To look at the positives, Colorado gained some valuable postseason experience playing in the NIT and Lawson Lovering enters the offseason with a good deal of confidence in his offensive game.
But a career-high 21-point night from Lovering still wasn’t enough to earn the Buffs a spot in the NIT quarterfinals. Utah Valley hit 56% of its field goals and left the CU Events Center with an 81-69 second-round win to end Colorado’s season.
The Wolverines began the second half on a 7-0 run to go up 45-38 and while the Buffs were able to tie things up twice later, Colorado never fully rebounded from the loss of momentum. Utah Valley’s Trey Woodbury was a thorn in the Buffaloes’ side, too, scoring 25 on 11-of-15 from the field.
Playing in his final college game, Ethn Wright capped his Buffs career with 17 points, including 12 from deep.
Tristan da Silva, who said afterward that he’ll at least test the NBA draft waters this summer, scored 10 of his 12 points in the second half.
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