EUGENE, Ore. — It wasn’t as if J’Vonne Hadley failed to be aggressive last year. Quite the contrary.
However, Hadley opted to remain, diligently, within his comfort zone playing his first season at the power conference level. That comfort zone remained squarely in the paint until a broken finger ended Hadley’s season after 22 games.
Hadley vowed to return as a more versatile, well-rounded player. The culmination of that effort was on full display at Oregon on Thursday.
The 6-foot-6 forward-turned-guard enjoyed possibly his finest game at CU, going 4-for-4 on 3-pointers while posting his third double-double of the season in a critical 79-75 win at Oregon. The victory clinched third-place in the Pac-12 Conference for the Buffs and provided a big step forward in CU’s NCAA Tournament aspirations, but that progress will be nullified if CU fails to complete the road sweep at Oregon State on Saturday afternoon in the regular season finale.
“I’m a firm believer in that your work is going to show,” Hadley said. “I put a lot of reps up in the gym my whole life. I’m comfortable enough to step up and hit those shots. A shout-out to my teammates as well that find me game after game for wide-open threes and stuff like that. I wouldn’t have the ball without them passing it to me.”
Hadley was a solid long-range shooter during his lone season at Indian Hills Community College, but prior to that he launched only six 3-point attempts in 13 games off the bench as a true freshman at Northeastern.
After moving to CU last year, Hadley attempted just one 3-pointer. Through the first 11 games this season, Hadley attempted just four 3-pointers, missing all of them. Then, in the Pac-12 opener on Dec. 29, Hadley knocked one down against Washington. Since then, the proverbial long-range floodgates have opened.
Thursday’s effort left Hadley with a .500 mark (17-for-34) on 3-pointers. He finished 8-for-11 overall at Oregon, pushing his field goal percentage to .571. After averaging 8.0 points and 5.9 rebounds last year, Hadley goes into the regular season finale averaging 12.2 points and 6.1 rebounds.
“J’Vonne Hadley, to me, was the player of the game,” CU head coach Tad Boyle said of Hadley’s performance against the Ducks. “We play at two o’clock (PT) in the afternoon on Saturday, so it’s a quick turnaround. Physically, we’re not going to do a lot (Friday). It’s going to be digesting the Oregon State scouting report and figuring out what we have to do to beat them. Our guys have been good at that.”
CU has won five consecutive games and moved up to No. 29 in Friday’s NET rankings. Finishing the job against Oregon State won’t be easy — the last-place Beavers defeated Utah on Thursday and have posted four of their five league wins at home. The Buffs’ injury-depleted rotation also has logged heavy minutes, as KJ Simpson (37.0), Hadley (36.1) and Tristan da Silva (35.6) all rank in the top four in average minutes in league play.
Yet securing third-place means the Buffs don’t have to begin play in the Pac-12 tourney until Thursday. If CU can power through 40 more minutes to the finish line of the regular season, the Buffs will have an opportunity to reset before the postseason.
“Just stay locked-in and know that the job’s not done,” Hadley said. “We have one regular-season game left and we’ve got a little mojo. We’re coming off a good win but we can’t get ahead of ourselves. But we know that Oregon State, they’re good at home. It’s limiting those star players and locking in on defense. Our offense is always going to come, so we’ve got to lock in on defense.”
CU Buffs men’s basketball at Oregon State Beavers
TIPOFF: Saturday, 3 p.m. MT, Gill Coliseum, Corvallis, Ore.
TV/RADIO: Pac-12 Network/KOA 850 AM and 94.1 FM.
RECORDS: Colorado 21-9, 12-7 Pac-12 Conference; Oregon State 13-17, 5-14.
COACHES: Colorado — Tad Boyle, 14th season (293-181, 349-247 overall); Oregon State — Wayne Tinkle, 10th season (140-175, 298-264 overall).
KEY PLAYERS: Colorado — G KJ Simpson, 6-2, Jr. (19.8 ppg, 5.6 rpg, 4.8 apg, .493 FG%, .445 3%); F Tristan da Silva, 6-9, Sr. (16.4 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 2.5 apg, .483 FG%, .383 3%); G Cody Williams, 6-8, Fr. (13.7 ppg, 3.3 rpg, .590 FG%, .457 3%); G J’Vonne Hadley, 6-6, Sr. (12.2 ppg, 6.1 rpg, 2.3 apg, .571 FG%, .500 3%); C Eddie Lampkin Jr., 6-11, Sr. (9.9 ppg, 6.6 rpg, .556 FG%); G Julian Hammond III, 6-2, Jr. (7.4 ppg, .400 3%); G/F Luke O’Brien, 6-8, Sr. (6.4 ppg, 3.8 rpg, .397 3%). Oregon State — G Jordan Pope, 6-2, So. (17.7 ppg, 3.4 apg, .459 FG%, .373 3%); F Tyler Bilodeau, 6-9, So. (14.4 ppg, 5.7 rpg, .526 FG%); G Dexter Akanno, 6-5, Sr. (10.6 ppg, 2.9 rpg); F Michael Rataj, 6-9, So. (8.4 ppg, 6.0 rpg, .446 FG%); C KC Ibekwe, 6-10, So. (5.1 ppg, 4.0, .521 FG%).
NOTES: CU is seeking a program-record 22nd win in the regular season. Four teams previously have recorded 21 regular-season wins (1996-97, 2013-14, 2015-16, 2019-20). … The Buffs are also seeking their first six-game win streak within league play since the Chauncey Billups-led squad of 1996-97 started 6-0 in the Big 12. CU’s 2021 NCAA Tournament team defeated six straight league foes down the stretch, but those games encompassed the final four regular season games, plus two wins in the Pac-12 tournament. … CU is seeking its fourth two-game road sweep since joining the Pac-12. The Buffs swept the Oregon trip in 2012-13, the Los Angeles trip in 2018-19 and the Bay Area trip in 2021-22. That ’21-22 team also won both games in Oregon, but due to COVID postponements those games were played on different weekends. … Hadley has shot .650 (26-for-40) over the past four games. His career-high 12 rebounds on Thursday at Oregon matched the season-high for any CU player this season. (Lampkin has recorded a pair of 12-rebound games). … CU had won three consecutive games in Corvallis before losing at OSU last year. … Six players scored in double figures for CU, led by 19 from da Silva, in the Buffs’ home win against the Beavers on Jan. 20. … Pope went 10-for-11 on free throws with 25 points and four assists, while Bilodeau hit five 3-pointers with 20 points and six rebounds to lead OSU’s home win on Thursday against Utah.