Colorado University Athletics
Colorado
12-12, 5-7
Stanford
16-9, 7-6
Buffs End Losing Streak With 64-58 Win Over Cardinal
February 15, 2015 | Men's Basketball, B.G. Brooks
BOULDER – It seemed like a long time coming – and it was. The Colorado Buffaloes on Sunday afternoon won for the first time at home since Jan. 24, outlasting Stanford 64-58 to snap a rare two-game skid at the Coors Events Center and end a three-game losing streak overall.
CU did it the old-fashioned way – or better yet the Tad Boyle way. Still "a little offensively challenged," according to their coach, the Buffs stood strong down the stretch, 'D' up and pulled down rebounds. And more rebounds. The strategic stops and boards were desperately needed, given CU's 33 percent shooting (21-of-64) from the field and going 5-of-18 from 3-point range.
"That was a relief," Boyle said. "We needed that win bad. We got a chance to take a deep breath. What I liked about it is that I thought it was really a terrific team victory. Our bench played well. We had a lot of guys contribute. It's nice, when your team's been struggling, to see them rewarded for their hard work. Up until this point this year, a lot of times we've been finding ways to lose games and, tonight, we found a way to win one."
The way was found, he added, because of a halftime challenge and again in the second half "about defense, defense, and defense. They just took that upon themselves to be a constant. Our offense will get better. I thought we got good shots. We just didn't make them, but we're not going to shoot 33 percent every time out."
Stanford was held to that same percentage, and the Cardinal's 58 points were well below their conference-leading 75.5 point average.
The Buffs (12-12, 5-7) hadn't won at the CEC since defeating Washington State on Jan. 24, and their consecutive home losses to Utah and Cal were the first of the Boyle era. But they defeated the Cardinal (16-9, 7-6) for the fourth straight time, keeping Stanford winless in Boulder since Feb. 23, 2012.
Guard Askia Booker led CU with 17 points but scored only three in the second half. Still, his total was a career best in six games against Stanford. Wing Xavier Johnson contributed 10 points and a season-high 13 rebounds in his best performance since suffering an ankle injury last month at Utah. It was his first double-double of the season.
Boyle said "XJ" "had a bounce in his step. I thought his rebounding was one of the keys to the game. He got his hand on a lot of balls; he was active; he got some good put-backs for us. The question is, is can he rebound like that and play with that kind of energy and enthusiasm every single night? That's the challenge for our whole team is consistently bringing that energy and effort."
"It feels great," Johnson said of the win. "We've been down pretty much the entire season and we have had a lot of close games that we should have won. We have had some games where we just have embarrassed this program. So, it just feels good to be able to come out here and put two halves together defensively. Offensively, we still shot terribly, but defense and rebounding is what we always preach so I'm glad we were able to come out and execute."
Post Josh Scott added 10 boards (7 points) as the Buffs out-rebounded the Cardinal 48-39, including 18-9 on the offensive glass and scored 18 second-chance points. CU's bench outscored Stanford's 25-0 and turned 11 Stanford turnovers into 14 points.
But, said Stanford coach Johnny Dawkins, "The thing that hurt us was offensive rebounds. They had 18 offensive boards. It was a huge difference in the ball game because they were able to get second and third shot attempts."
The Cardinal got 24 points from center Stefan Nastic points while guard Chasson Randle – the conference's leading scorer (20.9) – was held to 14 on 4-of-16 shooting.
The Buffs led 29-23 at the half, but it took a three-foot Nastic floater at the buzzer to keep the Cardinal from going to the locker room having equaled its largest deficit of the first 20 minutes.
Neither team conducted a first-half shooting clinic, with Stanford only 3-of-17 (18 percent) at the 7:51 mark and CU at 5-of-19 (26 percent). With Booker hitting half of his eight field goal attempts for 14 points, the Buffs led by eight points on three occasions before the Cardinal pulled to within three in the final 90 seconds.
Aside from Booker's 14 points, none of his teammates managed more than four points. Those came from Johnson, who had seven of CU's 22 first-half rebounds and by intermission was only two short of his season high (vs. Air Force).
Just as Booker supplied the bulk of CU's first-half points, Nastic was that guy for Stanford. He finished with 13 on 5-of-7 shooting. Randle, contributed six – and among the Buffs' chief second-half goals was to see that he stayed uncomfortable.
That's the way the Cardinal looked in opening the second half. Turnovers on consecutive possessions resulted in a layups by Scott and Dom Collier, who made his second start, and gave the Buffs their largest lead of the afternoon – 33-23 – to that point.
It didn't last. An 11-3 Stanford run, fueled by six straight points by Nastic and CU's 0-for-4 shooting, brought the Cardinal to within 36-34 with 14:36 remaining.
Just over a minute and a half later, Randle connected from the top of the key, hitting his second trey of the game and tying the score at 40-40. It was as close as the Cardinal had been since a 4-4 tie in the opening minutes.
CU held a 22-19 board edge at the half, but seven minutes into the second half Stanford had gone up 29-28 in rebounding. The Cardinal's physicality was showing, but it's also when the Buffs got serious. Reentering the game following his third foul, Nastic muscled his way in for a baseline jumper, was fouled and gave Stanford its first lead – 43-40 – with a three-point play.
The Buffs didn't blink. They regained the lead 45-44 on a pair of Wes Gordon free throws, then increased it to 47-44 on a short left handed hook by Scott, who took advantage of Nastic going to the bench with his fourth foul at the 8:11 mark.
After Randle and Xavier Talton swapped treys, Jaron Hopkins banked in a layup for a 52-47 CU lead that capped an 11-3 run. There was no reason for the Buffs to be comfortable; a turnover resulted in a Cardinal layup, but Hopkins answered with another and the Buffs maintained their five-point advantage with 3:42 left.
They increased it to 58-51 when Talton corralled a long rebound and whipped the ball crosscourt to Booker, who buried a trey from the right wing – his only second-half points – with 2:32 to play. Dawkins called Booker "one of the best guards in our conference so we just try to give him appropriate attention. We wanted to make sure we found where he was and stayed with him (in the second half)."
Two Nastic free throws brought Stanford to within 58-53, and a pair of Randle free throws pulled the Cardinal 61-58.
After Johnson threw away the in-bounds pass he redeemed himself by taking a charge from Randle. With 20 seconds left, the Buffs succeeded in getting the ball inbounds and closed it out with three free throws – two by Talton, one by Scott.
The Buffs travel to the Pacific Northwest for games at Oregon Wednesday (9 p.m. MST, ESPNU) and Oregon State Saturday (9 p.m. MST, Pac-12 Networks).
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU
