Fast break
Why the Buffs won: CU shot an even 50%, outrebounded South Dakota State 34-26, and went 18-for-19 at the free throw line.
Three stars
1. Julian Hammond III. CU’s senior guard scored 12 of his career-high 23 points in the final five minutes, and also tied a career-high with six assists.
2. Elijah Malone. The Buffs’ center went 7-for-8, finishing with 15 points and nine rebounds.
3. RJ Smith. Continued his hot start by hitting his first four shots, recording 11 points and four assists.
Up next: CU completes nonconference play next Saturday (Dec. 21) at home against Bellarmine (1 p.m., ESPN+).
For much of the night, Colorado did what it wanted to do in containing South Dakota State’s highly-productive big man, Oscar Cluff.
But that interior focus left the Buffaloes a little vulnerable along the perimeter, and it nearly cost them.
The Jackrabbits used a hot night from long range to put together an upset bid, but the Buffs were able to extinguish that bid down the stretch, holding off South Dakota State for an 81-70 victory on Friday night at the CU Events Center.
South Dakota State took its first and only lead at 56-55 with about 10 minutes remaining, but CU responded with a 12-2 run while outscoring the Jackrabbits 26-14 the rest of the way.
“A good win against a really quality team, quality program,” CU head coach Tad Boyle said. “I knew it wasn’t going to be easy, and it wasn’t. I was pretty happy with our offensive performance tonight. We had a lot of good individual performances. The big disappointing thing to me was how we guarded the 3-point line. And to let another team come in here — with good shooters, who we knew were good shooters — and make 11 threes on us. We’ve got to be better than that.”
CU never trailed during the first half after jumping ahead behind an early 11-2 run, but the Jackrabbits hit seven of their first 11 3-point attempts to stay close, with the Buffs taking a 40-35 lead into halftime. The Buffs’ lead remained five when South Dakota State strung together an 8-2 run to take its one-point lead midway through the second half.
The Buffs responded with consecutive 3-pointers from Elijah Malone and Julian Hammond III, and CU never trailed again.
It was a huge night for Hammond, who scored 15 of his career-high 23 points in the final 8 minutes, 16 seconds. Hammond also matched a career-high with six assists while recording just one turnover in 27:27 of court time.
Hammond’s biggest shot was a 4-point play with 52 seconds remaining. Hammond launched from long range with the shot clock about to expire, pushing a five-point CU lead to 79-70.
“We started the play kind of late. Because really, we want to get downhill at the end of the shot clock,” Hammond said. “When I saw there was four or five seconds left and Andrej (Jakimovski) slipped out, I’ve just got to find a way to get up this shot. That’s a shot that I do at practice. I know it’s not a great shot throughout the course of a game, but you never know when you might have to shoot that at the end of the shot clock or something like that.
“It was just the right shot for the right situation.”
South Dakota State brought a .318 3-point percentage to the Events Center, and CU had held its previous six opponents at home .289 mark on 3-pointers. The Buffs were able to offset the Jackrabbits’ hot night from long range by dominating the interior, outrebounding SDSU 34-26, while finishing 18-for-19 at the free throw line.
CU put together the defensive job it wanted against Cluff, who was averaging 17.3 points and 11.0 rebounds but was limited to nine points and nine boards.
“There’s two ways you can guard (Cluff). You can double him, and he’s a very good passer. So if you double team, he’s going to pass out of the double team,” Boyle said. “They got threes off a bad switch in the first half. A no-communication switch in the second half. A transition three by their best shooter in the first half. Their threes came because of our breakdowns. Not because our rotations were bad, for the most part. It’s just that our communication was bad, and our understanding of the scouting report wasn’t what we needed.”
CU Buffs men’s basketball 81, South Dakota State 70
SOUTH DAKOTA STATE (8-5)
Mors 3-9 0-0 8, Cluff 4-8 1-2 9, Larson 1-7 0-0 3, Sayler 5-11 4-5 16, Garry 4-7 1-2 12, Whorton 0-0 1-2 1, Hadnot 3-6 2-2 8, Jackson 3-6 0-0 8, Wilkinson 1-1 0-0 2, Lindsey 1-1 0-0 3. Totals 25-56 9-13 70.
COLORADO (8-2)
Jakimovski 2-8 0-0 4, Diop 1-2 2-2 4, Malone 7-8 0-0 15, Hammond III 8-14 5-5 23, Smith 4-6 0-0 11, Baskin 2-5 4-4 8, Dak 3-5 2-2 8, Ruffin 0-5 0-0 0, Kossaras 0-1 1-2 1, Carrington 1-2 4-4 7. Totals 28-56 18-19 81.
Halftime — Colorado 40-35. 3-point field goals — South Dakota State 11-25 (Mors 2-6, Larson 1-4, Sayler 2-5, Garry 3-4, Jackson 2-5, Lindsey 1-1); Colorado 7-24 (Jakimovski 0-6, Diop 0-1, Malone 1-1, Hammond III 2-5, Smith 3-5, Baskin 0-1, Dak 0-1, Ruffin 0-2, Kossaras 0-1, Carrington 1-2). Rebounds — South Dakota State 26 (Cluff 9); Colorado 34 (Malone 9). Assists — South Dakota State 12 (Cluff 4); Colorado 16 (Hammond III 6). Turnovers — South Dakotat State 10 (Cluff 4); Colorado 10 (Diop, Smith, Dak 2). Total fouls — South Dakota State 17; Colorado 13. A — 5,942.
