MAUI, Hawaii — The Colorado men’s basketball team (5-1) faced off against the UConn Huskies (4-2) in the second round of the Maui Invitational. The Huskies came in off a loss to Memphis but still stood at the No. 2 spot on the AP poll.
The Buffs shot 51.1% from the field and knocked down nine of their 16 three-point attempts. Both teams stayed tight in the rebound game, but Colorado held the edge 28-26 on the glass. Late-game foul trouble for UConn worked in CU’s favor. Ultimately, the Buffs’ ability to knock down big shots and get the ball to their playmakers is what won them the game.
“We would find out a lot about our team in the next 18-24 hours,” head coach Tad Boyle mentioned to his team before the tournament.
Find out they did, as the Buffaloes took down the two-time defending champion Huskies. With the Buffaloes now playing in the strong Big 12 this year, this win over the Huskies gives the team confidence to knock off other big teams. The Buffs ranked 15 out of 16 in the preseason Big 12 poll. Now with a top-5 win under their belt, the Buffs proved to themselves they can slay giants.
UConn won the opening tip-off and opened the scoring with two quick buckets, but CU responded with junior guard Julian Hammond III getting to the paint for a quick finish and then knocking down a 3-pointer. Both teams battled and tangled back and forth until UConn’s Liam McNeeley knocked down a 3 and sent the game into the 12-minute media timeout.
The scoring opened up again with Buffaloes guard Javon Ruffin taking a trip to the line where he shot 1-for-2. The Buffs knocked down 18 of its 28 free throw attempts, eight more than the Huskies (10-for-13).
The Buffs and the Huskies got to trading buckets until Colorado found itself down 40-29 with a minute and a half left in the first half of play. Elijah Malone and Ruffin added a few more free throws, and the Buffs were able to cut the lead to 40-32 to close the first half.
The Huskies’ fast-paced, physical offense was something the Buffaloes needed to counter in order to find success in the game. McNeeley was the Huskies’ main scoring outlet Tuesday, as he finished with 16 points in the first half.
The second half opened with back-to-back Connecticut 3-pointers, and the Huskies looked to be out for blood after their disappointing late loss against the Memphis Tigers the day before.
Despite it all, the Buffaloes prevailed on the backs of Malone, Hammond, Ruffin and Andrej Jakimovski to pull Colorado back within five.
The rest of the second half continued to go blow for blow, but the Buffs couldn’t manage to gain a lead of more than two. After a second-chance tip-in layup by UConn’s Jaylin Stewart, The Buffs were down 72-69 with a minute and 30 seconds to go.
Malone was able to get down low, an offensive strategy that Colorado used often but didn’t seem to exploit well against the Huskies. Malone spun off a defender and made a hook shot to bring CU within one as time dwindled.
The Huskies responded by getting to the basket quickly, but Ruffin was there and came up with a big block to give the Buffaloes possession once again late. There were 30 seconds left as the Buffs came out of a timeout hoping for one basket to get them ahead. Ruffin had an open opportunity at the perimeter but jacked up a brick, but then Trevor Baskin came down with the biggest offensive rebound of his career.
Stumbling and falling to the floor, Baskin's last-ditch effort of a pass was good enough to get the ball to Jakimovski, who drove in and floated a layup in putting Colorado up one against the defending champions with just six seconds left.
UConn then called a timeout of their own to attempt to draw up a game-winning play but ultimately failed after UConn’s Hassan Diarra missed a 3 as time expired.
“Andrej made a hell of a shot, Elijah Malone was terrific, Julian ran the team. Everybody that played for us played well and contributed to this win,” Boyle said.
The Buffs then prepared for their third game in the Maui Invitational, facing the No. 5 Iowa State Cyclones on Wednesday.
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