Colorado
9-4, 1-0Pac-12
Utah
3-10, 0-1Pac-12
Brooks: Buffs' Smothering 'D' Brings First Pac-12 Win
December 31, 2011 | Men's Basketball, B.G. Brooks
BOULDER - Don't take Colorado's 40-point win on Saturday in its Pac-12 Conference men's basketball debut as an indicator of things to come. If you're into indicators, as is Buffaloes coach Tad Boyle, you'll join him in the Coors Events Center on Thursday night.
That's when Washington visits, and as Boyle prophesied early on New Year's Eve after CU had undressed Utah, 73-33, "We'll find out a lot about our team when Washington comes in . . . If we're talking about a win then, I'll say our program is headed in the right direction."
Still, there always has to be a first step in a new conference - and the Buffs took a respectable one against the hapless Utes. CU (9-4, 1-0) held its first-time Pac-12 visitor to the lowest point total ever by an opponent in the Events Center, which opened for the 1979-80 season, and the lowest overall since a 42-30 win at Kansas on Jan. 17, 1949.
Utah's total was its lowest since 1947. The Utes (3-10, 0-1) entered the conference opener averaging 58.8 points.
Coupled with the Buffs' previous rout of New Orleans - 92-34 four nights earlier - they've held their last two opponents to 67 points. Boyle's nightly, weekly, monthly, yearly areas of emphasis are defense and rebounding, and he's gotten consecutive nearly air-tight nights from his team on the defensive end.
But predictably, instead of gloating about holding a pair of struggling opponents under 40, Boyle prefers to focus on the Buffs' daily progress. "I'm concerned about how Colorado basketball is playing . . . I'm not going to talk about Utah or New Orleans," he said, noting that CU's harder-than-it-had-to-be 56-51 win against Texas Southern three days before Christmas, "as bittersweet as it was, maybe it was a good thing for our team."
Out of that game came a call for consistency, and at least in CU's last two games it's been answered. But as Boyle repeatedly emphasized Saturday, his players better expect something more from UW: "Washington is going to be an offensive juggernaut."
The Utes weren't; the Buffs' first-half defense turned them into a jugger-not. Utah's 11 first-half points were the lowest by a CU opponent since the school began keeping modern-day records in 1954-55, and CU led 27-11 at the break. For the night, Utah made 12 of its 53 field goal attempts (22.6 percent).
The Buffs didn't shoot particularly well in the first 20 minutes, hitting only nine of their 24 shots from the field (37.5 percent). And neither did they protect the ball extremely well, committing seven of their 12 turnovers.
But 'D' of CU's variety can mask loads of blemishes. By the 10-minute mark of the first half, the Buffs had held the Utes to five points on 2-of-12 shooting from the field. Utah didn't get its first field until freshman guard Anthony Odunsi made a layup 4:53 into the game.
"We had put a big emphasis on defense," CU freshman guard Askia Booker said. "At halftime (Boyle) gave us a lot of credit for our defense. . . . we didn't shoot well, but he told us our defense is why we had a 16-point lead."
Booker, tying his CU career high with 14 points, was one of four Buffs in double figures. Freshman Spencer Dinwiddie hit a career-best 19 points, while sophomore Andre Roberson had his ninth double-double of the season (17 points, career-high 17 rebounds). Senior Carlon Brown, who transferred from Utah two seasons ago, added 10 points and continued a stretch of efficient overall play. Boyle said Brown "wasn't pressing in any way; I was happy for him."
First-year Utah coach Larry Krystkowiak wasn't happy about anything. He said "embarrassing is a good word" to describe his New Year's Eve in Boulder. "We got kind of manhandled in all elements of the game."
Dinwiddie had the historic distinction of scoring CU's first Pac-12 points, draining a three-pointer from the left wing to give the Buffs a 3-0 lead on their first possession - and he was just getting started.
The lithe 6-5 freshman also scored his team's final three points of the first half, and in between those treys he was responsible for 13 of CU's first 19 points. Dinwiddie finished the half with 16 of his total, assuring him of his eighth consecutive game in double figures.
Said Dinwiddie: "We can do something special here and it's going to be fun to be part of that type of movement."
Booker and Dinwiddie. observed Boyle, "are able to put some points on the board, which we need, obviously. I love our freshmen, and once Damiene (Cain) gets into shape I feel he'll help, too."
Aside from Dinwiddie's five-of-eight shooting, which included four-of-five successful treys, the Buffs' first-half accuracy wasn't spectacular. They wound up shooting 37.5 percent (9-of-24) from the field, but they way they were playing on the defensive end, a sub-40 percent shooting effort didn't hurt.
CU's marksmanship improved in the second half (15-of-26, 57.7 percent), and Dinwiddie's second-half start mimicked his opening. Fouled while banking in a layup high off the backboard, he hit the free throw for a conventional three-point play that pushed the Buffs up 32-13 - and the runaway was underway.
Over the next 5 minutes, the Buffs outscored the Utes 15-2 - Utah got a pair of free throws by Odunsi - to go up by 32 (47-15). Brown, who had three points at halftime, contributed seven points during the run.
Moreover, CU continued its lock-down 'D.'. With 9:55 to play, Utah had only 18 points while CU had 52. The Buffs' lead ballooned to 36 (60-24) on back-to-back treys by Booker with 7:39 remaining, leaving this as the afternoon's only unanswered question: At what point would Boyle clear his bench?
Trey Eckloff, Ben Mills and Beau Webb entered the game with 2:38 left and CU ahead 70-30.
"I thought it was a great way to start Pac-12 play," Boyle said. "We knew Utah is struggling a little bit right now, and they had some open looks that they missed. So we dodged a little bit of a bullet there.
"I like the way our guys are really guarding . . . but we can't get too high off of this one. Washington is going to be a different animal."
That stick the Huskies will be carrying on Thursday night? Boyle knows exactly what it is - the measuring stick for his Buffs.
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU
