST.
The game will be televised on FS-1.
