Colorado Beats Boise State in Last First Four Round Game
This past Saturday the Colorado Buffaloes lost in the Pac-12 Conference Championship game as they were defeated by the Oregon Ducks 75-68. While the Buffaloes may have lost this one to a very talented Ducks team there is no doubt that Colorado is an NCAA tournament team this year which is exactly what they got a chance to prove in this play-in game versus the Boise State Broncos. The Broncos were also losers in their conference tournament this past week as they lost to the now Mountain West Conference Champion New Mexico Lobos last Thursday 76-66 in the Mountain West Conference tournament quarterfinal. In a talented field of teams all on the border of making the NCAA tournament this year for these two to make it the selection committee probably valued highly the fact that both of these teams have tournament-worthy talent and were only defeated by the champions of both of their respective conference tournaments. Let’s take a look at how the Buffaloes won this game!
Last night at the halfway mark of the first half of this one it was still anyone’s game as the Broncos were only able to build up a one-point lead of 13-12. By halftime, it was still anyone’s game but it was the Buffaloes who had taken the lead as they went into halftime with a two-point lead up 26-24 on Boise State. Colorado came out of the locker room and was able to hold a small lead over the Broncos for a majority of the second half as the Broncos were not able to get their first lead of the second half until they went up on the Buffaloes 45-43 with nearly seven minutes remaining in regulation. Unfortunately for Boise State though Colorado was able to regain the lead in this one as they went on to win 60-53 and end the Broncos' season. The Buffaloes were led by senior forward Tristan Da Silva with 20 points and junior guard KJ Simpson with 19 points and 11 rebounds on Wednesday night.
As Colorado now heads into the round of 64 of the 2024 NCAA tournament they will be the ten seed in the south region and will face off the Florida Gators tomorrow afternoon in Indianapolis, IN. In a game that will most likely be a heated battle, the Buffaloes are going to have to try their best on the defensive end to prevent the Gators from delivering their high-powering offense that has averaged over 85 points a game this season. They will also have to rely on one of their big strengths and let it fly from behind the arc as Colorado, shooting over 39% from three, is one of the best three-point shooting teams in the country. Will the Gators or the Buffaloes move on to the next round?
