The No. 16 seeded Colorado Buffaloes (14-19, 5-17 Big 12) continued their underdog run in the Big 12 Championship with a 67-60 win over the No. 8 seeded West Virginia Mountaineers (19-13, 10-11) Wednesday, advancing to play the No. 1 seeded Houston Cougars (27-4, 19-1) in the third round.
The Buffaloes were sluggish out of the gates in this contest and despite winning the tipoff and opening the scoring, they went ice cold in the following minutes. Turnovers plagued the Buffs early as they racked up seven in the first half, four of which came at the hands of senior guard Javon Ruffin.
Colorado’s stifling defense that had been so effective against TCU was also nowhere to be found early in the first half as the Mountaineers strung together a 6-0 run led by All-Big 12 first team guard Javon Small that helped extend their lead to 13 points.
The Buffaloes also struggled to find open looks in the first half, with forward Andrej Jakimovski being the only player to sink more than one shot in that time. Guard Julian Hammond III, the team’s leading scorer, only attempted two shots in the first half and missed both.
Despite this, the Buffaloes managed to shoot 5-of-6 from the free throw line and improve their defensive effort as halftime approached. West Virginia finished the half shooting 11-of-29 from the field (37.9%) and struggled at the free throw line, missing half of their six attempts. This created a close contest at the end of the half with Colorado trailing the Mountaineers 29-23.
The beginning of the second half closely resembled how the first half had gone. The Buffs’ scoring was inconsistent but the tide began to turn as their defense stepped up. With 10 minutes to play in the game, Small had only registered two points in the half, a far cry from his 13-point first half performance. The rest of West Virginia’s offense sputtered without him, which opened the door for new scoring threats to emerge for Colorado. Guard RJ Smith and center Elijah Malone got hot and finished the night with a combined 27 points.
“The confidence my teammates had in me making those plays,” Malone said concerning what helped him maintain his offensive rhythm in the second half. “Just getting me the ball and looking for me to make those plays helped a lot down the stretch.”
A clutch 3-pointer from Smith with 6:03 remaining gave Colorado their first lead since the opening minute of the game and the Buffs were faced with another close contest and the task of closing it out. Clock management became a point of emphasis in the final two minutes as Colorado passed up many open looks to drain precious seconds.
“Credit goes to these guys because we haven’t been in that position,” said CU head coach Tad Boyle postgame. “With about three minutes to go, 3:09 I think was on the clock, that's when we finally started [draining the clock]. Because I think if you start using clock too quickly, you can lose your momentum offensively and we don't want to do that.”
With 46 seconds to play, Hammond nailed two free throws to extend the Buffs' lead to seven.
“I’ve been shooting the ball well from the line all year,” Hammond said. “I’ve put in a lot of work, so for me it’s just step to the line ready to go and I don’t feel any nerves really.”
A three-score contest forced the Mountaineers to foul the Buffs and make them earn their points at the line. They rose to the occasion, however, and put the game on ice by knocking down all six of their charity stripe shots in the final minute.
The Buffs’ matchup with Houston will take place Wednesday at 1 PM MT (ESPN+).
Cover photo by Remi Krupinski/Sko Buffs Sports
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