Colorado lost to Northern Colorado 86-81 at the CU Events Center on Sunday, marking their second consecutive defeat and bringing their record to 10-3. Northern Colorado also improved to 10-3 with the win.
The Buffaloes kept the game close in the first half, largely due to freshman guard Isaiah Johnson, who scored 19 points before halftime. However, Colorado’s defense struggled after the break, allowing Northern Colorado to score 49 points in the second half. The Bears shot nearly 74 percent from the field during that period and finished the game shooting 52 percent overall compared to Colorado’s 39 percent.
“In the first half we were 5 for 22 at the rim,” head coach Tad Boyle said. “To get 22 shots at the rim in a half is really good. That means you’re getting the ball inside. You’re getting shots at the rim, that’s what you want as a coach. Now, when you don’t finish those it’s tough, and we didn’t finish the ball well tonight, and that shows up in our field goal percentage. We shot 39% from the field. They shot 52%. I asked myself, ‘How’s it a five point game?’ I feel like we should have lost by 25 with those numbers, but they shot 73.9% in the second half. You ain’t beating anybody doing that.”
Despite trailing by three points with under thirty seconds left, Colorado missed two three-point attempts that could have tied the game. Northern Colorado secured the rebound and added two free throws to close out their victory.
Johnson led all Buffs scorers with a career-high of 25 points and eight rebounds. Barrington Hargress contributed 18 points, Bangot Dak had 16, and Sebastian Rancik scored 14.
Quinn Denker was Northern Colorado’s top performer with a game-high of 33 points along with eight rebounds and eight assists.
Northern Colorado made eleven three-pointers on over fifty percent shooting from behind the arc while Colorado managed seven threes on thirty percent shooting.
“We need to stick to our principles,” Hargress said. “We’re letting teams shoot 21 threes and hit 11. They hit 11 tonight. So we want to keep it to six. Allowing teams too much freedom and not making their best players feel uncomfortable. Thirty-three (Egan Sheilds) with six free throws, so I mean, he was getting to his spots whenever; we’ve got to be better with just being disruptive.”
Colorado will play its first Big 12 conference game of the season next Saturday against Arizona State on ESPN2.
