The Colorado Buffaloes men’s basketball team (7-2) hosted the South Dakota State Jackrabbits (8-4) on Friday night. The Jackrabbits came into this game off a loss to Nevada and the Buffaloes off a rivalry win against Colorado State. The Buffaloes got the job done and won the affair 81-70.
The Jackrabbits lost their game vs Northern Colorado 78-69 earlier in the season, a team that took the Buffaloes to a double-overtime thriller on Nov. 8. SDSU came into this game averaging 70 points, 40 rebounds and 11 forced turnovers per game. CU came into the match averaging 15 turnovers and grabbing 37 rebounds per game.
The Buffaloes began the contest facing SDSU’s man-to-man defense, but their ability to get the ball inside to their scorers was not affected at all early on. Both Bangot Dak and Elijah Malone ate inside. The frontcourt duo finished with a total of 23 points on 10-for-13 combined shooting.
However, the storyline of tonight’s game was Julian Hammond III’s career night. Hammond had a career-high 23 points and six assists, shooting 8-for-14 from the floor and knocking down all five of his free throw attempts.
With just under a minute to go, the Buffs led the Jackrabbits by five points until Julian Hammond chucked up a long 3-point shot as the shot clock ran out. The shot fell as he was fouled and so did the free throw attempt as the Buffs closed the door on SDSU late.
“I just had to find a way to get up a shot. That’s a shot that I (take) in practice…So I felt comfortable (taking it),” Hammond mentioned on his late 4-point play.
The game held a back-and-forth style that saw Colorado lead for its majority. SDSU grabbed its first lead with 9:50 left to play in the second half. Fortunately for CU, that was the only lead the Jackrabbits would hold as the Buffs answered back with two 3-point shots.
SDSU’s star big man Oscar Cluff came into the game averaging 17 points and 11 rebounds, but the game took quite the opposite approach as Cluff finished with just nine points and nine rebounds.
CU saw 33 points come off SDSU 3s which could have been worse, as the Jackrabbits shot 11-for-25 from three.
“The big disappointing thing to me was the way we guarded the three-point line. We gotta be better than that.” Boyle mentioned on SDSU's shooting.
A big part of SDSU’s perimeter success was Cluff.
“He demands a lot of attention in the post, We tried to give him different looks based on different lineups. But if we guard the three-point line this is a 20-point win,” Boyle mentioned the attention Cluff draws on the court.
The Buffs’ keys to the win came in their ability to limit turnovers and win the rebound game. Colorado’s consistent issue this season has been turnovers, but in the first half, the black and gold only gave up three, a major improvement that not only helped them win this game but will help them win games in the future.
Colorado improves to 8-2 on the season as the Jackrabbits fall to 8-5. The Buffaloes will have one more non-conference game before Big 12 play opens up, but CU seems to be tracking in the right direction as their only season losses come to Iowa State and Michigan State, both games taking place in the Maui Invitational tournament.
The Buffs get a small break before hosting the Bellarmine Knights (3-7) next Saturday at 3 p.m. MT on ESPN+.
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