Colorado
12-10,2-7Pac-12
Oregon
19-3, 8-1Pac-12
Fired-up Buffs Knock Off No. 10 Oregon
January 28, 2017 | Men's Basketball, Neill Woelk
BOULDER — It took longer than expected, but when the Colorado Buffaloes most folks expected to see all season finally showed up, it was a game to remember.
Derrick White scored 23 points — 17 in the second half — and a tenacious Colorado defense forced 16 Oregon turnovers to propel the Buffs to a 74-65 win over the No. 10 Ducks on Saturday at the Coors Events Center.
The win, Colorado's second straight, improved the Buffs to 12-10 and 2-7 in Pac-12 play. The Ducks, who saw their 17-game win streak come to an end, fell to 19-3 and suffered their first conference loss to fall to 8-1.
"That's the Colorado basketball team we all know and love," CU head coach Tad Boyle said. "I couldn't be more proud of the guys."
HOW IT HAPPENED: The win was CU's third in six games against ranked teams this year and the highest-ranked team the Buffs have beaten since they knocked off No. 9 Arizona last February.
"It's a great feeling," White said. "It was a team effort all the way. We all made big plays and we all guarded. That's the main reason we won this game. That's the main reason you come to Colorado in the first place, to win on your home court."
It was indeed a team effort on both ends of the floor. Boyle returned to his "regular" starters, as George King added 13 points to White's 23 and Xavier Johnson scored 10. Johnson also led the Buffs in rebounding with nine, King nabbed eight and Wesley Gordon had an eight-point, six-rebound, four-assist night.
Defensively, White had four steals and the Buffs finished with eight, tying a season high and their most in Pac-12 play. The Buffs also reaped 15 points off the 16 Oregon turnovers and limited Oregon's Dillon Brooks to nine points, four under his season average. Oregon shot just 38.6 percent in the game (22-for-57), their worst performance in Pac-12 play, and had only two players in double figures.
"I think our effort was there but also our execution," King said. "We were executing our defensive plan. When we do that and our effort is there and when we do that consistently for 40 minutes, that's the result that we get. That can't just happen for the one game though. We have to carry that on."
Most importantly, the Buffs closed the deal down the stretch. After Oregon had cut a 12-point CU lead to four with just under two minutes to play, CU's defense took over. Oregon managed just four points on its final six possessions while the Buffs hit seven free throws and a layup in the final 1:48 to put the game away.
"Maybe the guys said 'enough is enough,'" Boyle said. "They did it, I didn't do it. We had our game plan, but it's the players' job to go out and execute what they've been told to do and tonight they did it to a 'T.' The good thing about our team is we didn't get our heads down, we didn't stop competing. I'm not sure we've competed for 40 full minutes with the alertness, attentiveness and toughness we showed tonight."
Oregon coach Dana Altman, who has never coached the Ducks to a win in Boulder, was clearly disappointed. CU is now 7-0 all time against the Ducks at home.
"We got outrebounded, we had more turnovers — that's not a formula for success, on the road especially," Altman said. "We had a bad start and never really got going. Our execution was awful. I don't want to take anything away from Colorado because their energy level was better than ours. They beat us. They ourtrebounded us, outfought us and made more plays than we did."
The Buffs did indeed start quickly, hitting their first four 3-point attempts — two from King and one each from Dominique Collier and Xavier Johnson — to produce a 14-2 run and a 14-5 lead just four minutes in.
The Ducks, though, slowly chipped away at the lead and briefly led before Colorado got a late bucket from Tory Miller to give CU a 35-34 edge at intermission.
The second half was much like the first. The Buffs built a six-point edge midway through the period on back-to-back 3-pointers from White, only to see the Ducks rally to tie the game at 51-51 with 5:40 to go.
White then sparked a 13-1 run to give CU its first double-digit lead of the night. Wesley Gordon started the run with a strong move inside, followed by a White 3-pointer, a White three-point play and a George King three-point play that also resulted in a double-technical foul on CU's Xavier Johnson and Oregon's Jordan Bell.
White then added two more free throws to give the Buffs a 64-52 lead with 3:11 to go.
But Oregon wouldn't go away quietly. The Ducks rallied with three straight 3-pointers while the Buffs could manage just one free throw to cut CU's lead to four.
That's when the Buffs' defense stepped up one more time to rebuild the lead over the final two minutes, forcing the Ducks to foul. Colorado struggled once again at the line — 16-for-26 — but did manage to hit seven of 10 tries in the final 1:48 to close out the win.
TURNING POINT: After the Ducks had closed the gap to four with two minutes to go, the Buffs produced four defensive stops on Oregon's next five possessions. CU then managed to extend the lead at the free throw line for the win.
WHAT IT MEANS: The win breathes new life back into the Buffs season. While still 2-7 in Pac-12 play, the chance of building on the win exists with nine conference games still remaining.
CU STANDOUTS: Derrick White had 23 points on 8-for-16 shooting, including 3-for-4 from 3-point range. White also had four steals and five rebounds. … Xavier Johnson just missed a double-double, finishing with 10 points and nine rebounds. … George King had 13 points and eight rebounds. … Wesley Gordon had eight points, six rebounds, four assists and two blocks.
KEY STATISTICS: The Buffs forced 16 turnovers and scored 15 points off of those turnovers. CU also won the battle in the paint, outscoring the Ducks 26-16 inside. … Colorado held Oregon to just 38.6 percent shooting.
FOOTBALL TEAM HONORED: Members of CU's Pac-12 South champion football team were honored in the first half on Saturday, and were greeted with a standing ovation. Head coach Mike MacIntyre and a number of his staffers, including coaches and administrative personnel, attended the game as well.
NOTEWORTHY: Oregon's 17-game win streak was the longest in program history. … Colorado is now 9-0 when holding an opponent under 70 points this year. .... Tad Boyle has 15 wins over ranked teams at Colorado, more than 25 percent of the 59 total in CU history. … CU is now 10-6 all-time vs. Oregon and 7-0 in Boulder. … Oregon is now 1-3 when trailing at the half. … The 16 turnovers forced by Colorado are the most by a CU opponent in Pac-12 play this year.
QUOTEWORTHY: "Those guys in that locker room, the joy and happiness after the four tough losses we've endured … They handled the line-up shift the other night like men. I was really proud of them for that, and tonight we flipped it back and everybody responded. The joy and togetherness in that locker is something we can build on. It's not going to be easy. We're halfway through the conference season, the first nine games are in the rearview mirror. I want our players to enjoy this moment because we beat a heck of a basketball team." — CU head coach Tad Boyle
"We just that knew if we didn't guard today that we'd get blown out here on our home court. We just wanted to have that defensive mentality." — CU's Derrick White
NEXT UP: Colorado hits the road for a pair next week in the Bay Area, playing at Stanford on Thursday (9 p.m.) and at Cal on Sunday (2:30 p.m.).
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
