Colorado University Athletics
Colorado
16-5, 5-3Pac-12
Stanford
11-8, 4-4Pac-12
| Team | 1 | 2 | F |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stanford | 28 | 47 | 75 |
| Colorado | 42 | 49 | 91 |
King, Fortune Lead Buffs Past Stanford, 91-75
January 27, 2016 | Men's Basketball, Neill Woelk
BOULDER — Tuesday afternoon, Colorado coach Tad Boyle said if wings George King and Josh Fortune are both shooting well at the same time, "we're scary good."
Wednesday evening, the Stanford Cardinal found out exactly what that means. Fortune and King both hit five 3-pointers — King finished with 23 points and Fortune finished with 21 — to lead the Buffs to a 91-75 win over Stanford before a crowd of 8,001 at the Coors Events Center.
The win improved the Buffs' record to 16-5 overall and 5-3 in the Pac-12, and accomplished part of what Boyle and Colorado set out to do this week — provide some separation in the standings. The win keeps CU directly on the heels of league co-leaders Oregon and Washington while Stanford, one of six teams tied for third in the conference when the night began, dropped another game back to 11-8, 4-4.
The Buffs started out hot and finished the same way, shooting 68.4 percent from behind the arc (13-for-19). Fortune, who had three treys in the first four minutes of the game, opened with a 3-pointer and the Buffs never trailed. King then came off the bench to hit three threes in a row in a 10-0 CU run to give the Buffs a 25-11 lead midway through the half, and by intermission, the Buffs held a 42-28 cushion.
Stanford never closed the gap to single digits again.
"Obviously a great team victory for the Buffs tonight," Boyle said. "A lot of really good individual performances, and we played well as a team. ... We talked Monday in practice about this being a week of separation, and we have to continue that on Sunday (vs. Cal). We can't get too high off this."
But what the Buffs hope to do is build off one of their best overall performances of the season, one that came against a team that entered the game with a No. 49 NCAA RPI ranking (the Buffs started the day at No. 21).
"It's no doubt easier when we're shooting like that, especially at home," King said. "Those are our rims and we're used to shooting on them at practice. But if we can keep this up at home and then go out and do it on the road … yeah, we could be scary good."
The Buffs were certainly balanced against the Cardinal. Along with King and Fortune, CU also received double-figure scoring from Josh Scott (14 points) and Tory Miller (12). The Buffs also finished with a 46-38 rebounding edge, with Scott collecting eight and Miller and Xavier Talton nabbing six each.
But the number that put a big smile on Boyle's face was CU's assist total. The Buffs finished with 21, by far their best effort in that department in eight Pac-12 games.
"When you have 21 assists on 27 baskets, know you're sharing the ball," Boyle said. "When both those guys are making threes, we're going to be tough to beat."
But maybe the biggest assist of the game came midway through the second half on a simple feed from Dominique Collier, who drove inside and dumped the ball off to Scott for an easy layup. Scott's basket and ensuing free throw halted a 13-0 Stanford run that had narrowed a 23-point CU lead down to 10. Collier then hit four consecutive free throws and a King 3-pointer capped a 10-0 CU run to bump the edge back to 20, and the Cardinal never threatened again.
"That was a huge play," Stanford coach Johnny Dawkins said. "We had some momentum, we had a little rhythm going. That young man, Collier, made a nice play, had a lot of poise, and found Scott at the basket."
The Buffs hadn't forgotten their first meeting with Stanford, when they let a double-digit lead in the second half melt away and barely escaped with a 56-55 win.
"Stanford does not go away easy, as we saw when we played them at their house," Fortune said. "They came back from a lead that we had last game and they tried to come back in this game. We just had to keep our foot on the gas pedal."
The Buffs shooting effort couldn't have come at a better time. Scott, Boyle said, wasn't feeling good before the game. While he never said anything to Boyle, CU's coach said, "You could just tell in shootaround he wasn't himself."
But, Boyle added, "He battled and George King and Josh Fortune were the recipients of Josh making some really unselfish plays. He had four assists and one turnover."
UP NEXT: The Buffs have another home game Sunday, when they play host to Cal in a 3 p.m. game at the Events Center. In their first meeting this year, the Bears handed the Buffs a 79-65 defeat in their Pac-12 opener.
After that, the Buffs hit the road for a pair of games, with a Feb. 4 test at Oregon and a Feb. 6 game at Oregon State.
MILLER TIME: Buffs sophomore big man Tory Miller is quietly having a solid Pac-12 season off the bench. He entered the game averaging 4.8 rebounds and 5.0 points in conference play, and bumped those averages up Wednesday with 12 points and six rebounds against the Cardinal.
"I just got back to playing with a chip on my shoulder," Miller said. "I know Josh (Scott) isn't going to be here forever, so I'm going to have to step it up next year. I have to get that mindset early."
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
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