Steven Bisig- USA TODAY Sports
Colorado put forth another head-scratching road performance on Wednesday night as they lost to Washington 64-54. The loss was Colorado’s fourth loss in their last five games dropping the Buffs to just 1-4 in Pac 12 play.
What does this loss say about the Buffs? Well it’s just another example of how Colorado continues to have a hard time figuring out how to win on the road.
Winning on the road is never easy but in Colorado’s case they’ve made it look nearly impossible. Their defense isn’t as good as it is at home, they continuously seem to be lost on both ends of the floor and they commit an excess of turnovers away from Boulder. On top of that, the Buffs are unable to utilize their normal transition game so they have to rely on their half-court offensive sets. Relying on their half-court offense it not what Colorado does best and it’s shown in their three losses.
Ever since their controversial loss to Arizona, where they had a last-second game winning three pointer called off, Colorado just hasn’t been the same confident team. In Colorado’s next three games they lost at Arizona State, they struggled to beat USC at home and they were unable to complete a double-digit comeback in a loss to UCLA.
Colorado’s loss at Washington was a mixture of all Colorado’s problems into one game. There was long lulls in scoring for the Buffs as they would often go two-five minutes at a time without scoring. They had a tough time getting out to contest three-point shooters while in the process giving up 15 offensive rebounds. All of their key players struggled on offense, especially Askia Booker who finished with just nine points on 3-14 shooting.
Rebounding used to be one of Colorado’s strengths but ever since conference play began it’s become one of their weaknesses. In their five Pac 12 games to start this season they have been out-rebounded in three of them. Defense and rebounding is Colorado’s calling card but lately it’s been one of their weaknesses.
Colorado needs to figure it out and fast because their postseason NCAA Tournament hopes are quickly fading away.
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David LaRose is one of the featured College Basketball writers for Rant Sports covering the Pac 12 and the University of Colorado. He’s also a member of the U.S. Basketball Writer’s Association of America. You can follow him on Twitter or check out his Facebook page
