Colorado University Athletics
Colorado
14-15, 5-10
Nebraska
14-16, 2-13
Buffs End Road Woes, Win At Nebraska
March 02, 2010 | Men's Basketball
LINCOLN, Neb. - Casey Crawford scored a career-high 20 points and made six three-pointers leading Colorado to an 81-68 victory over Nebraska on Tuesday night, snapping a 36-game losing streak in Big 12 road games for the Buffaloes.
Colorado (14-15, 5-10 Big 12) last won a conference road game on Jan. 21, 2006, an 80-78 victory at Oklahoma State. The win also breaks a 28-game road losing streak to Division I opponents with the last win coming at Colorado State by the score of 73-70 on Dec. 22, 2007.
"(I'm) very happy with the way we played," said Head Coach Jeff Bzdelik following the win. "We really shared the basketball well. We really just fought hard the best we could defensively, just scrapped and forced them into tough shots. Everybody contributed and it's a great, great team win for us."
Nebraska (14-16, 2-13) closed Colorado's lead to six points with 13:43 remaining in the second half before the Buffs went on a 12-0 run to push the lead to 58-40 with 10:28 left in the game. The run featured two three-point plays by Alec Burks.
The Buffs never trailed in the game and four times pushed their lead to 20 points in the second half, the final time coming with 3:54 to play when a Cory Higgins free throw put the Buffs ahead 74-54.
Colorado jumped out to an 11-2 lead early in the game before the Huskers tightened it to 11-10 after a Ryan Anderson three-pointer with 14:25 left in the first half. The Buffaloes then went on a 19-4 run fueled by eight points from Burks to open up a 30-14 lead with 7:09 remaining. CU led 35-28 at the break. The Buffs made their first six treys of the game and finished the first half 7-of-9 from beyond the arc. Burks led all players with 11 points at halftime.
Crawford tied Kenny Price (6-of-7 vs. Georgia on Dec. 9, 1997) for the CU record for three-point percentage in a game with a minimum of seven attempts by also going 6-of-7 (85.7 percent) from beyond the arc. Crawford made all four three-pointers he attempted in the second half.
"(The ball) felt good coming off (my hand)," Crawford said. "Coach was just like, 'Casey if you get it anywhere and have daylight, shoot it' so I did."
In addition to Crawford's game-high 20, Burks and Higgins each scored 19 points. 15 of Higgins' points came in the second half. Marcus Relphorde chipped in with 12 points. Higgins led the Buffs with six rebounds and Nate Tomlinson led with six assists.
The Buffs made a season-high 12 treys on 17 attempts for 70.6 percent, also a season-best. In addition, Colorado shot a season-high 61.9 percent from the field (26-of-42).
The win gives Colorado 14 for the season and five in Big 12 play, both highs in Jeff Bzdelik's three-year tenure at CU. The win also marks the Buffs' first sweep of Nebraska since the 2003-2004 season.
Jorge Brian Diaz led Nebraska with 15 points and Lance Jeter scored 14. Ryan Anderson recorded a double-double as he finished with ten points and 13 rebounds.
The Buffs return to the court on Saturday to take on Texas Tech (16-13, 4-11) at the Coors Events Center. The Senior Day game will tip at 2 p.m.
