Colorado lost to West Virginia 72-61 on Saturday evening at Hope Coliseum in Morgantown, West Virginia. The defeat leaves the Buffaloes with a record of 12-6 overall and 2-3 in Big 12 conference play. West Virginia improved to an identical overall record of 12-6 but moved ahead to 3-2 in the conference.
Barrington Hargress led Colorado with 15 points and five assists. Three other Buffaloes also scored in double figures: Isaiah Johnson had 12 points in his first career start, Bangot Dak contributed 11, and Sebastian Rancik added 10.
West Virginia’s Treysen Eaglestaff was the game’s top scorer with 22 points, making nine of his fourteen shots from the field. Four Mountaineers finished with more than ten points each, and four collected at least six rebounds.
Colorado briefly took its only lead of the game during a second-half run that put them up 43-42 with just over thirteen minutes remaining. After that point, West Virginia outscored Colorado by fifteen before a late three-pointer from Johnson closed out the scoring.
“We didn’t string together enough stops,” said head coach Tad Boyle about losing momentum after taking the lead. “That’s the whole key with West Virginia; you’ve got to string together stops. The best way to score on them is in transition. You can’t score on them in transition if you’re taking the ball out of the net.”
Rebounding continued to be a problem for Colorado this season as they were outrebounded by sixteen boards overall. In the first half alone, West Virginia secured offensive rebounds on half of Colorado’s missed shots.
“We have to guard better,” Boyle said. “Because we hang our hat on defense and rebounding. The problem is there’s no hook there. There’s no hook to hang it on. West Virginia can hang their hat on their defense, and it showed tonight. We can’t. We can’t hang our hook on our rebounding; they can hang, that’s the bottom line.”
Despite being outrebounded, Colorado managed eleven fast-break points compared to five for West Virginia.
The Buffs used only their second different starting lineup this season but started slowly again by allowing four offensive rebounds and seven second-chance points within five minutes.
Hargress sparked a run late in the first half that helped reduce an early twelve-point deficit down to three before halftime, but West Virginia pushed back ahead for a seven-point halftime lead at 36-29.
In total rebounds during the first half, West Virginia held a nineteen-to-seven advantage and grabbed six offensive boards compared to one for Colorado.
The Buffaloes kept themselves competitive by converting turnovers into nine points off four Mountaineer turnovers during that period.
Both teams struggled offensively after halftime until Alon Michaeli hit a three-pointer for Colorado following Elijah Malone’s fifth foul early in the half.
After briefly leading midway through the second half, Colorado saw West Virginia respond immediately with another run that restored their control over the game for good.
The Mountaineers closed out their win with a seven-point streak before Johnson’s last-second shot finalized proceedings at Hope Coliseum.
Colorado will next play Kansas at home Tuesday night at CU Events Center; tipoff is scheduled for 9 p.m., and coverage will be available on ESPN.
