KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Led by Andrej Jakimovski’s 16 second-half points, 16th-seed Colorado pushed by No. 9 TCU 69-67 in the first round of the Big 12 Championship Tuesday at the T-Mobile Center.

“When you don’t play your best, and we were far from our best today, and you figure out how to win a game in March, it says something about your guys,” head coach Tad Boyle said. “This team has come a long way. We’ve been through a lot together, and they stuck together and to see them with the fight today, even though we didn’t play our best.”

Colorado (13-19) outlasted TCU (16-16) for the second time in four days to win its first Big 12 Championship game since 2011 and win a game in a conference tournament for the 14th time in 15 seasons.

Jakimovski scored a game-high 18 points, including 16 in the second half, putting Colorado ahead 13 points before TCU responded with a 10-0 run to cut the lead to 63-60 with 1:47 left in the game.  

A dunk by Bangot Dak slowed the momentum for the Horn Frogs, but another 3-pointer cut the lead to 65-63 with under a minute to go. As he had been all season, Julian Hammond III was money at the free throw line, making both to make it a two-possession game.

TCU scored quickly to cut the lead back to two points before Javon Ruffin iced the game with two free throws of his own to keep Colorado ahead for good.

While Jakimovski led the way in the second half, Hammond got the team going in the first half, scoring 10 of his 16 points to help grow the lead. The team as a whole shared the ball with assists on 16 of the 21 field goals made. “I think playing in this tournament the first game is the hardest, and we won this one,” Jakimovski said. “We’ve been practicing really hard the last six months. but we’ve been struggling with ups and downs. But we are just gonna give everything we got. We are going to try to win one game at a time.” With only 22 points in the paint, Colorado used 9-of-22 (40.9%) shooting from deep and 18 made free throws to score the ball. To keep the game close, TCU used 22 offensive rebounds and 18 second-chance points. “When we make nine threes, and we guard the way we guard it today, we can beat anybody, but we got to rebound the ball better,” Boyle commented. “We’re a much, much better shooting team than we’ve shown this year. Andrej made a few today, which is what we really needed, and RJ [Smith] made a couple. Trevor made plays in the lane on transition and always gives us great energy. When we shoot the ball, it really helps. I mean, it’s pretty simplistic, I know, but it is pretty critical. In March, when you get open shots, you better make them.”

Defensively is where Colorado thrived against TCU, forcing them to shoot 37.9% from the field and 31.8% from behind the arc. CU’s defense was led by Trevor Baskin, who led the team with his season-high four blocked shots.

TCU was led by Noah Reynolds, who scored all of his 17 points in the second half. He shot 7-of-14 from the floor and 3-of-6 from 3-point range.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Colorado started fast again against TCU; Javon Ruffin hit a deep 3-pointer followed by a Hammond floater to get the offense started, but they used a defensive effort to push the lead early. TCU missed its first 13 shots, as Colorado got out to an 8-2 lead with 12 minutes remaining in the first half. The Horn Frogs responded by taking the lid off the basket and making their next three shots, including two 3-pointers, but Hammond kept CU ahead, scoring eight of the first 16 points to lead 16-8 with 10:21 left. After four offensive rebounds on the same possession, TCU ended that with a putback layup to cut the lead to 16-15. Halfway through the first half, they had already compiled 10 offensive rebounds. In what was a game of runs in the opening 20 minutes, Colorado responded with an 8-0 run, with six points at the free-throw line to lead 24-15. In that span, they held TCU scoreless for almost five minutes. In another response, TCU rattled off a 10-0 run to take its first lead of the game, 25-24, scoring six points in the paint. Both teams traded one more basket to go into the half, with TCU leading 27-26. Colorado led most of the first half, but TCU used the offensive glass to keep them in the game. The Horn Frogs had 15 offensive rebounds and 10 second-chance points. Colorado used the free throw line in the first half, shooting 9-of-12 to offset just 7-of-21 shooting from the field. Jakimovski found his shooting stroke early in the second half to help CU retake the lead and open on a 14-1 run. He made three 3-pointers after going 0-of-2 in the first half to lead 40-28.

RJ Smith got in on the action, knocking down two 3-pointers of his own, the second with the shot clock going down to keep the lead in double digits.

TCU kept crashing the offensive glass, getting second-chance points on two straight possessions. The first was a kick-out 3-pointer, and the second an and-1 to cut the lead to 10. Jakimovski continued to knock down shots, putting in his fourth 3-pointer of the half to push the lead back to 59-48. Another layup for Jakimovski and a few free throws by Hammond put the Buffs up 63-50 with 4:58 left in the game. TCU used a 10-0 run to cut the lead to 63-60, but a dunk by Dak and free throws by Hammond and Ruffin closed out the game.

“We give up 22 offensive rebounds, you turn over 15 times, and you win,” Boyle said. “It’s kind of a head-scratcher, but they did what they had to do. I thought Trevor [Baskin] and Andrej [Jakimovski] played like seniors, and that’s what you need to have this time of year. You’ve got to have your veteran guys that you count on to play the way they played today. Julian [Hammond III] and Ruff [Javon Ruffin] were really good as well. Everybody that played, I thought, contributed. Players got to make plays at the critical time of the game, and these two guys [Baskin and Jakimovski] did it, and we got enough stops at the end, but we were far from our best, and that, I guess that’s a good thing and a bad thing, but we better be better tomorrow.”

UP NEXT

Colorado will advance to play No. 8 seed West Virginia tomorrow in the second round of the Big 12 Championships at 1 p.m. at the T-Mobile Center (ESPN+ / KOA 850 AM & 94.1 FM).