Colorado University Athletics
Colorado
6-3
Colorado Christian
1-5
CU Men Dispose of Colorado Christian
December 08, 2009 | Men's Basketball, B.G. Brooks
BOULDER - The Colorado men's basketball team did what was expected of it Monday night, rolling over Division II Colorado Christian 84-65 at the Coors Events Center.
Does that mean Jeff Bzdelik went into the frigid night a satisfied man? With CU's third-year coach about thisclose to being a perfectionist, you know that answer, don't you?
Nonetheless, his Buffaloes (6-3) got far more than a brisk workout - particularly after the Cougars (1-5) trimmed a 30-point first-half deficit to 10 midway through the second half.
"That's always a battle," Bzdelik said of a team maintaining its intensity after building what appears to be a cushy lead. "You're going to have periods where you're not so good offensively, but you can't take possessions off defensively . . . that's where we have to grow as a team.
"But give Colorado Christian credit: they're well-coached, their players cut hard and play hard, they shoot the ball and they've got a good player inside . . . this was really good for us."
To finally dispose of the visitors, CU needed 13 consecutive points during a key second half stretch by junior Cory Higgins, who finished with a game-best 25 points. Teammates Alec Burks and Levi Knutson added 11 each, with Burks recording team highs in rebounds (six) and assists (four).
Knutson, recovering from a hip injury, played 22 minutes - his most of the season. "He adds more depth (and) is an extremely smart player," Higgins said. "He knows the system and knows his shots are going to come. He plays extremely hard and gives it his all."
CU will need him on Thursday's trip to play intrastate rival Colorado State (7:30 p.m., The Mtn). Following that game, the Buffs take a 12-day break, playing next on Dec. 22 against Cal State-Northridge (5:30 p.m., FSN Rocky Mountain).
Colorado Christian, located in Lakewood, opened with four consecutive losses, then defeated Western State College on Saturday before making the trip to Boulder.
The Buffs could have named their halftime score, so they went with 47-27. But a little over 5 minutes earlier, it was 41-11 - and in reality, the first 20 minutes weren't that close.
CU fashioned an 8-0 lead before Colorado Christian scored, with the Cougars finally getting their first basket - a jumper by Anthony Urrutia - at the 15:32 mark.
Then, they got a conventional three-point play by 6-foot-11 senior Justin Neuhaus, who finished with 16 points, to cut the Buffs' lead to 8-5. But with that, staying close before halftime became a quickly disappearing theme for the visitors.
CU promptly embarked on a 20-3 run, opening a 20-point lead (28-8) that would ebb and flow until intermission. Bzdelik used 10 players in the first half and nine of them scored, led by Higgins' 10 points.
The Buffs shot 60.7 percent (17-of-28) from the field in the opening 20 minutes, while the Cougars checked in at 39.1 percent (9-of-23) and were forced into a dozen turnovers while CU committed half that many and finished the game with 10.
But early on in the second half, Colorado Christian appeared to be the more interested team. The Cougars cut the Buffs' lead to 13 (63-50) on a dunk by Neuhaus with 9:56 to play, then to 10 (63-53) on a three-pointer by leading scorer Jobi Wall, who entered the game with a 16.4 point per game average and finished with a team-best 18.
Wall hit four of the Cougars' 11 treys. They attempted 30, and Higgins said the Buffs figured on about that many: "We knew they shot a lot of threes . . . that's kept them in games. It's what they do."
With the Buffs' lead trimmed to 10, Bzdelik called a time out with 9:03 to play. Over the next 31/2 minutes Higgins hit 13 consecutive points to help CU reestablish an 18-point margin (76-58) with 5:15 remaining.
Higgins couldn't remember Bzdelik's instructions during that time out, but Bzdelik said a play was designed for Higgins, who drove to the basket and was fouled. A pair of free throws launched his 13-point run and CU was on its way.
"If I could pick our energy up - that's the biggest thing," Higgins said. "We needed to be more aggressive . . . that's the main point. We just had to pick up the intensity."
When the Buffs' advantage went back to 20 (82-62) on a Higgins layup with just over 3 minutes left, the Cougars finally had been put down.
Resting an ankle injured in the loss Friday at Oregon State, Dwight Thorne II did not play Monday night. Bzdelik is hopeful the senior guard will be available at CSU.
Bzdelik owns a 6-0 career record against CSU and is unbeaten (3-0) in Moby Arena. Since 2000, CU is 7-2 against CSU and has won the two most recent games in the series.
 A 73-70 win on Dec. 22, 2007 at Moby was the Buffs' last Division I road victory. Bzdelik tried not to overemphasize his team's need to break its 19-game road losing streak against Division I opponents: "We need to win on our own court, the playground, anywhere we play . . . winning is good."
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU
