Thursday, December 22
Boulder, Colo.
6:30 PM

Colorado

10-3

76
vs
68

Eastern Washington

8-5

1
2
F
Eastern Washington
35
33
68
Colorado
32
44
76
Wesley Gordon had an 11-point, 10-rebound double-double in CU's win over Eastern Washington on Thursday.

Boyle's Buffs Battle Back, Hold Off Eastern Washington

December 22, 2016 | Men's Basketball, Neill Woelk

BOULDERTad Boyle's Colorado Buffaloes hoped to finish their non-conference season with a wire-to-wire consistent effort.

Instead, the Buffs had to battle back from a big early deficit, then hold on down the stretch to come away with a 76-68 win over visiting Eastern Washington on Thursday at the Coors Events Center.

The Buffs received 17 points from Derrick White and an 11-point, 10-rebound double-double from Wesley Gordon to improve to 10-3. Bogdan Bliznyuk led all scorers with 25 points for the Eagles, who were playing their third road game in five days.

"Not something I was certainly planning on," Boyle said. "We beat a good Eastern Washington team, a team that's really hard to play against. … Our players got schooled a little bit, but they rose to that challenge in the second half."

HOW IT HAPPENED: If the Eagles were tired from their road trip, they didn't show it, jumping out to a 19-2 lead on the strength of a 17-1 run that included 15 straight points from Bliznyuk.

The Buffs didn't help their cause in that stretch, missing their first eight field goal attempts. Freshman Deleon Brown finally ended the drought with a 3-pointer with 12:18 to go in the half and Colorado then slowly chipped away at the deficit, closing the gap to 35-32 by halftime. The Buffs got a big boost from their bench in the comeback, with the reserves scoring 16 of CU's first half points as well as contributing some key defensive stops.

"The way you chip away is not by trading baskets, you have to get stops," Boyle said. "The stops hopefully can lead to some transition baskets, which it did, especially in the second half. We know the only way to get back in this thing is to get some stops."

Colorado finally took the lead for the first time early in the second half. An 8-0 run, sparked by a pair of Josh Fortune 3-pointers, gave CU a 40-37 lead at the 17:16 mark, but the Eagles didn't go away. A pair of Jacob Wiley buckets helped EWU regain the edge, and the lead see-sawed for the next five minutes.

With just under nine minutes to play, Colorado finally began to take control when White helped spark a 17-3 run that turned a 55-53 deficit into a 70-58 lead.

Xavier Johnson started the roll with three of four free throws to give CU a 56-55 lead, followed by two Tory Miller buckets, both on assists from White. White then added a driving layup with just over six minutes to go before dishing a beautiful feed to Johnson for a fast-break layup. A White free throw, followed by a layup at the four-minute mark stretched CU's lead to 70-58.

Along with his 17 points, White finished with a game-high seven assists, four blocks and five rebounds.

"Derrick was terrific in the second half decision making," Boyle said. "Running the break, pushing it harder, pitching ahead. He got Josh Fortune a couple of threes going, he got XJ a bucket pitching it ahead and then he got himself some buckets by driving — against not settling for jump shots to us early. Derrick's really, really important to us. We need him on the floor."

Defensively, the Buffs also did a much better job on Bliznyuk in the second half. After the EWU standout hit eight of 12 field goal tries in the first half, he went just 1-for-8 after intermission.

"The whole thing was, we are going to face-guard him," Boyle said of his halftime conversation with his team. "We're not going to let him catch it. If he does catch it, he's way out on the floor and make him work to catch it. He can't score if he doesn't catch it. We did a better job in the second half."

After CU built its 12-point edge, Eastern Washington managed to cut the lead back to single digits with under three minutes to go, then cut it to four with 1:03 to go. The Buffs, though, managed to hold the Eagles at bay for the win, with a Gordon dunk with 46 seconds remaining putting the lead back to six and White finishing the scoring with a pair of free throws.

"We did a much better job offensively in the second half of not settling for jump shots," Boyle said. "One of the reasons we fell down 19-2 is we settled for jump shots, the jump shots weren't going in, we weren't getting offensive rebounds, we were on our heels."

TURNING POINT: The 17-3 Colorado run in the second half gave the Buffs a double-digit lead. The CU offense finally hit its stride in the transition game and the defense forced six empty EWU possessions in the stretch.

WHAT IT MEANS: The Buffs take a 10-3 record into the holiday break and Pac-12 play.

CU STANDOUTS: Derrick White led the Buffs in scoring (17 points), assists (7) and blocked shots (4) and also had four rebounds. … Wesley Gordon had 11 points and 10 rebounds, with seven points and six rebounds coming in the second half. … Xavier Johnson had 10 points — all in the second half — and three rebounds. … Josh Fortune had 13 points, five rebounds and four assists.

NOTEWORTHY: Colorado trailed at the half for the sixth time in 13 games, improving to 3-3 in those contests. … Although they are 10-3, the Buffs have still outscored the opponent in both halves of a game just three times. … After going 8-for-12 in the first half, EWU's Bliznyuk was just 1-for-8 in the second half. … White has 16 assists in the last three games and his four blocked shots were a high for him at CU. … Gordon's double-double was his second of the season and 12th of his career. … Johnson moved into a tie for 20th with Wilky Gilmore in career rebounds (591). He is also 22nd in career scoring (1,179). … Fortune's four assists were a season high and he has now made 7 of his last 15 3-point tries. …. The comeback from 17 points down was the sixth-largest in CU history.

QUOTEWORTHY: "Right now we are not a good rebounding team, which concerns me as we move into Pac-12 play. … When we get everybody clicking offensively on the same night, we're going to be really dangerous. If we rebound at a high level, we're dangerous. ... (But) we're getting closer. Absolutely we're getting close. We're 10-3 an one of the reasons we're 10-3 is because we have good balance"CU head coach Tad Boyle

"They executed the last two minutes the way a well-coached team should on their home court. We came in here and we made Colorado a better team and they certainly made us a better team." — EWU head coach Jim Hayford

"We just have to be consistent. That's been the theme of our season; we're up and down through stretches. Consistency would be huge for us. League play is going to be really important." — CU senior Derrick White

KEY STATISTICS: The Buffs held EWU to just 38.3 percent shooting from the floor (23-for-60), including just 12-for-40 after an 11-for-20 start. … After giving up 21 points to Bliznyuk in the first half on 8-for-12 shooting, the Buffs held him to just four points on 1-for-8 shooting after intermission.

NEXT UP: The Buffs take some time off for Christmas break, then return to practice on Dec. 27 and open Pac-12 play on New Year's Day with a 4:30 p.m. game at Utah. It is CU's first of three straight conference games on the road, with visits to Arizona State (Jan. 5) and Arizona (Jan. 7) on deck.

Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
 




 

Team Stats

EWU
COLO
FG%
.383
.451
3FG%
.304
.316
FT%
.625
.727
RB
36
38
TO
4
9
STL
2
1

Game Leaders

Pts
17
FGM
4
3FGM
1
FTM
8
Pts
13
FGM
4
3FGM
3
FTM
2
Pts
11
FGM
3
3FGM
0
FTM
5
Pts
10
FGM
3
3FGM
0
FTM
4

Players Mentioned

G
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Men's Basketball
G/F
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's Basketball
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