Too Close to Close It Out: The Buffs’ late-game management
- Jake Chau
- a few seconds ago
- 4 min read
Cardiac queens. Prone to collapse. Living for the final possession. Colorado has found itself in close games as much as anyone in the Big 12.
This season, the Colorado Buffaloes have had five games decided by one possession and nine where the score was within six points. CU has won just three of them.
In four of those games, the Buffs had the ball with under five seconds with a chance to tie or win the game, but they’re only 2-2 in those games.
At the forefront of this conundrum is senior forward Jade Masogayo, who’s been just like the Buffs — 50/50.
Head coach JR Payne has rolled out similar lineups in each instance, with Masogayo seeing the court in all four contests. The Buffs have leaned on her length and ability to draw contact in late-game situations.
“The fact that [West Virginia was] playing tight everywhere, we thought we could open up a seam for [Masogayo] to take advantage of the way she had [played] throughout the second half,” Payne said after the Buffs’ loss to the Mountaineers in the Big 12 tournament semifinals.
In Colorado’s regular-season contest against Kansas, Masogayo missed on four straight free throws to ice the game, but it remained tied with 3.8 seconds left.
Guard Desiree Wooten, who had seven points in the fourth quarter alone, navigated around screens and fired a 3-pointer that missed. Masogayo made a break for the basket, grabbing a rebound and getting a put-back layup to seemingly end the game. But she didn’t get the shot off in time, forcing overtime, which the Buffs ultimately won.
Even though she missed, Masogayo gave the Buffs a chance without being the intended hero. It was a sound plan, but the Buffs were a half-second too late to execute.
In their other clutch win, down two against No. 14-ranked TCU, Masogayo drew an and-one, giving the Buffs the lead with 2.1 seconds left on the clock.
Payne played to Masogayo’s strength – drawing fouls. She has taken the most free throws of any Buff this season and hit on 75% of them.
The next two games were heartbreakers for the Buffs, as Payne seemingly saw a flash in the pan.
Down only one point against Utah, the inbound pass was tipped, and Masogayo fumbled the ball, turning it over to the Utes and ending the game.
With a Big 12 title shot on the line against West Virginia, she drove with her head away from the basket before getting her pocket picked by the Big 12’s Defensive Player of the Year, guard Jordan Harrison.
Some of Payne’s decisions have been head-scratching. While these plays are being evaluated in a vacuum, her late-game management has been overly reliant on Masogayo to draw contact and get to the charity stripe. In 14 contests in which the game was within five points with 90 seconds left, she has 16 points and is 2-for-3 on field goals and is 12-for-19 from the charity stripe.
Colorado isn’t built to do that. It’s built on connection, chemistry and unselfish players who work together. This was most exemplified in its aforementioned win over Kansas. The Buffs played to their strengths by creating space for a good 3-point shooter while leaning into their identity of cleaning up the board on a miss.
Wooten and forward Anäelle Dutat have been bright spots in the clutch. In the final 90 seconds of games within five points this season, Wooten has scored 30 points on 7-for-16 shooting (3-of-9 from 3).
Dutat, who is 4-for-6 in those late-game situations, has made all five attempts from the free-throw line for 13 points. Combined with her 3.9 offensive boards per game, good for top-20 in the nation, it allows her to get put-back points at a high percentage.
But Payne relies on Masogayo to draw fouls, and the play stops there. Colorado needs to find better ways to create options for itself, especially with March right around the corner.
The margins will be thin as the stakes get higher, and what’s worrying is that Payne hasn’t changed the lineup, even in similar situations. Masogayo, Wooten, Walker, Greer and Dutat have been the five to see the court in every situation since beating TCU.
Instead of leaning solely on Masogayo, Colorado should draw on Wooten and Dutat’s shooting strengths more often to open up the offense. Dutat and Masogayo can still stay involved and meaningfully contribute by staying low in the paint, there to clean up a poor shot and even lean in and create contact.
Payne saw a flash in the pan in the win over TCU, but ever since, it’s just been pyrite. Colorado needs to shake things up and give its shooters a look if it wants to turn fool’s gold into a real shot in the NCAA Tournament.