Colorado came into the Pac-12 Tournament in Las Vegas firmly on the bubble and more than likely on the outside looking in. Well, after a convincing 72-58 win over Utah in the quarterfinals last night, Tad Boyle’s Buffaloes are in a much better position for an NCAA Tournament at-large bid.
KJ Simpson led the Buffs with 18 points, six assists, and 10 rebounds and helped set up a matchup with No. 2 seed Washington State at 8:30 p.m. MT in the Pac-12 Tournament semifinals. Simpson helped Colorado pull away after going into halftime with just a three-point lead over the Utes.
Boyle opened his postgame presser by saying, “Really proud of this group, especially to win a game like this when we certainly didn’t play our best in the first half.” He also mentioned the offensive tweaks the team needed and executed for the second half, “We’ve been so good offensively all year. We kind of over-dribbled a little bit and didn’t have the movement we normally do, and we talked about it at halftime.”
Boyle has been at Colorado since 2010 but is still seeking his second conference tournament title, having last won it in 2012. He credited his players for getting him through to the semis.
“The credit goes to these players. They’re a veteran group that understands how to win, understands what it takes to win, and they made the adjustments at halftime. We had much better movement in the second half, and we held them to two threes instead of six and that was the difference in the game.”
Utah finished the game 8-30 from three (26.7%) and shot 32.8% from the field. Colorado managed to shoot 7-14 from behind the arc and 44.4% from the field while out rebounding the oversized frontcourt of the Utes 47-37.
Colorado has now won seven straight games, the hottest team in the Pac-12. With just seven turnovers in last night’s win, KJ Simpson was asked about taking care of the ball during the win streak and credited the team’s patience.
“Mentally, we’re being more patient,” Simpson said, “We’re making 100% passes like coach says. We’re looking for guys but we don’t want to go right away, we want the offense to settle, get a swing side-to-side, and if we get the ball moving like that, things will start to open up.”
Looking ahead to the matchup, on short rest, with 24-8 (14-6) Washington State, coach Boyle said, “This group of players has done such a good job - pretty much all year long if you go back to November and our tournaments we’ve been in - they digest scouting reports, they’re intelligent, now we don’t always go out and execute like we’re supposed to, but their understanding of what guys can do and what they can’t do is really at a high level.”
Colorado split a home-and-home series with the Cougars this season and a win for Boyle’s team in the rubber match would ensure a spot in the NCAA Tournament.