Tempe, Ariz. – After an ankle injury in practice sidelined Tristan da Silva for the first three games of Pac-12 play, the Colorado Buffaloes went 2-1 in his absence. In the star senior’s return, his 17 points, three rebounds, and three assists weren’t enough as the Arizona State Sun Devils outlasted the Buffs on Saturday evening.
The game featured 38 fouls and 54 free throws as the Sun Devils were led by Jamiya Neal’s 19 points and a 14-point first half by Adam Miller. Despite shooting a worse field goal percentage and getting outrebounded by Colorado, it was the Buffs' 13 turnovers that ASU turned into 27 points that ultimately led to the Sun Devils’ fourth win of Pac-12 play.
For CU, KJ Simpson once again led the way for the Buffs with 23 points (8-of-17 FG), five rebounds, and four assists as he scored his 1000th career point in the loss. J’Vonne Hadley also continued his great play as he scored a career-high 19 points (6-of-7 FG) and grabbed five rebounds.
While Colorado had several chances to steal a game on the road after a humbling 47-point loss to the No. 10 Arizona Wildcats on Thursday, the Sun Devils’ aggressive, physical defense combined with a packed Desert Finacial Arena proved too much for the Buffs to handle. The swarming Arizona State defense held the black and gold to their third-lowest assist total all year as they only dished out 11 assists in the contest.
In the first half, a quick 8-0 run by Colorado put them up 18-10. A moment and some turnovers later, the game was tied at 20. While CU regained the lead, going up 31-26, the Sun Devils responded with a 13-0 run led by Miller as he scored nine points, including two threes and an and-one. As the first half ended, Arizona State led 44-38.
As the Sun Devils went up by 10 points to start the second half – the largest lead of the game – Colorado responded with an 8-0 run to make it a two-point ball game (63-61) with just over six minutes left. Across the first 14 minutes, Hadley scored 13 points for CU as Neal rattled in 12 for Arizona State.
With the game coming down to the wire, da Silva came alive as he led the Buffs down the stretch. As CU came to tie the game at 70 before losing 76-73, Simpson and da Silva had scored 14 of Colorado’s 20 points across the final 10-and-a-half minutes. Unfortunately for CU, the premiere duo came up short as the Sun Devils outscored the Buffs 6-3 in the final minute of play.
The Buffs were once again without star freshman Cody Williams (ankle) and in their first game without sixth-man Julian Hammond III (back) after he suffered an injury against Arizona. With Luke O’Brien fouling out, Colorado’s thin rotation played a factor in the tough loss.
With four days off until facing the California Golden Bears on the road, the Buffs look to get back on track as they hope Williams can return for their fifth game of conference play. Tipoff is set for 9 p.m. MT on Wednesday (Jan. 10).
Cover photo by @CUBuffsMBB/X
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