A slow start and turnovers led to a 77-68 loss for the Colorado Buffaloes against Cincinnati on Wednesday night at Fifth Third Arena. The defeat drops Colorado’s record to 12-5 overall and 2-2 in Big 12 play, while Cincinnati improves to 9-8 and secures its first conference win.
Colorado found itself trailing by as many as 21 points early in the second half. Despite a late surge that brought them within four points with just under ninety seconds left, Cincinnati secured the victory by converting nine free throws down the stretch.
“Cincinnati was the tougher team tonight, and that was evident from the jump,” said Colorado head coach Tad Boyle. “We wanted to really come out and be the ones to throw the first punch and get them on their heels, but they did to us, and we knew this was going to be a physical game. We knew they’d be aggressive. We lost this game in the first half, there’s no doubt about it.”
Freshman guard Isaiah Johnson led Colorado with 18 points—16 of which came after halftime. Bangot Dak contributed 12 points along with seven rebounds and four assists, while Barrington Hargress added 14 points.
Cincinnati’s Baba Miller finished with a double-double: 25 points, 11 rebounds, four assists, and two blocks. Moustapha Thiam also reached double figures for Cincinnati with 15 points.
Turnovers were decisive; Colorado committed 17 turnovers leading directly to 30 Bearcat points. In contrast, Cincinnati had only ten turnovers resulting in eighteen Buffaloes’ points.
“They’re (Cincinnati’s defense) in the ball, they’re showing hard on ball screens, they weren’t trapping, but they were getting their hands on passes,” Boyle said regarding his team’s struggles handling pressure. “We were getting passes deflected that turned into steals, so it was just their pressure. We knew the pressure was coming. We talked about it. You have to attack pressure, and you have to attack it under control. That’s how you end up with 17 turnovers, and they have 30 points off those, and that’s the game. It’s the points off turnovers. Their defense won the game, and our softness, which I’ve used that word unfortunately a lot with this team on offense, cost us the game.”
The Buffaloes shot better from three-point range than Cincinnati—making seven threes at a rate of thirty-five percent compared to three makes at nineteen percent for Cincinnati—but struggled at drawing fouls or converting free throws; Cincinnati made twenty-four free throws compared to eleven for Colorado.
The Buffs will remain on an eastern road trip as they face West Virginia next Saturday at 4 p.m., airing on CBS Sports Network.
