Colorado University Athletics
Colorado
10-9, 3-4
Washington State
9-10, 3-4
Brooks: Buffs Bury Cougars, Snap Pac-12 Losing Streak
January 24, 2015 | Men's Basketball, B.G. Brooks
BOULDER – Right place, right time, right opponent equaled a righteous Saturday night for the Colorado Buffaloes. Finally.
Facing the Pac-12's most forgiving defense and putting in another hard night's work at the Coors Events Center, the Buffs rollicked on offense and rolled past Washington State 90-58, snapping a four-game conference losing streak.
"It's a whole lot better feeling talking to you guys tonight than it was Thursday night," said CU coach Tad Boyle, referring to his postgame session following the Buffs' last-second 52-50 loss to Washington. "As hard as I am on our guys when we don't play to our potential, when they do I think you have to pat them on the back and tell them they did a good job."
They did, and first-year WSU coach Ernie Kent couldn't help but notice. "It (hurts), but let's give credit to Colorado," he said. "That's as well as I've seen them play in a while . . . I thought they played a wonderful game."
CU (10-9, 3-4) shot 55 percent from the field and led buzzer to buzzer against the Pac-12's most porous defensive team. WSU (9-10, 3-4) entered the CEC allowing an average of 74.7 points, and 12 minutes into the second half the Buffs had hung that many on the Cougars.
The Buffs started fast and finished faster. Their bench productivity was lights out; CU outscored the Wazzu subs 39-19. And the Buffs turned a dozen Cougars turnovers into 17 points. Not much CU did was wrong.
Boyle's players were unencumbered, maybe because his pregame message was to let their minds run free – especially on the offensive end. "We talked about playing with a free mind and an uncluttered mind," he said. "Basketball is an instinctual game . . . you can't play afraid to make mistakes."
For a night at least, no one in a CU uniform carried that burden. Six Buffs reached double figures in scoring, topped by Askia Booker's 21. Jaron Hopkins added 13, and CU got 10 points each from Wesley Gordon, Xavier Talton, Tory Miller and Tre'Shaun Fletcher.
Miller's total was a career high, Talton's a season high. And Gordon followed up his 10-point, 17-rebound performance from two nights earlier with another double-double – 10 points and 14 rebounds. It was the first time in Gordon's career that he has recorded back-to-back double-doubles.
But the Buffs did more than score; they shared the ball a record number of times (25 assists) for the Boyle era. Talton's six assists and Gordon's five were both career highs. And Talton, starting in place of Booker, had no turnovers.
"When you play the game like that it makes everybody feels good," Boyle said. "You saw what this team is capable of doing when we do what we talk about . . . we've really competed the last two times out."
After the painful loss to UW, Boyle told his players, "It's OK when you've lost four in a row to be a little pissed" – which Miller apparently took to heart. In addition to his 10 points, he collected a career-high seven rebounds in 21 minutes – also a career most.
Miller said he wouldn't term the extra minutes he's getting during Josh Scott's absence "a blessing, because you never want to see a man go down. It's been more or less an opportunity . . . I'd like to see Josh get back up to speed and come back quickly."
Talton, whose 4-of-7 from the field included 2-for-2 from long range, said his point production wasn't a matter of rediscovering his confidence or finding his comfort level: "I feel comfortable every time I'm in the game . . . coach does a great job of instilling confidence in us. It's just a matter of making shots."
The only disappointed Buffs might have been Scott and Xavier Johnson. For yet another game, they sat the bench, Scott still nursing his sore back and Johnson a sore ankle. Scott now has missed six of the past seven games, including four consecutive along with Johnson. "XJ" served a one-game suspension two nights ago against Washington.
Also, Booker was out of the starting lineup for disciplinary reasons – he was late for Saturday morning's shootaround – but entered the contest with 16:06 remaining in the first half and the Buffs up 13-5.
Booker's first points came just under 11 minutes later when he hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key to stake the Buffs to another double-digit lead, 38-27. They ended the half up 47-31 – their largest lead in an opening 20 minutes that found the Cougars trailing from the opening tip. And Booker undoubtedly left the court licking his lips.
Miller's 10 first-half points led all scorers. CU went to the locker room having shot 57 percent (17-of-30) from the field while limiting WSU to 37.5 percent (38.7 for the game). The Buffs hit half of their 12 first-half 3-point attempts, with two each from Booker and Talton. And they finished at 50 percent from behind the arc – 11-of-22.
Booker was just finding his range. He scored 14 of his total in the second half and went to the bench with 3:41 remaining, receiving a large hug from Boyle. "I told him I was proud of him and the way he responded (to not starting) and that this is going to be a big week for him," Boyle said. "He's going home (LA) and he likes that."
The Buffs next travel to Los Angeles, playing USC on Thursday (7:30 p.m. MST, FS1) and UCLA on Saturday (8:30 p.m. MST, Pac-12 Networks).
With 15:34 to play, CU had increased its lead to 22 points (58-36) after a trey from the right corner by Hopkins. At that point, the only question remaining for the Buffs appeared to be their final margin in a runaway win.
At the 8:00 mark, the Cougars already had yielded their average; the Buffs were up 75-49 and looking for more from their reserves. They roared ahead 84-53 on a Fletcher layup with 5:10 to play, and a Fletcher stuff in transition gave CU a 32-point lead (90-58) in the final 2 minutes.
The Wazzu runaway was complete, the streak was over, and Talton called breaking it "a big thing" for the Buffs' confidence. "We're going to see some pretty good teams out in LA next week. It was good to see people step up."
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDUÂ
