J’Vonne Hadley endured a rare off-night offensively. KJ Simpson did not.
Yet the biggest contributions by the two Colorado guards probably occurred at the defensive end of the floor.
The CU men’s basketball team continued its hot streak by defeating Utah 72-58 on Thursday night in the Pac-12 quarterfinals at T-Mobile Arena. While it certainly was a solid night offensively for the Buffs — CU shot 7-for-14 on 3-pointers and committed only seven turnovers — it was defense, particularly in the second half, that secured the Buffs’ third Pac-12 semifinal berth in the past four years.
Hadley drew the assignment on Utah’s Gabe Madsen, who shot .538 (14-for-26) during the teams’ two regular season meetings. With Hadley guarding him for much of the night, Madsen struggled to a 3-for-14 mark and went 1-for-9 on 3-pointers before finishing with nine points.
“When we played (Utah) in Boulder, he didn’t start on (Madsen). We put him on him in the second half and he really shut him down,” CU head coach Tad Boyle said. ”Tonight, he had him the whole game. KJ had him a little bit, too. It was a good team effort. But (Hadley’s) defensive effort tonight was phenomenal. Madsen’s been a thorn in a side both times we’ve played them. (Hadley) deserves a lot of credit.”
Simpson had been gunning for Pac-12 All-Defensive team honors all season before settling for honorable mention when the league’s year-end awards were released earlier this week. Yet five days after holding Oregon State leading scorer Jordan Pope to a 3-for-12 mark in a key CU road win, Simpson did the same to Utah’s standout all-around point guard Deivon Smith.
Smith very nearly recorded his fourth triple-double of the season in the Utes’ first-round rout of Arizona State, going 6-for-8 with 15 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists. It was a different story against Simpson, as Smith finished just 2-for-12 with five points. Smith had averaged 16.4 points in the previous eight games.
“I have the utmost respect for Smith,” Simpson said. “Both times we played, at Colorado and Utah, it was a tough battle but he got some easy looks. They have a lot of great talent on that team but he’s kind of the head of the snake. He runs the show, he gets guys involved assists-wise and he gets a lot of rebounds. Obviously he can get a bucket when he needs to. I just wanted to take it upon myself as an individual challenge to try and make it harder for him. Because if it was harder for him, it would be harder for them to run their offense. But I have nothing but love and respect for him.”
Cody Williams returns
After missing the previous four games due to a sprained ankle, standout freshman Cody Williams returned to the rotation but came off the bench for the first time in his 19 games played this season.
Williams, a .590 shooter entering the game, showed signs of rust, going 3-for-9. Yet for a team poised to keep making a March push, reintegrating a likely NBA lottery pick back into the rotation could provide CU a huge boost.
“Definitely felt good to be out there,” Williams said. “Boyle told me to just go out there and play free, so that’s what I did. It just felt natural once I started going out there and started playing. My teammates helped get me involved, so it was really easy to get back into it.”
Backup point guard Julian Hammond III missed his fifth consecutive game due to a knee injury and is unlikely to play in Friday’s semifinal against Washington State (8:30 p.m. MT, FS1).
Notable
CU senior Tristan da Silva moved up one spot to 14th on CU’s all-time scoring list. … Simpson moved up three spots to No. 18 on the all-time scoring list. … CU center Eddie Lampkin Jr. grabbed five offensive rebounds, leading to a 14-6 advantage for the Buffs in points off turnovers. Lampkin has recorded 14 offensive rebounds in the past three games.
