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Writer's pictureOliver Hayes

Buffs win thriller in Eugene, beating Ducks 79-75

EUGENE, Ore. – In a game that was exciting from the get-go, the Colorado Buffaloes (21-9, 12-7 Pac-12) took the Oregon Ducks (19-11, 11-8) to their limit in a nail-biting, resume-sweetening four-point road win.


The contest was a battle of the trios, with Tristan da Silva, KJ Simpson, and J’Vonne Hadley leading the Buffs over N’Faly Dante, Jackson Shelstad, and Jermaine Cousinard to complete the sweep of the season series of the Ducks – Colorado’s third season series sweep of the year.


The Buffs were once again without Cody Williams (ankle) and Julian Hammond III (knee). Williams scored a career-high 23 points against Oregon in Colorado's January win in the teams' first meeting of the season.


The game started slow for CU, who gave up an 11-0 Oregon run to begin the game on the way to an early 15-4 deficit. Shelstad came out the gates blazing, scoring the Ducks’ first seven points along with a pass leading to an and-one for Dante. The freshman guard continued his scoring across the first half, scoring 16 of his 23 points (10-15 FG, 3-7 3PT, 2-2 FT) in the first 20 minutes. He ended with six assists on the night.


The run also featured a string of CU turnovers, an issue that persisted across the entirety of the night as they finished with 13 turnovers that led to 21 fastbreak points for the Ducks.


Colorado stayed resilient, however, responding with an 11-0 run of their own shortly after. Da Silva scored 16 of his 22 points (9-17 FG, 3-6 3PT, 1-1 FT) in the first half, continuing his aggressive scoring prowess of the last couple of games. While the game was rather physical and high-energy, the Buffs took a 33-32 lead with just under two minutes to go in the half before tying it at 37 heading into the half.


The end of the first came with slight controversy, though, as Simpson was fouled as he appeared to shoot a 3-pointer. The refs ruled foul on the floor with the Buffs not able to score on the inbound that could have been three free throw attempts.


Coming out of the break, the teams traded baskets with neither team going on a run larger than five points at a time across the first 15 minutes of the half. While Shelstad and Dante kept the Oregon offense chugging, it was Hadley who began his 3-point barrage, hitting a career-high four 3s on four attempts and scoring 18 points in the second half. 


The senior guard finished with 20 points (8-11 FG, 4-4 3PT) and grabbed 12 rebounds in his third double-double of the year.


With five minutes to go, however, the Buffs put together a 9-0 run that ultimately won them the game. Da Silva nailed his second 3-pointer of the half to begin the run and notch his third straight 20-point performance in a row. CU then converted on their next three possessions as Simpson followed with two layups along with a Hadley finish at the rim, extending the lead to 70-61 with three minutes and 22 seconds left to play.


Despite the momentum shift, Cousinard, the Ducks’ leading scorer on the season at 15.5 points a game, responded with five points as Oregon upped the defensive pressure. Trailing 70-66, the Ducks’ Dante would score three buckets at the rim while the Buffs went 2-of-5 from the free-throw line. 


After Dante’s final bucket with 41 seconds to play, Simpson was fouled on an overzealous play by the freshman Shelstad. The Buffs’ junior point guard finally hit a pair of free throws, going up 76-72.


Immediately, Cousinard would come up with a huge 3 and his 15th, 16th, and 17th points of the night, hitting a shot from beyond the arc to trail by one point with 36 seconds to play. As Colorado looked to respond, da Silva drove to the rim before Dante rose up for his fifth and most towering swat of the game.


Oregon’s big man tied his career-high in blocks, adding 20 points on a perfect 10-of-10 from the field, 12 rebounds, four assists, and three steals.


Dante’s block off the backboard bounced out of bounds, though, remaining in Colorado’s possession. From the baseline, Simpson dished his sixth assist of the night to a wide-open Hadley at the rim to make it a 78-75 ball game with 12 seconds to play.


Simpson’s six assists came with 17 points (7-17 FG, 0-5 3PT, 3-4 FT), six rebounds, and two steals in another full 40 minutes.


With the game on the line, the Buffs had two fouls to give. Simpson fouled Shelstad after a few seconds to initiate an inbounds from the sideline. The Ducks went back to Shelstad, who anticipated Simpson trying to use Colorado’s last foul by attempting a 3-pointer. In eerily close fashion to the end of the first half, the refs ruled Simpson’s foul on the floor before the Ducks came up empty on the following inbounds play.


Luke O’Brien was then fouled, making the Buffs a nearly costly 7-of-13 from the line and keeping his team's March Madness hopes alive.


While every win comes with great importance toward a March Madness berth, the victory gives the Buffs another Quadrant 1 win. CU’s only stain this season has been their losses on the road, so the 79-75 win over a solid Oregon squad adds to their case for the NCAA Tournament.


As far as the Pac-12 Tournament, Colorado moves into third place in the conference while Oregon drops to fourth with one game left to play in the regular season. 


The Buffs will wrap the regular season up across the state against the Oregon State Beavers (12-17, 4-14) on Saturday. The 3 p.m. MT tipoff will be broadcast live on the Pac-12 Network.


Cover photo by @CUBuffsMBB/X

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