Colorado
11-7, 3-3
UCLA
13-5, 4-2
Buffs Collect First-Ever Win At UCLA As King Notches Double-Double
January 13, 2018 | Men's Basketball, Neill Woelk
LOS ANGELES — Tad Boyle's Colorado Buffaloes ended their road woes in the most unlikely of places Saturday night.
Senior George King recorded a 26-point, 10-rebound double-double and CU's defense smothered UCLA all night, leading the Buffs to a 68-59 win at Pauley Pavilion, the Buffs' first-ever win on the Bruins' home floor.
The win ended a seven-game road skid that stretched back to last February as well as an all-time eight-game losing streak at UCLA — including four in Pac-12 play.
CU improved to 11-7 overall and 3-3 in Pac-12 play while the Bruins, who entered the day in first place in the Pac-12, dropped to 13-5, 4-2.
"Just a great win for our program," Boyle said. "These young guys are growing up before your eyes. … I'm just so proud of these guys. The road hasn't been good to us and we needed this first one to start believing. I told them it's our first road win, it better not be our last."
King, who had a career-high six 3-pointers, recorded his fifth double-double of the season and 12th of his career. Junior Namon Wright added nine points, freshman Tyler Bey had seven points and seven rebounds and freshman McKinley Wright IV dished out seven assists.
HOW IT HAPPENED: UCLA entered the game averaging nearly 92 points per game in Pac-12 play. The Buffs held the Bruins 33 points under their average by limiting them to just 37 percent shooting from the field (23-for-62), including just 5-for-25 from 3-point range. Bruins leading scorer Aaron Holiday finished with just 10 points — nine under his average — on 4-for-13 shooting.
"That was our main focus coming in," King said. "We know one thing we can take on the road with us is defense and rebounding. You should never have an off night defensively and rebounding. We knew they were a talented offensive team and we were able to execute defensively and offensively we took care of the ball."
The Buffs did indeed take care of the ball, finishing with just 12 turnovers after averaging 20 in each of their first three Pac-12 road games.
Colorado also shot well, especially in the first half. The Buffs jumped out to an early lead and built the margin to as much as 17 points, 34-17, with just more than three minutes to play in the half. They had that lead cut to 10 at the half, 39-29, then spent the entire second half fighting off UCLA charges.
"We had to have 40 minutes of toughness tonight — and we did," Boyle said. "We didn't outrebound them, but we got the rebounds when we needed to get the rebounds, and boy we guarded."
The Bruins made three big runs at Colorado in the second half, and each time the Buffs answered.
UCLA first managed to cut CU's cushion to seven, 47-40, with 11:34 to go. The Buffs responded with an 8-1 run, with King scoring all eight points on a pair of 3-pointers and two free throws to bump the cushion back to 55-41.
That, however, was followed by a 10-0 UCLA run, all from big man Thomas Welsh, whose second 3-pointer of the run pulled the Bruins to within four, 55-51, with 5:31 still left to play.
But once again, Colorado answered with a 7-0 run. Namon Wright started the burst with a layup to break UCLA's press before King hit his career-high sixth 3-pointer of the night and a pair of free throws to put the Buffs back in control, 62-51.
"You have to have that on the road to win," Boyle said of the Buffs' ability to end UCLA's runs. "Teams are going to make runs. UCLA's a good team. We knew they were going to. Staying aggressive is the key offensively. George King was huge tonight. Big-time 3s in critical moments to extend and protect our lead. McKinley Wright was great as far as distributing the ball. A really good team victory."
The Bruins managed to cut the gap back to single digits one more time, 66-59, in the final minute, but McKinley Wright hit two free throws with 47 seconds left and CU forced two more empty possessions from UCLA to end the game.
"It takes toughness," Boyle said. "You have to be able to make shots when shots need to be made. We shot 43 percent — it wasn't our best offensive performance, but I'm so proud of this team. Not too many people around the country, certainly in our league, expected us to come in and win this game."
TURNING POINT: After UCLA's Thomas Welsh scored 10 straight points to cut CU's lead to 55-51, the Pauley Pavilion crowd came alive. But, the Buffs answered with a 7-0 run of their own to regain control and the Bruins never threatened again.
WHAT IT MEANS: Not only did the Buffs get their first road win of the year, they did it in a place they've never won. It should give Colorado a huge boost of confidence when the Buffs return home this week for a pair of games.
CU STANDOUTS: George King recorded his 12th career double-double and fifth of the season with 26 points and 10 rebounds, including a career-high six 3-pointers. King also played outstanding defense, recording three blocked shots. … Junior Namon Wright had nine points, four rebounds and a pair of assists. … Freshman Tyler Bey finished with seven points and seven rebounds. … McKinley Wright had just four points on 1-for-8 shooting, but dished out seven assists.
KEY STATISTICS: The Buffs held the Bruins 33 points under their Pac-12 scoring average by limiting them to just 37 percent shooting from the field (23-for-62), including just 5-for-25 from 3-point range. … CU also committed just 12 turnovers and outscored the Bruins 12-5 in points off turnovers.
QUOTEWORTHY: "That's probably as disappointing as we've played all year. Our effort was poor, we were flat. I give Colorado an awful lot of credit that really played hard and executed better. Outside of Tom [Welsh] we really just didn't have much as far as a good concentrated effort. I take responsibility for that. It's our job as coaches to make sure we are ready to play. And it's not just that we weren't ready to play, we had low energy and low effort. That's hard to watch. That was the worst offensively we've been all year and again I give Colorado a lot of credit for what they were able to do defensively." — UCLA coach Steve Alford
"I'm just so proud of these guys. The road hasn't been good to us and we needed this first one to start believing. I told them it's our first road win, it better not be our last." CU head coach Tad Boyle
"We finally got a road win this season and finally beat UCLA at Pauley Pavilion, a legendary place. It feels that much better that we were able to do it my senior year." — CU senior George King
"(George) didn't hesitate on his threes. UCLA kept mixing it up, man and zone. Our players did a good job of adjusting on the fly. George King was shot ready tonight. When he was getting the ball he was in rhythm, his feet were getting set and he was knocking it down." — Boyle
NOTEWORTHY: Since the beginning of last season, UCLA was 25-2 at home before Saturday's game, with their only losses to Arizona and Cincinnati.
NEXT UP: The Buffs return home next Thursday for a 6 p.m. game vs. Washington State at the Coors Events Center.
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
