Pat Rooney: CU Buffs 3 extra points (Feb. 19, 2024)
Feb. 19—BuffZone writer Pat Rooney discusses three topics surrounding CU Buffs basketball as the men's team returns home from a thriller at USC while the women continue a challenging road swing.
LA story
Make no mistake. There is much, much work to be done for the Colorado men's basketball team to play its way back into serious NCAA Tournament consideration. The margin for error is less than slim, and even with a hot streak the Buffaloes may have too few opportunities in front of them to truly bolster the resume.
Yet faced with what might have been an elimination moment at USC, the Buffs finally responded.
KJ Simpson led the way as CU rallied from 16 points down for a double-overtime road win against the Trojans, but several other players showed signs of shaking off recent slides. Tristan da Silva has had his share of ups and downs in Pac-12 play, but he went 6-for-11 overall and 3-for-6 on 3-pointers at UCLA and then shook off an 0-for-5 start from long range at USC to knock down a key one from the corner in the first overtime. Outside the 3-point numbers, da Silva posted an effective overall line of 18 points, eight rebounds, four assists and only two of CU's 21 turnovers.
Luke O'Brien enjoyed his best game in a month. Cody Williams had gone just 7-for-20 in his previous three games prior to the trip, but went 13-for-15 during the split in Los Angeles. One of those misses was an insignificant half-court heave at the final buzzer at UCLA. It was an encouraging return to form for the standout freshman, although Williams must shake off his recent turnover slump. Williams recorded seven turnovers at USC and has 16 in the past three games. Prior to that run, Williams posted only five turnovers in the previous six games.
Simpson has shown at times he is quite capable of carrying the Buffs in key moments. His play paved the way for the comeback. But a long-awaited sustained run from the Buffs will require the balance that has marked the team's play when it's at its best.
Hadley responds
Once in a while, after an eventful game like Saturday's win, something gets left on the cutting room floor, so to speak, in the game coverage. This time it was the play of J'Vonne Hadley, who once again quietly turned in a solid performance while also bouncing back from a sub-par game at UCLA to deliver at USC.
Although Hadley did have a season-high five turnovers at USC, but that can almost certainly be chalked up as an aberration. Hadley has been a low-turnover player all season. He put together one stretch recently with only four turnovers in nine games, and his season assist-to-turnover rate remains a solid 1.64. Despite the turnovers, after hitting 3-of-8 shots at UCLA, Hadley returned to form by going 5-for-8 against the Trojans, posting the second double-double of his Buffs career with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
On a team with Simpson, da Silva and Williams, Hadley's contributions often get lost in the shuffle. But across the board he has shown improvement over his first season at CU. In 22 games last year before a season-ending broken finger, Hadley averaged 8.0 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.3 assists while shooting .525 overall. He tried, and missed, only one 3-point attempt all year.
Through 25 games this season, Hadley is averaging 11.4 points, 5.9 rebounds and 2.2 assists while shooting .553 overall and becoming a threat from long range (11-for-25). He's another player that can make a difference in the coming weeks.
Highs and lows
The weekend began with a lofty honor for the Colorado women's basketball team, as coach JR Payne's club was named as the No. 4 overall seed in the first NCAA women's committee top-16 projections. It was a perch that probably wasn't meant to last.
That's not because the Buffs aren't deserving, but the ongoing run of three consecutive road games against nationally-ranked conference foes was unlikely to unfold without any setbacks. That it was a last-second loss at Utah in the first of those three games was a gut-punch, and how the Buffs react will be critical. CU played well enough to pick up what would've been a huge road win, and the Buffs were within seconds of doing so. With the Pac-12 regular season likely out of reach, salvaging a split of this week's battles at USC and UCLA will be critical to the twin goals of netting a top four spot (and first-round league tournament bye) in the final standings, and hosting the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament.
