Buffaloes lose

The Colorado Buffaloes lost to the San Diego Toreros, 69-59. It wasn’t pretty.

Colorado started the game off to a glacially slow pace, but fortunately for them, so too did San Diego. The two teams struggled creating anything resembling an open shot and the Buffs especially seemed to waste the shot clock until hoisting up contested three-pointers. It could have helped CU that the Toreros were plagued with turnovers, but it didn’t matter because the Buffs couldn’t convert a single fast break opportunity. Colorado went into halftime down 29-21.

Unfortunately, the first half was enjoyable compared to the second. The difference after the break was that San Diego heated up and Colorado did not — and that’s putting it lightly. Due to poor playcalling, sloppy passes and even worse shooting, CU endured a brutal scoring drought that saw USD’s lead grow to 46-31. The Buffs did make a game of it — they brought it back to 51-46 with 5:30 left in the game — but their comeback attempt was too little, too late.

I want to write that this loss was unfortunate or unlucky or whatever, but you know what? CU shot 26% in the game. They made seven field goals in the second half. I love this team and I have high hopes for their future, but they most certainly did not deserve to win this game.

Next up for the Buffs is a Friday night game at home against South Dakota State, tip-off at 6 p.m. on Pac-12 Networks. The Jackrabbits are a perennial NCAA Tournament team and they have college basketball’s most prolific scorer in Mike Daum, so the Buffs better show up ready to play and ready to make some shots.