Buffs' season ends in College Basketball Crown

The Buffaloes were low on depth in the College Basketball Crown following the outgoing transfers of guard Isaiah Johnson and forwards Bangot Dak and Sebastian Rancik (Photo via CUBuffsMBB on X).

The Colorado Buffaloes (17-16, 7-11 Big 12) fell at the hands of the Oklahoma Sooners (20-15, 7-11 SEC) 90-86 in an overtime bout in the first round of the College Basketball Crown tournament on Wednesday. Though Colorado guard Barrington Hargress looks prepared to take over the team next season, his performance wasn’t enough against the Sooners.

Neither team shot the ball well out of the gate, but Oklahoma took the brunt of the early cold spell. Star Sooner guard Nijel Pack missed his first three shots, which allowed the Buffs to strike first off an open 3-pointer from guard Ian Inman.

Hargress, the new face of the Buffaloes, began his efficient shooting early, hitting the first of many step-back two-pointers three minutes into the game.

The Sooners coughed the ball up several times in the early going, but generated a bit of momentum at the 13:40 mark. Guard Jadon Jones corralled OU’s second offensive rebound in one possession and hit on a third-chance layup. Shortly after, he delivered on a four-point play after being fouled on a make outside the arc.

Colorado and Oklahoma traded buckets over the next three minutes, until Sooner center Kuol Atak flushed a poster jam over CU guard Jalin Holland.

Hargress took charge from that moment forward, though, finishing the first half with 13 points on 5-for-9 shooting with two nice assists.

“I was just trying to be selective but still trying to be smart,” said Hargress at halftime on what helped his shooting in the first half. “...Letting my teammates play aggressive, and letting me play off of that [was key]. I think my teammates are doing a great job, so I’m playing off of them.”

Although the Buffaloes ran into foul trouble and turned the ball over nine times to Oklahoma’s six, they weathered the storm behind the play of Hargress and 10 points from forward Alon Michaeli to take a 41-37 lead into halftime.

Both teams traded shots out of the half, but the Sooners were able to build a shooting rhythm, while the Buffaloes fell on hard times.

While the Buffs pushed the lead up to six at 56-50 off a Felix Kossaras 3-pointer, the Sooners quickly pulled back and tied the game at 58. Pack then hit a near-logo 3-pointer to give OU its first lead since 17:49 in the first quarter. 

By the 7:00 mark, Oklahoma was on a 10-0 run, but it was eventually broken up by a pair of free throws from Kossaras. During the Sooners’ run, Hargress and Micaheli, who were the leading scorers of the first half, were held scoreless. It took until the 5:59 mark for either of them to score, when Hargress knocked down a pair of free throws to cut the lead to 67-66.

While Michaeli never resumed his scoring form from the first half, Hargress picked back up where he’d left off after hitting those free throws. In the final five minutes of the second half, he scored 11 more points to keep the Buffs in the game.

However, the Sooners combatted his scoring with nine second-half points from both Pack and forward Tae Davis. They kept their team neck-and-neck with the Buffs, with the score at 74-72 with 0:20 to play. 

After a missed shot from the Sooners, Hargress decided to take the final shot. He dribbled until he found a lane to the basket and hit a layup to tie the game with one second left. 

The Sooners couldn’t get their last-second shot to fall, and the game went to overtime.

In overtime, Pack continued his lights-out shooting with a pair of threes in the first 1:30. Holland hit a three in response, but the Buffaloes couldn’t find another to draw even.

CU trailed by one with 0:04 remaining, but Inman missed the Buffs’ final shot, and they fell at the hands of the Sooners.

The Buffs now enter an offseason where they will be tasked with retaining their remaining young talent and building around Hargress.

"Once we found out that we were playing in this thing, and we had the opportunity, our players wanted to play, and they showed it tonight," said Colorado head coach Tad Boyle postgame. "That team played their guts out on the court. That's what playing in late March and April is all about."