Colorado University Athletics
Colorado
15-8, 4-4
Iowa State
14-9, 1-7
Buffs Use Solid Second Half To Rout Cyclones
February 01, 2011 | Men's Basketball, B.G. Brooks
BOULDER - If it wasn't a must-win scenario for Colorado, it was thisclose. After losing four consecutive Big 12 Conference games that darkened a 3-0 start, the Buffaloes were desperate for a turnaround.
They got it on a frigid Tuesday night against Iowa State, overrunning the Cyclones 95-69 at the Coors Events Center. It was ISU's worst loss to CU since suffering a 28-point defeat in 1970.
"It's good to be back on the winning side," Buffs Coach Tad Boyle said. "It's been a rough couple of weeks for us . . . but we finally put two good halves together - we challenged our team to do that."
After ebbing and flowing at times in the first half, CU surged in the second and answered its coach's challenge. The Buffs had first-half runs of 17-0 and 16-0, then backed those up with spurts of 22-3 and 10-0 in the second.
Do the math: that's 65-3 - numbers that say the Cyclones were gassed.
First-year Iowa State Coach Fred Hoiberg said CU "just kicked our butts in transition defense. It was embarrassing. They exposed us."
"(Iowa State) will get out and run with people, which is a little surprising because they don't have the depth. And playing on the road at this altitude, I wasn't sure if they were going to," said Boyle, adding that the pace of the game favored his team. "When teams come in and try to run with us, the second half is when it catches up with them."
CU wanted to avoid a second half like it suffered over the weekend at Baylor. Up by 14 at intermission against the Bears, the Buffs eventually lost by four. Tuesday night, the Buffs were up 15 at halftime.
"We let a huge game slip away on Saturday . . . we all knew that was the emphasis," CU senior Cory Higgins said. "We just didn't want to let that happen or let anybody in the gym think that was going to happen again."
The Buffs didn't let it happen, evening their conference record at 4-4 and improving to 15-8 overall. The Cyclones lost their fifth consecutive league game, dropping to 1-7, 14-9.
CU had five players in double figures, topped by Alec Burks with 19. Higgins added 16, Marcus Relphorde 15, Levi Knutson 15 and Nate Tomlinson 10. Burks also contributed 10 rebounds, while teammate Andre Roberson collected a game-best 13 boards and finished one point shy of a double-double.
The Buffs scored a season-high for first-half points and led 49-34 at the break. But rest assured that Boyle had plenty to say in the locker room.
Even in building that 15-point advantage, his team alternated between efficient and not-so in the first 20 minutes. After going ahead 4-2 on a pair of baskets by Higgins, CU fell behind 5-4 on the first of Diante Garrett's five three-pointers. Maybe that ignited the Buffs; they launched a 16-0 run and led 20-5 before the Cyclones recovered.
Hoiberg had wanted to avoid a slow start, but his team failed there. Still, its three-point shooting - and CU's inattentiveness on the perimeter - quickly made up for it.
Over the next 5:22, the Cyclones canned five treys and caught back up, pulling to 27-24 on another Garrett bomb with 8:27 left before intermission.
After ISU had outscored CU 19-7, it was the Buffs' turn to make another surge. A 17-0 run, keyed by treys from Knutson, Roberson and Burks, pushed CU to its biggest advantage of the half - 44-24.
The Buffs coasted for the half's final 3:15 and trotted off the court leading by 15. Boyle reminded them of the first half at Baylor.
CU put the accelerator down in the second half and didn't ease up. After the Cyclones pulled to 56-45, the Buffs ran some more, went on their 22-3 run and ended whatever suspense might have remained. And they put the clamps on Garrett; he didn't score in the final 20 minutes.
"We were trying to wear him down," Boyle said, adding he believes Garrett is among the league's top guards. "I don't think we saw it (Tuesday). I think our guys had something to do with that."
Hoiberg said when the Cyclones cut the Buffs' advantage to 11 early in the second half, "I told them, 'It's your choice now. We can go out and give ourselves a chance to win this game, or else it's going to get ugly.'"
It got ugly.
The Buffs' biggest advantage was 31 (81-50) with 11:50 to play. The Cyclones got as close as 85-67 in the final 5 minutes, but this one had been done for awhile.
CU dominated the stat sheet, out-rebounding ISU 43-30, getting 29 bench points to the visitors' 11, outscoring them 34-24 in the paint and turning 17 Cyclones turnovers into 19 points. Also, the Buffs had 21 assists on their 33 baskets - a telling stat they didn't enjoy during their four-game skid.
CU walk-on senior Trent Beckley, who joined the team for the second semester, saw his first game action of the season. He played the final 3 minutes but did not score.
ISU played without 6-8 freshman Calvin Godfrey, who was suspended by Hoiberg for three games for a violation of team rules. Averaging 4.1 points and 4.7 rebounds, Godfrey made the second start of his career last weekend against Oklahoma.
The Buffs play at No. 14 Missouri on Saturday. CU opened Big 12 play with an 89-76 win against Mizzou on Jan. 8.
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU
