Colorado University Athletics
Colorado
Washington State
Buffs Roll Past WSU In Pac-12 Tourney Opener
March 09, 2016 | Men's Basketball, Neill Woelk
LAS VEGAS — Tad Boyle's Colorado Buffaloes might just be saving their best for the postseason.
The true test will come Thursday against Arizona.
But Wednesday, the Buffs were definitely at their best, running away with an 80-56 win over Washington State in their Pac-12 Tournament opener. The Buffs executed their offense with efficiency, took care of the ball, rebounded and played solid defense — and did it for 40 minutes.
Thursday, they'll aim for the same type of effort when they meet fourth-seed Arizona in a 3:30 p.m. (MST) quarterfinal game at the MGM Garden Arena (Pac-12 Networks).
"The first game's always the hardest in tournament play, and you never know if your guys are going to be ready," Boyle said. "But we came out with great intensity. The biggest challenge I issued to our guys yesterday and certainly today as we prepared for this game was to play 40 minutes of defense and not have any letups, because we've had some leads evaporate in the second half."
Indeed, in their two previous game against the Cougars, the Buffs saw second-half double-digit leads disappear, including a game in Boulder that saw CU escape with a win in double overtime.
The third meeting provided no such drama. The Buffs broke open a relatively tight game late in the first half, built a 19-point lead by intermission — the largest against any Pac-12 opponent this season for CU — and steadily added to the margin for most of the second half.
Colorado improved to 22-10 with the win while Washington State lost its 17th straight game to end its season at 9-22. The victory was Boyle's 11th in conference tournament play as CU's head coach, giving him half of the Buffs' 22 total conference tournament wins in program history. The Buffs are also 6-0 in conference tournament openers under Boyle, 5-0 in the Pac-12.
George King led CU with 21 points, 17 coming in the first half, and Josh Fortune added 13. CU leading scorer Josh Scott finished with just six points, but he also had five rebounds and a team-high five assists, while Tory Miller came off the bench to add eight points and seven rebounds.
"Josh Scott was so good for us tonight because he played so unselfishly," Boyle said. "He had five assists and no turnovers. He demands so much attention that he makes life easier for these other guys. That's what I love about this team. We can hurt you in a lot of different ways. When we are clicking on all cylinders offensively, we've got a chance to be really, really good if we guard and rebound like we did tonight."
After taking a 41-22 lead at the half, the Buffs put the game away for good in the first 10 minutes of the second half. Colorado outscored WSU 20-12 to start the period and at the midway point of the half, CU's margin reached 27 points, 61-34. Freshman guard Thomas Akyazili sparked the roll with a coast-to-coast layup that finished a 7-0 CU run to open the half, then added an exclamation point with a 3-pointer that bumped CU's lead to 57-31.
Akyazili finished with seven points, three rebounds, a pair of assists, a steal and no turnovers.
 "Thomas was really aggressive tonight," Boyle said. "I thought he pushed the ball in transition. Guys like playing with him because he's so unselfish."
The Buffs finished the game shooting 45.5 percent from the field (30-for-66), with King leading the way with a 7-for-12 afternoon. The CU sophomore hit his first shot of the game — a 3-pointer on an assist from Scott — and kept up the pace, finishing with 17 points in the first half.
"It's a great feeling, especially after being in a slump the last couple of games," said King, who had hit just 10 of his last 28 field goal attempts over a four-game stretch. "It's kind of like a weight off my shoulders. One goes in and that kind of gets me going a little bit."
The Cougars managed to keep it close for roughly 12 minutes. With 8:35 to go in the first half, they closed to within five, 21-16, on a Charles Callison free throw.
But the Buffs then put the game away for all intents and purposes, closing the half with a 20-6 run to take a 41-22 lead into the locker room at intermission. King kickstarted the burst with nine straight points in an 11-2 CU run that bumped Colorado's lead to 32-18 and the Cougars never closed to within single digits again.
CU dominated in virtually every statistical category. The Buffs held a 43-32 edge on the boards, held a commanding 37-19 edge in bench points and limited WSU to just 35 percent shooting from the field (19-for-54). The 17-10 assist-turnover differential was also the Buffs' second best effort in Pac-12 play, eclipsed only by an 18-assist, eight-turnover performance in a win over Arizona State.
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.eduÂ
