Colorado
2-0
Auburn
1-1
Brooks: Buffs' Big Second-Half Run Puts Tigers To Sleep
November 18, 2014 | Men's Basketball, B.G. Brooks
BOULDER – When the clock struck midnight at the Coors Events Center, Auburn was still in the game. A bizarre hour later, the Tigers weren't close. Say good night, good morning or goodbye.
A 24-0 run midway through Tuesday morning's second half carried the Colorado Buffaloes to a convincing 90-59 victory in the wee hours of ESPN's Tip-off Marathon.
Buffs coach Tad Boyle had implored CU students to turn out for the 11 p.m. tip. They listened and they were heard. Turning out en masse, they rocked the Events Center on an uncommon night/early morning of college hoops.
Boyle called CU's students and fans -- together they numbered 9,834 -- "the MVP of the night . . . they were great, the energy in the building was terrific."
It was a strange game. The first half was played on Monday, the second on Tuesday – but CU owned them both. "It was a good night for the Buffs," Boyle said. "We played hard, smart and together."
CU enters every game with offensive and defensive goals – "And we hit all of them tonight," Boyle said. "When we do that, the score takes care of itself."
The Buffs (2-0) limited the Tigers (1-1) to 18.2 percent shooting from the field in the second half and 29 percent (20-of-69) for the game. They won the rebound battle with ease – 46-31. They shot 58.5 percent (31-of-53), collaborated for 15 assists and committed just 12 turnovers.
Well-traveled Auburn coach Bruce Pearl called CU "a terrific team . . . they're an NCAA Tournament team and we're not there yet."
CU got double-figure scoring from its three starting frontcourt players – Josh Scott (17), Xavier Johnson (17) and Wesley Gordon (16), with Gordon's dozen rebounds giving him his second career double-double.
"We had some great performances," Boyle said, with the 6-9 Gordon the first name mentioned and calling him "really good."
"If you get Josh Scott and Wesley Gordon playing like that, you might have one of the best two big-man combos in the country," said senior guard Askia Booker, who ignited the Buffs' massive run with an improbable 3-pointer.
Ahead only 49-45 but threatening to pull away, Booker put teeth in the threat with seven consecutive points that pushed CU's lead to 60-46 and all but closed out the visitors from the SEC.
A banked-in trey from the top of the key – Booker's first points of the game – with 11:44 remaining turned the Buffs' switch. They were off, running and defending. And the Tigers were gasping.
"He missed some wide open looks, then he makes a shot like that," Boyle said with a grin, calling Booker "an enigma at times . . . it was a big score, it got the crowd going and was a back breaker for them."
Booker, who missed six practices due to illness prior to CU's opener, shot 2-of-14 from the field against Drexel and had made just two treys in 34 attempts over the Buffs' last 12 games dating to last season. He called his banked-in 3-pointer "just another shot . . . I've got to find my niche and I've been a little frustrated."
Booker said he is merely "trying to get back in shape," but agreed that his part in the Buffs' run boosted his confidence. "I'm glad that shot sparked a run for my team," he said.
Just as big a confidence booster for the Buffs was their second-half defense, particularly on Auburn's KT Harrell and Cinmeon Bowers. Harrell scored 14 points in the first half, but was limited to six in the second. The 6-7, 278-pound Bowers got eight first-half points and finished with 11.
The Tigers went nearly 8 minutes without scoring and 12 minutes without a field goal. Â After TJ Lang hit one of two free throws to give them their 46th point at the 12:41 mark, the Tigers were stuck on that number until K.C. Ross-Miller scored in the lane with 5:28 to play.
Blame that almost 8-minute drought on the altitude, the Tigers wearing down from the Buffs' tempo or the lateness of the tip, the raucous CU student section, whatever.
All were likely factors in the Buffs' run and their runaway win, but Johnson favored CU's pace and the altitude. "When you're playing at altitude, you might as well keep pushing it," he said. "Teams will get tired . . . then it's off to the races."
CU led 38-34 at the half, but it took a 6-0 run by Auburn in the half's final minute to pull the Tigers that close. Less than 30 seconds before, the Buffs had taken their third 10-point lead of the first 20 minutes.
They trailed only twice – both early at 3-2 and 6-5 – before using an 8-0 run to begin pulling away. Tre'Shaun Fletcher accounted for five points in that 8-0 spurt, hitting a trey from the left corner and following it with a fast-break lay-in.
The Tigers couldn't get any closer than six points until the half's final minute, getting a pair of 3-point plays – a triple by Harrell and a conventional 3-point play by Ross-Miller – to close the gap to four points at intermission.
In the first half, the Buffs had as much trouble clamping down on Harrell on the perimeter as they did controlling the bulky Bowers inside. Bowers scored eight points and got half of the Tigers' 18 rebounds. CU matched that total, but the Buffs' second-half goals were clear: Keep Bowers off the boards and keep the Tigers in (or below) their 38.9 first-half field goal percentage range.
The Buffs did both – and more.
Auburn got the first two points of the second half, pulling to within two (38-36) and staying within two until a 5-0 CU run opened a 47-40 advantage with 16 minutes remaining.
A Gordon stuff on a slick inside feed from Scott pushed CU ahead 49-40, but Auburn answered by hitting five of six free throws – four of them by Harrell – to close to within 49-45. When Scott responded with four consecutive foul shots, the Buffs rebuilt a seven-point advantage (53-46) and were poised to blow this one open.
Booker banked in his trey from the top of the key, missed a chance for a four-point play, but got a second chance for a short jumper when Scott gathered in the rebound off the missed free throw. 'Ski' hit that, added a pair of foul shots seconds later, and CU suddenly was up 14 (60-46).
After another two free throws by Johnson, the Buffs owned a 62-46 advantage with the halfway mark of the second half approaching. If Pearl's thumb wasn't on the panic button, it was close.
Boyle said he "didn't realize" his team had strung together a 24-0 run: "I just knew we kept getting stops." Pearl said his team "panicked a little bit and tried to get it back a little too quick. When you get outrebounded by 15 and the other team shoots 59 percent, you have no chance."
With Gordon grabbing and stuffing an errant layup by Jaron Hopkins, CU surged ahead 69-46, then 75-46 before Auburn finally scored. With just under 8 minutes to play, The Late, Late Show was all but over for the Tigers.
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU
