Colorado University Athletics
Colorado
9-6, 0-1
Texas
15-0, 1-0
Texas Pulls Away From Colorado
January 09, 2010 | Men's Basketball
AUSTIN, Texas -- Freshman Avery Bradley scored 29 points and No. 2 Texas stayed unbeaten with a 103-86 win over Colorado to open Big 12 play on Saturday.
Damion James added 20 points and 14 rebounds for the Longhorns, who are 15-0 for the first time since the 1932-33 season. Bradley was 12 of 14 from the field.
Marcus Relphorde scored 24 points for the Buffaloes (9-6, 0-1), but he also was one of four Colorado players to foul out in a four-minute stretch of the second half before Texas put the game away.
Offensively, Colorado looked early like a team determined to end its run of road futility. The Buffaloes made 12 of their first 17 shots. Both teams shot better than 50 percent for the game.
"Let's give a lot of credit to Texas; they're certainly one of the nation's elite teams if not the elite team in the nation. You can certainly argue that point," said Colorado Head Coach Jeff Bzdelik. "We knew coming in we'd have to take care of the ball and that we would have to do a very good job on the defensive boards. To give one of the nation's elite teams 39 points off turnovers and second-chance points is just way too many. Our players competed; we just fell short in those two areas."
Bradley was 8 of 9 from the field in the first half. His 3-pointer put Texas up 35-28 and started a 17-4 Texas run helped by three consecutive missed 3-pointers by Colorado. Bradley closed the half with a twisting reverse layup at the buzzer to give Texas a 57-42 halftime lead.
Colorado shaved the lead early in the second and kept it close for a while. Bradley fouled Alec Burks on a dunk and the 3-point play made it 59-50 early in the second. But Bradley also kept making the baskets that held off the Buffaloes.
Bradley's 3-pointer from the corner and another jumper from the left wing kept Texas rolling until Colorado started running into serious foul trouble. Austin Dufault, Shane Harris-Tunks, Trey Eckloff and Relphorde all fouled out within four minutes.
Texas led by 11 when the exodus started and kept pushing the lead with every departure. Soon after Relphorde was gone, Texas built the lead to 97-77 with just under four minutes to play.
Bradley's third 3-pointer pushed Texas to the 100-point mark for the fourth time this season.
Texas had its own foul trouble that helped keep Colorado, the best free-throw shooting team in the league, in the game. Colorado went 20 of 26 from the line. Longhorns forward Dexter Pittman played just 12 minutes and scored four points, 10 below his average.
