Contact CU Independent Sports Editor Sam Routhier at samuel.routhier@colorado.edu.
Some would say the book on University of Colorado basketball this season has been an inability to maintain double-digit leads and finish games. In a way, that makes the eighth seed Buffaloes’ 74-67 loss to ninth seed UConn in the NCAA Tournament’s first round in Des Moines on Thursday a cruelly fitting storybook ending.
After squandering what had been a nine-point lead at halftime, the Buffaloes found themselves down 13 points with 3:05 left in the second half. Rather than roll over, Colorado executed a press off of the Huskies’ inbounds plays that led to three Connecticut turnovers in the game’s final minutes.