Colorado University Athletics
Colorado
Missouri
Four Players Net Double Digits, CU Defeats Mizzou, 78-60
February 25, 2006 | Men's Basketball
Switching to a more inside oriented attack, Colorado scored 44 points in the paint and got 15 points each from Richard Roby and Jayson Obazuaye and ended a two-game losing streak with a 78-60 rout of Missouri on Saturday.
"We were seeing more than the normal amount of pressure on the ball outside," Roby said. "When you see that much pressure out there, coaches tell us to drive to the basket." "We did and it produced results," said Roby, who was 1-for-6 on 3-point attempts.
The rest of the Buffaloes were only 2-for-16 shooting 3-pointers.
Glean Eddy added 13 points for Colorado (18-7, 8-6 Big 12 Conference). Eddy and the Buffaloes reserves contributed 30 points.
"Our bench was a factor because when Richard Roby is having an off night, we need to look to other people to help," Colorado coach Patton said. "We need people off the bench to give us a lift."
Missouri's bench could only answer with eight points.
There was little help for Missouri guard Thomas Gardner, who had 19 points to reach 1,007 career points and became the 37th player in school history to score 1,000 points. Kevin Young, 13 points, and Jason Horton, 10, reached double-figures for Missouri (11-14, 4-10).
The Tigers are 1-3 since Quinn Snyder resigned on Feb. 10 and have averaged 57.4 points and 38 percent shooting over last their 10 games while going 1-9.
The win was the 175th of Colorado coach Ricardo Patton's career, and the sixth time in 10 seasons the Buffaloes have won at least 18 games. The school won 18 or more only five times previous to Patton taking over the program in the middle of the 1995-96 season.
Missouri's tight man-to-man defense and 16 points from Gardner helped build a 28-13 lead with 9:13 left in the first half. The Tigers self-destructed the rest of the half, missing 9-of-11 shots including two uncontested lay-ups, and turned the ball over six times to open the door for a Colorado comeback.
"We got off to a great start and hit a wall and weren't able to score," said Missouri coach Melvin Watkins. "When you can't score and you can't stop the other team, that's a bad combination."
Colorado replied with a 21-4 run. Eddy sparked the run with nine of the points, had two free throws to tie the game at 30 with 1:56 left and his lay-up sent the Buffaloes into intermission with a 34-32 edge.
The Buffaloes, 3-for-11 on 3-pointers in the first half, turned to its inside game after the break. They misfired on all 11, 3-pointer attempted in the second half, but only after they had taken complete control of the game.
Eddy had one of the team's three lay-ups to start the half to increase their lead to 40-34 early and after Gardner's jumper cut the lead to 40-38, Colorado had seven baskets, all well within the 3-point arc, in a 17-3 run to make it 57-41 with 10:45 left.
Missouri, which shot 37 percent and scored 28 points in the second half, got a lay-up from Young, but promptly gave up two lay-ups to reserve Marcus King-Stockton and three more to make it a 67-44 bulge with 7:20 left.
"This one didn't take a miracle," Patton said. "It took us doing what we can do. In this case, it was taking the ball inside."
Gardner who had only three points on 1-for-8 shooting in the second half, blamed a lack of team discipline for his team's collapse.
"In the first half we were running our offense and making our sets," Gardner said. "Once they started coming back we started taking plays off."
Eddy played a big role in Gardner's coming back down to earth after a tremendous start. He personally outscored CU 16-13 in the game's first 10:47, making all five of his field goal attempts, including three three-pointers, and all three of his free throw tries.
But after Eddy was assigned to defend him, along with some help from Martane Freeman, Gardner went 1-of-10 the remainder of the game with two turnovers.
.png&width=84&height=84&quality=100&type=webp)
