Colorado University Athletics
Colorado
4-3
Oregon State
3-4
Buffs Blast Beavers In Big 12/Pac-10 Finale
December 05, 2010 | Men's Basketball, B.G. Brooks
BOULDER - When they play next season, it will be a conference game. Saturday night, it was a glimpse into the future for the Colorado Buffaloes - and for CU Coach Tad Boyle it was a welcome sight.
In their final game of the Big 12/Pac-10 Hardwood Series, CU ripped Oregon State 83-57 at the Coors Events Center, providing a good vibe for Boyle's bunch as it contemplates membership next winter in the Pac-12 Conference.
Staying unbeaten (4-0, 4-3 overall) at the Events Center, the Buffs strung together their most complete 40 minutes of the season against a name opponent. The Beavers (3-4) had won two of their past three games, and Boyle was anxious to see how his team responded against another BCS school.
"I wish I would have know we were going to play this well before the game, I could have saved myself a lot of angst," he said. "I think our guys are starting to buy in. I'm seeing it. In timeouts I'm seeing it . . . they're recognizing (mistakes). We're not there yet, it's one game; but I sense guys are buying into if we stop people we have a better chance."
Boyle had plenty of reasons to be pleased. CU had four players in double figures, topped by Knutson's career-high 22 points and followed by Alec Burks (15), Austin Dufault (12) and Marcus Relphorde (12).
"When we're balanced, when we're playing together," said Boyle, "we're pretty hard to guard."
For a second consecutive game, Knutson came out in "can't miss" mode. Against Texas-Pan American on Tuesday night, he came off the bench to score 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field.
On Saturday night, playing as a starter, he hit eight of his 10 field goal attempts, including six-of-eight from beyond the three-point arc. Knutson attributed his recent accuracy to "a lot of things - but experience definitely helps. But I had a great off-season, working in the weight room and with coaches."
He called Saturday night's game "a good test for us, playing against a team from a big conference. We were looking to see where we were. We'd lost some games we thought we should have won . . . we just came out ready to go."
The Buffs' No. 2 scorer, Cory Higgins, initially appeared slowed by an early leg injury - it was later diagnosed as a deep thigh bruise - and contributed only five points in 15 first-half minutes. Opening at point guard, he finished with nine points, four rebounds and six assists.
The Buffs received another strong performance off the bench from freshman Andre Roberson, who scored nine points and snared six rebounds - sharing the team high with Relphorde, who also had a game-high eight assists.
Boyle called that total "the most important number on the stat sheet" because he's been preaching the value of sharing the ball to his team - particularly its prime-time trio of Burks, Higgins and Relphorde.
Knutson is threatening to make it a foursome, and Boyle said the threesome recognizes it: "I know what (Knutson is) about, but what I'm most proud about is we have guys, playmakers like Cory, Alec and Marcus, who now are looking for him. They know he can take some of the pressure off of them."
Less than 4 minutes into the first half, Higgins limped across half court and an injury timeout was called. He initially went to the bench and was examined there by CU trainers. With 15:45 left before intermission, he went to the locker room. But with about 12 minutes remaining in the half, Higgins returned.
CU's backcourt already had coped with a recent loss. Starting point guard Nate Tomlinson suffered a neck injury less than a minute into Tuesday's game against Texas-Pan American and missed the rest of the game.
Although he didn't start Saturday night, Tomlinson returned to the lineup, entering the game with just over 7 minutes left in the half. With Higgins temporarily out and Tomlinson in, the Buffs outscored the Beavers 9-0 over the next 2:12 and went up 18-9.
"It was just kind of an unconscious thing," Dufault said of the run in Higgins' absence. "We had been moving the ball well and just had everybody involved."
Higgins' first field goal was a three-pointer that gave CU its biggest first-half lead - 25-14. But the Buffs, solving the Beavers' 1-3-1 zone, were just getting started; over the final 4:32 of the half, they outscored the Beavers 15-4 and took a 37-18 lead to the locker room after what was arguably their best half of the season.
CU owned the boards in the first 20 minutes, outrebounding OSU 22-12 and finishing the night with a 33-30 board advantage. The Buffs limited the Beavers to 30.4 percent shooting from the field (7-of-23) in the first half and 38.9 percent (21-of-54) for the game. CU shot 58.6 percent (34-of-58) and had 20 assists on 34 field goals.
Opening the second half with an 11-6 spurt, the Buffs quickly built a 24-point lead (48-24) and weren't threatened for the final 15 minutes. OSU, which had defeated CU 74-69 last season in Corvallis, Ore., never cut the deficit under 20 thereafter.
"As a coach," Boyle said, "I might have expected too much too early . . . we're not there yet, but we're getting there."
Burks agreed: "I feel like we're getting more adjusted . . . I feel like we're coming along."
The Buffs play again Wednesday at 8 p.m. in the second game of a women's/men's doubleheader against Colorado State at the Events Center. The women's contest is scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m.
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU
