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Turnovers, defensive lapses doom No. 18 CU Buffs against Florida State

pat rooney, daily times-call, longmont, colo.
·5 min read

Nov. 21—Fast break

Why the Buffs lost: CU committed 20 turnovers and finished 5-for-20 on 3-pointers.

Three stars:

FSU's Jalen Warley: Scored 16 of his game-high 19 points in the second half, finishing 7-for-11.

FSU's Jamir Watkins: Recorded a double-double with 18 points and a career-high-tying 11 rebounds. Watkins also had four assists and four steals.

CU's Cody Williams: The freshman had five turnovers, but he shot 6-for-10 with a team-high 17 points.

Up next: The Buffs will attempt to regroup at home on Sunday against Iona (noon, Pac-12 Network).

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — On a poor shooting day for Colorado, the other mistakes proved too numerous to overcome.

The 18th-ranked CU men's basketball team suffered its first defeat of the season on Tuesday, dropping a 77-71 decision in overtime against Florida State in the title game of the Sunshine Slam.

The game was tied 60-60 at the end of regulation but Florida State scored the first nine points of the extra session to take control. It was a frustrating day for the Buffaloes' top two scorers, Tristan da Silva and KJ Simpson, who shot just 7-for-31 overall and 1-for-10 from 3-point range.

Simpson struggled to a 5-for-22 mark while da Silva finished with six turnovers, tying his second-most in 95 games played with the Buffs.

"I put this loss on my myself," said Simpson, who had only one turnover while recording nine rebounds and three assists. "I'm one of the leaders on the team. The point guard on the floor. I'm supposed to get everybody in the right spot. I'm supposed to control the pace and control the tempo. I didn't do that. I let them speed us up and took too many shots. I just have to be a better leader for the team."

The turnovers were the most costly of CU's plentiful miscues. The Buffs finished regulation with 16, matching the season-high recorded in the opener against Towson, and committed four more in overtime. Those giveaways included a pair of lazy passes on inbounds plays, which led to five bonus points for the Seminoles. Overall, FSU recorded 17 steals and outscored the Buffs 19-11 in points off turnovers.

Turnovers, however, weren't CU's only shortcoming. The Buffs missed several easy looks around the rim while flailing to a 4-for-23 start from the floor. Defensively, CU held Florida State to a .345 mark on the first half but allowed the Seminoles to shoot .607 in the second half and overtime, including a 5-for-12 effort from 3-point range.

"When you have live-ball turnovers, you can't win against good teams," CU head coach Tad Boyle said. "You can't prepare in practice for Florida State's length. You can't do that. You can work on switching defense, which we have but we certainly weren't good enough (Tuesday). In these quick turnaround games, there's very little prep time. The players got to rely on their instincts and principles. Our inability to take care of the ball and our shot selection, neither one of them were good enough to win."

CU led 30-27 at halftime, but early in the second half Florida State jumped to a 10-point lead behind a 16-3 run. The Buffs answered with 10 consecutive points and took a late 60-57 lead on Julian Hammond's third 3-pointer with 2 minutes, 51 seconds remaining, but those would be CU's final points of regulation.

A bucket by FSU's Jamir Watkins pulled the Seminoles within a point, and CU avoided falling behind with 1:15 left when Jalen Warley made just 1-of-2 free throws. The Buffs had two potential go-ahead possessions in the final minute, but one ended on da Silva's final turnover and the other ended with Hammond getting forced into a wild jumper on the baseline with the shot clock running down that wasn't close.

After the Seminoles scored the first nine points in overtime, the Buffs never again made it a one-possession game.

"We pissed away an unbelievable opportunity," Boyle said. "There's no other way to look at it."

FLORIDA ST. (4-1)

Corhen 1-2 0-0 2, Miller 2-5 0-0 5, Watkins 7-11 3-4 18, Da.Green 3-12 3-4 12, Warley 7-11 5-9 19, De.Green 4-6 2-3 10, Fletcher 0-5 0-0 0, C.Jackson 1-2 2-2 5, Nickelberry 2-3 0-0 6, Bol Bowen 0-0 0-0 0, Adebisi 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 27-57 15-22 77.

COLORADO (4-1)

Williams 6-10 4-7 17, da Silva 2-9 4-4 8, Lampkin 3-10 2-2 8, Hadley 3-4 2-3 8, K.Simpson 5-22 4-5 15, Hammond 3-7 0-0 9, O'Brien 3-6 0-0 6, Smith 0-2 0-0 0, Diop 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 25-72 16-21 71.

Halftime — Colorado 30-27. 3-point field goals — Florida St. 8-24 (Da.Green 3-10, Nickelberry 2-3, C.Jackson 1-1, Miller 1-2, Watkins 1-3, De.Green 0-1, Fletcher 0-4), Colorado 5-20 (Hammond 3-6, Williams 1-3, K.Simpson 1-6, Smith 0-1, da Silva 0-4). Rebounds — Florida St. 38 (Watkins 11), Colorado 46 (Lampkin 11). Assists — Florida St. 12 (Watkins 4), Colorado 14 (Lampkin 4). Turnovers — Florida St. 16 (Watkins 6), Colorado 20 (da Silva 6). Total fouls — Florida St. 20, Colorado 19.