MAUI, Hawaii – The Colorado Buffaloes (4-1) faced some trouble in paradise, starting strong but quickly digging themselves an insurmountable hole against the Michigan State Spartans (5-1) en route to a 72-56 loss on Monday afternoon.
The contest opened Colorado’s first trip to the Maui Invitational in 15 years. Head coach Tad Boyle and his Buffs were still laden with question marks despite four straight wins to start the 2024-25 campaign, but the Spartans wreaked havoc on any chance to answer.
“Unfortunately, we didn't show up,” Boyle said postgame. “We showed up the first 10 minutes. We played hard, we made shots, but then we lost this game on every front — offensively, defensively, rebounding the ball … They were better than us in every phase of the game.”
Colorado got offensive production from program staples in point guard Julian Hammond III (15 points, four assists) in addition to experienced newcomers, center Elijah Malone (14 points, five rebounds) and forward Trevor Baskin (nine points). Still, the squad’s remaining players made just four combined field goals the entire afternoon.
Michigan State was balanced and composed, led in the box score by guard Jace Richardson, who scored 13 points on 6-for-8 shooting off the bench.
The Spartans outclassed on the glass with a 42-29 rebounding advantage and dominated around the basket, scoring 50 points in the paint compared to the Buffs’ 28. Despite shooting just two-for-21 from 3-point range, CU surrendered 28 of 40 2-point attempts (70%) by the Spartans and appeared on an inferior level physically.
“We knew they were going to crash the boards, we knew they were going to get out and run on makes and misses,” Boyle added. “We knew they wanted to get downhill, get the ball in the paint. We just didn't do anything to stop them.”
Despite how lopsided the box score may indicate, Colorado did what it could to make noise. Hammond, sophomore forward Bangot Dak and others orchestrated an admirable start to the contest, as the Buffaloes led the Spartans 16-13 after seven minutes.
Midway through the first half, both sides were knotted at 21. That was until a furious 17-4 MSU run closed the game's opening 20 minutes and saw the black and gold’s well dry up.
CU then fell into this aforementioned well with four turnovers in the second half’s first three minutes and was unable to generate rim pressure against the Spartan defense. Hammond drained back-to-back 3s to cut the deficit to 40-33 with as late as 16:49 left, but Michigan State coasted down the stretch through efforts from forward Frankie Fidler (nine points, six rebounds), freshman guard Jeremy Fears Jr. and center Carson Cooper.
Off the loss, the waves in sunny Maui get no calmer for the Buffs. The No. 2-ranked two-time reigning national champion UConn Huskies (4-1) lie ahead tomorrow in the loser’s bracket of the invitational. Tip-off is set for Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. MT (ESPN2).
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