Julian Hammond III leads CU Buffs past South Dakota State – Boulder Daily Camera

On December 15, 2024By Littum

Quick break

Why the Buffs won: CU shot just 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 had a career-high six assists.

2. Elijah Malone. The Buffs’ center went 7-for-8 and finished with 15 points and nine rebounds.

3. RJ Smith. Continued his hot start by hitting his first four shots and recorded 11 points and four assists.

Next: CU wraps up non-conference play next Saturday (Dec. 21) at home against Bellarmine (1 p.m., ESPN+).

For most of the night, Colorado did what it wanted to do by containing South Dakota State’s highly productive big man, Oscar Cluff.

But that interior focus left the Buffaloes a little vulnerable on the perimeter, and it almost 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 Friday night at the CU Events Center.

South Dakota State took its first and only lead at 56-55 with about 10 minutes left, 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, a quality program,” CU head coach Tad Boyle said. “I knew it wasn’t going to be easy, and it wasn’t. I was pretty pleased with our offensive performance tonight. We had many good individual performances. The big disappointment for me was how we guarded the 3-point line. And to let another team come in here – with good shooters that we knew were good shooters – and make 11 threes on us. We have to be better than that.”

CU never trailed in 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 halftime lead . The Buffs’ lead remained at five as South Dakota State put together an 8-2 run to take its one-point lead midway through the second half.

The Buffs answered 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 left. Hammond launched from long range with the shot clock expiring, pushing a five-point CU lead to 79-70.

“We started the game a little late. Because we really want to go downhill at the end of the shot clock, Hammond said. “When I saw that there were four or five seconds left and Andrej (Jakimovski) slid out, I just have to find a way to come up with this shot. It’s a shot I make in practice. I know it’s not a great shot during a game, but you never know when you might shoot it at the end of the shooting 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 to .289 on 3-pointers. The Buffs were able to offset the Jackrabbits’ hot night from long range by dominating the interior and outscoring SDSU 34-26 while finishing 18-for-19 at the free throw line.

CU put together the defensive job it wanted against Cluff, who averaged 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 go out of the double team,” Boyle said. “They got threes off a bad shift in the first half. A shift without communication in the second half. A transition three by their best shooter in the first half. Their threes came because of our breakdown. Not because our rotations were bad, for the most part. It’s just that our communication was poor 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. Total 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. Total 28-56 18-19 81.

Half time — 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). Assisting – South Dakota State 12 (Cluff 4); Colorado 16 (Hammond III 6). Turnover – South Dakota State 10 (Cluff 4); Colorado 10 (Diop, Smith, Dak 2). Total mistake —South Dakota State 17; Colorado 13. ONE — 5,942.