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Colorado’s elite defense couldn’t make up for an abysmal shooting performance
The Colorado Buffaloes lost their fourth consecutive game in a low-scoring, defensive battle against the eighth ranked UCLA Bruins.
In the last couple months, the Buffs have had a handful of games where they simply cannot get going offensively. Monday night’s contest at the Pauley Pavilion proved to be more of the same of that phenomena, as they opened the contest shooting 0-10 from the field. CU was seemingly allergic to the bucket during the first quarter, making only 2 shots from the field and scoring only 7 points in the first 10 minutes of play.
The Buffs got a bit of a pick-me-up from Frida Formann’s back-to-back threes to start the second quarter, but the Buffs still couldn’t put points on the board. Colorado only managed to score 17 first half points against the Bruins, largely due to their abysmal shooting from the field. CU shot only 6 of 28 on FG attempts and made just 1 of their 10 layups. The Bruins’ defense just smothered Colorado in the paint, giving Aaronette Vonleh zero room to work, leading to their offensive woes.
Thankfully, Colorado came to play on the defensive side of the floor. The Buffs forced 10 UCLA turnovers in the first half alone, snagging 7 steals to mitigate the damage caused by their offensive struggles. The Bruins faired a bit better than Colorado offensively in the first half, but not by much. After Colorado’s defense absolute shut down UCLA star center Lauren Betts, holding her to only one shot in the first 20 minutes of play, the Buffs headed to the break down 17-29.
Immediately at the start of the second half, the Buffs seemingly figured it out. Colorado zoomed out on a 7-0 run, all 7 of which came from Quay Miller, fueled by 4 more forced turnovers. The Buffs came back from the break hunting for turnovers, which proved to be an effective strategy. Colorado forced 10 UCLA turnovers in the third quarter alone, leading to 13 easy points. Those quick turnover points proved to be the lifeline the Buffs needed, as they crawled right back into the game, taking their first lead of the game with 4:34 left to play in the quarter.
Right when the Buffaloes started to find their footing and took the lead, they went right back to their old ways. Colorado went on a nearly 4 minute long scoring drought, which allowed the Bruins to go on a 7-0 run, once again separating the two sides. Despite the sloppy end of the third quarter, Colorado went to the fourth only down 35-40.
Colorado’s fourth quarter was perhaps one of their most frustrating all season long. Their offense couldn't tap into any of the momentum they built during the third quarter, as it completely sputtered out. The Buffs only shot 3-14 from the field and 0-4 from deep, killing any hope of a comeback.
What really rubs salt in the wound is that UCLA wasn’t able to make their shots either. The Bruins went on an over 6 minute long scoring drought midway through the quarter and the Buffaloes didn’t capitalize on it at all, as endured a 4 minute scoring drought of their own during the same exact period.
Despite forcing 24 turnovers and 15 steals, Colorado’s superb defensive performance just couldn’t dig their offense out of the gargantuan hole it dug itself. CU held the Pac-12’s leader in average points per game (80.3) to only 53 points, which is an extremely impressive feat. However, they shot only 16 of 56 from the field and it’s extraordinarily hard to win games when your team only puts 45 points on the board. The Buffs almost pulled it off anyways though, losing by a score of 45-53.
Colorado now likely has to play in day one of the Pac-12 tournament last week in Las Vegas, as they’ve fallen to the 5 seed and more than likely make it back into the top 4 before the regular season ends on Sunday. The Buffs finally return home after an extremely tough roadtrip to Los Angeles to face off against the Washington schools later this week. Their next contest is Thursday night against the Huskies, which is a golden opportunity to get right.
by RylandScholes
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