TUCSON, Ariz. — Tad Boyle didn’t specifically say the Colorado men’s basketball team has reached desperation mode.
Saddled by a winless start to the Big 12 Conference schedule, the desperation might be obvious at this point. But any question about how wide-ranging the search for answers has become for CU was on display Saturday afternoon at Arizona.
Boyle, the avowed man-to-man coach who typically despises zone defenses, had his Buffaloes play zone for nearly the entirety of the matchup in Tucson. The Buffs put up a better fight, for the most part, but ultimately the result was equally familiar and frustrating.
The Buffs didn’t back down in a hostile environment at Arizona, yet the effort wasn’t nearly enough to end CU’s Big 12 futility, as the Buffaloes suffered a 78-63 defeat at the McKale Center.
CU fell to 0-8 in Big 12 play, the program’s worst start within conference play since an 0-8 start in the 1992-93 season. The eight consecutive defeats marks the longest losing streak for CU in 15 seasons under Boyle. It also was CU’s 15th consecutive loss at Arizona.
“Obviously we’re not a zone team, but we felt like that was one thing we could do maybe to try to keep the crowd out of this,” Boyle said. “This is my 13th time in this building and haven’t won yet. The crowd’s a big part of it. They thrive on that energy.”
For much of the contest, the zone worked as designed.
Arizona led just 33-31 at halftime, shooting 38.2% overall while going 4 for 14 on 3-pointers during the first half. That changed after halftime, as the Wildcats gradually pulled away while posting a 56.7% mark in the second half. However, Boyle said he believed the surge in Arizona’s attack was more about the quick shots and turnovers committed by the Buffs, and less about cracks in the CU zone.
Arizona entered the game ranked third in Big 12 games with a 35.3 3-point percentage, but finished only 9 for 27 against the Buffs. Yet the Wildcats’ top long-range shooter, guard Anthony Dell’Orso, got free often enough to go 6 for 9 from the arc.
CU owned a 20-18 rebounding edge at halftime, but Arizona outrebounded the Buffs 19-11 after the break. The Wildcats turned 13 offensive rebounds into 16 second-chance points, scoring 10 of those points in the second half.
“It was live-ball turnovers, and then we weren’t rebounding the ball as well in the second half,” CU guard Julian Hammond III said. “They got a lot of offensive rebounds and second-chance points and stuff like that. We’ve got to take away threes from shooters, and we didn’t do a good job of that, either.”
A bucket by CU center Elijah Malone pulled the Buffs into a 40-40 tie early in the second half, but the Wildcats recaptured the lead with a 10-2 run and gradually pulled away from there.
Hammond led the Buffs with 19 points, adding four assists and three rebounds. Javon Ruffin recorded 12 points — his first double-digit scoring effort since the fourth game of the season — and Andrej Jakimovski finished with 10 but committed two critical back-to-back turnovers that ruined easy scoring chances for the Buffs during the second half when the game was still close.
The Buffs finished with 15 turnovers, giving them at least 14 in all eight Big 12 games.
“When they’re laying it in transition, it’s usually a result of a bad shot. Which we took some. Or a live-ball turnover,” Boyle said. “There’s no defense for that. When our defense was set, I don’t know what their percentage was, but it’s probably not as bad as what the numbers look like.”
Fast break
Why the Buffs lost: CU was outrebounded 19-11 in the second half while Arizona pulled away behind a .567 second-half shooting percentage.
Three stars
1. UA’s Anthony Dell’Orso. Went 6-for-9 on 3-pointers and finished with a game-high 20 points.
2. UA’s Tobe Awaka. Scored just eight points, but he grabbed15 rebounds, recording seven of them on the offensive glass.
3. CU’s Julian Hammond III. Matched a career-high with four 3-pointers and recorded 19 points, four assists and three rebounds.
Up next: CU brings the quest for the first Big 12 win back home with a Tuesday date against Arizona State (7 p.m., ESPN+).
Arizona 78, Colorado 63
COLORADO (9-10, 0-8 Big 12)
Dak 0-4 2-2 2, Jakimovski 3-7 2-2 10, Hammond 7-13 1-2 19, Ruffin 5-9 0-0 12, Carrington 1-2 0-0 2, Malone 1-5 0-0 2, Rancik 2-5 0-0 5, Baskin 3-5 0-0 6, Smith 2-4 0-0 4, Diop 0-2 1-2 1. Totals 24-56 6-8 63.
ARIZONA (13-6, 7-1)
Awaka 4-6 0-0 8, Townsend 4-7 0-0 8, Bradley 2-9 3-3 7, Dell’Orso 7-11 0-0 20, Love 3-14 2-2 10, Lewis 5-9 2-4 12, Veesaar 3-5 2-2 9, Bryant 2-3 0-0 4. Totals 30-64 9-11 78.
Halftime: Arizona 33-31. 3-point field goals: Colorado 9-19 (Hammond 4-6, Jakimovski 2-4, Ruffin 2-4, Rancik 1-2, Baskin 0-1, Malone 0-1, Smith 0-1); Arizona 9-27 (Dell’Orso 6-9, Love 2-8, Veesaar 1-1, Bryant 0-1, Townsend 0-1, Lewis 0-3, Bradley 0-4). Rebounds: Colorado 31 (Malone 6); Arizona 37 (Awaka 15). Assists: Colorado 13 (Hammond 4); Arizona 20 (Bradley, Lewis 6). Total fouls: Colorado 10, Arizona 11. A: 14,688.
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