Colorado University Athletics
Colorado
12-15, 3-10
Missouri
21-7, 9-4
Buffs Start Slow, Fall To Missouri
February 24, 2010 | Men's Basketball
COLUMBIA, Mo. - Missouri started fast and never looked back in defeating Colorado 92-63 at Mizzou Arena on Wednesday night.
Missouri (21-7, 9-4 Big 12) jumped out to a 21-6 lead in the first nine minutes of the game behind eight early points from Justin Safford. The Buffaloes (12-15, 3-10) fought back to bring the score to 32-20 after a Cory Higgins trey with 6:32 left in the first half. Missouri responded though, pushing their lead to as many as 19 points before the break. Keegan Hornbuckle hit a three-pointer for Colorado at the first-half buzzer to make the game 48-32, but it remained CU's biggest halftime deficit of the season.
The Buffaloes could never get the game closer than 14 points in the second half as Missouri continued to expand the margin. The final score was the Tigers' largest lead of the game as a Marcus Denmon layup with 3:26 remaining closed the scoring at 92-63. The 29-point defeat was Colorado's largest of the season.
"Give Missouri a lot of credit, they did a heck of a job. They came out at us with a lot of energy. We got off to a bad start when we missed a couple of layups," said Colorado Head Coach Jeff Bzdelik. "I'm disappointed in the way we defended: we didn't keep people in front us, we lost people, and we didn't get back."
Higgins led the Buffs with 21 points while Alec Burks and Marcus Relphorde scored 13 and 11 points, respectively. Tonight marked the 15th time this season that Higgins led CU in scoring. Burks, Relphorde, and Levi Knutson all tied for the team lead with five rebounds apiece.
Denmon led Missouri with 21 points and Keith Ramsey added 13. J.T. Tiller scored ten points to go along with nine assists and seven rebounds. Missouri had very balanced scoring as nine different players all scored over five points in the contest. The Tigers also had an outstanding night from the field, making 35-of-60 field goal attempts (58.3 percent), including 9-of-14 (64.3 percent) from beyond the arc.
The Buffs return to action on Saturday to host Iowa State at the Coors Events Center. The game will tip at 11:30 a.m. and is the first half of a double-header as the Colorado women's basketball team takes on Texas A&M following the men's game.
