Colorado unable to stop red-hot Arizona State; suffer second-straight loss

Julian Hammond III, the leading scorer for the Colorado Buffaloes this season, was held scoreless against Arizona State on Saturday. His performance was a reflection of the CU offense as a whole, which shot 34.8% from the field and just 12.5% from deep. (Photo via Aspen Doust/Sko Buffs Sports)

TEMPE, Ariz. – The Arizona State Sun Devils (10-3, 1-1 Big 12) defeated the Colorado Buffaloes (9-4, 0-2 Big 12) 81-61 Saturday. The win was fueled by Arizona State’s offense which quickly established its dominance in the game. 

Guard B.J. Freeman led the way in scoring for ASU despite being ejected with just under nine minutes to play in the second half, putting up 19 points while going 8-12 from the floor. The difference in shooting was clear early on, as the Sun Devils jumped out to an 18-point lead with just under ten minutes to go in the first half. They capitalized off of CU turnovers and shooting struggles during this run, expanding their first-half lead to 23 at one point.

For the Buffs, they made their way back into the game in the closing moments of the first, ending the half on a 10-0 run and cutting the lead to 13. During this run, forward Trevor Baskin began to heat up off of the bench, finishing the half with nine points.

This momentum was cut short at the half, however, as Arizona State came out swinging to start the second, going on a 7-0 run and all but erasing the Buffs' first-half resurgence. Baskin stayed hot, finishing the game with a season-high 23 points. 

Aside from him, the second half did not see an improvement from his teammates. The scoring leader for the black and gold this season, Julian Hammond III, was held scoreless in the game, missing all seven of his shots from the field. Andrej Jakimovski, while still being the second leading scorer on the night, shot an inefficient 4-14 from the floor (1-6 3PT).

As the Buffaloes move forward, several of the same issues seen through the first 13 games of the year still need to be addressed, with turnovers being the primary culprit. While they won the turnover battle Saturday, they still gave the ball up 14 times, on par for their average so far this year. 

While the inefficient shooting seen tonight hasn’t been common for CU this year, it needs to be a focus in the coming weeks. They shot 23-66 from the field, good for 34.8%, and an even worse 3-24 from three-point range, good for 12.5%. The lack of shooting rhythm cost the Buffs in a major way in their first conference game on the road and will need to be cleaned up with road games against the likes of No. 7 Kansas and No. 3 Iowa State awaiting them later on in the season. 

CU will be back on the road for their next game against the UCF Knights (10-2, 1-0 Big 12) on Jan. 8 at 5:00 p.m. MT (ESPN+).