They were harried. Rattled. Flustered.
But on a day that saw Boulder stunned by tragedy, CU Buffs men’s basketball coach Tad Boyle tried his best to put a loss in a basketball game — albeit a painful, high-profile loss — in perspective.
“You know, it puts basketball in its proper place,” Boyle said referring to the fatal shooting at a south Boulder King Soopers after his Buffs saw their season end with a 71-53 loss to Florida State in the second round of the NCAA Tournament in Indianapolis. “Win or lose I felt an emptiness in my stomach. Another senseless act of violence that we’ve experienced as a country many, many times.”
Boyle’s Buffs on Monday bore little resemblance to the dominant group that had routed Georgetown 96-73 two days earlier.
In fact, for long — and often scoreless — stretches, the Buffs didn’t even really look like themselves at all. Especially when it came to self-inflicted gaffes.
The Buffs’ 19 turnovers against Florida State were the most in a game since they give it away 22 times in a 56-47 loss at Tennessee back on Dec. 8. CU (23-9) had averaged just 11 turnovers per contest going into Monday night.
Boyle’s record with the Buffs in the NCAA tourney fell to 2-5.
Senior point guard McKinley Wright’s first appearance in the Big Dance was frustratingly brief, at two games. And his second game was one to forget: 4-for-12 shooting, 0-for-4 from beyond the arc, one assist, four rebounds and five turnovers.
Wright said the tragedy in Boulder was on his mind.
“I’m so sorry,” he said of the loss of life. “I’m going to pray for their families. Basketball is just a game.”
The Buffs, the No. 5 seed in the East region, have yet to reach the Sweet 16 since the NCAA expanded the men’s tourney to 64 teams in 1985. CU hasn’t won more than one game in a Big Dance since 1955.
Florida State, the fourth seed, is headed to its third consecutive Sweet 16. It went to the free throw line 21 times compared to 11 for the Buffs.
Not surprisingly, Boyle’s growing frustration with the officiating crew boiled over with 6:19 left in the game. After a foul wasn’t called on the ‘Noles despite Wright crashing into the lane and landing hard on the floor, CU’s Jeriah Horne reached in and was immediately whistled for an infraction.
The Buffs’ coach fumed and got slapped with a technical. The concurrent penalties sent Florida State to the line four times in succession. The ‘Noles drained two of them to go up 52-41, and an Anthony Polite 3-pointer on Florida State’s subsequent possession put the ACC squad up 55-41 with 6:03 to play.
“This loss is on me,” Boyle said. “Don’t blame our players one bit. Their coach didn’t do a very good job (Monday).”
Boyle switched to a zone in the second half to try and frustrate the lengthier Seminoles, and CU pulled to within one, 36-35, on D’Shawn Schwartz’s trey from the top of the arc with 11:54 to go.
The ‘Noles countered with a 6-0 run, punctuated by a pair of dunks by Sardaar Calhoun, to extend its lead back to seven, at 42-35, which it kept expanding.
The opening half was as ugly for the Buffs offensively as the first-round game against Georgetown was clinical, thanks to a swarming Florida State defense and a roster that, on average, is among the tallest squads in the NCAA tournament field.
At the half, the Buffs had more turnovers (11) than field goals made (nine). The Seminoles harassed Wright into a first-half stat line of four rebounds, zero assists and three turnovers.
With their point guard contained, the Buffs weathered scoring droughts of four minutes and seven minutes midway through the opening half.
CU’s 3-point mastery on Saturday at Hinkle Fieldhouse — 16 makes on 25 tries from long distance — didn’t carry over into the Indiana Farmers Fieldhouse on Monday. The Buffs misfired on seven of their first nine tries from beyond the arc, while super freshman sub Jabari Walker, who dropped 24 points on the Hoyas, was held scoreless for the contest.
Despite their offensive malaise, CU only trailed by four at the break, 24-20.
