Colorado
Colorado Mines (Exhibition)
Buffs Top Mines In Exhibition Contest
October 30, 2017 | Men's Basketball, Neill Woelk
BOULDER — If exhibition games were meant for experimentation, Colorado coach Tad Boyle got his money's worth out of Monday night's game with Colorado Mines.
Boyle mixed and matched his lineup combinations all night, getting a good look at his freshmen as well as his returnees in a 78-52 win over Mines at the Coors Events Center.
CU senior George King led Colorado with 13 points, and he also added four rebounds and a pair of assists. Freshman point guard McKinley Wright and senior post Tory Miller-Stewart each added nine points for the Buffs while Namon Wright and Dominique Collier had eight points each.
HOW IT HAPPENED: After holding a narrow three-point lead at the half, 32-29, the Buffs slowly pulled away after intermission to provide the final margin.
"A little ugly out there would be a fair statement, especially in the first half," said Boyle, who has always preferred closed scrimmages to exhibition games. "But in the second half some things started to come together and we wore them down a little bit."
Boyle used 13 different players in the game, with 11 getting at least 13 minutes of playing time.
"We need to get a little bit more cohesiveness in terms of rotation and we will," Boyle said. "(Tonight) was just more, 'Here's your three minutes, let's see what you can do.' I told them before we took the court that everybody's going to play. Don't count the time, make the time count."
After an up-and-down first half — the Buffs led by eight early only to see the Orediggers tie it up twice late in the period — Colorado began to put the game after halftime.
A King basket in the lane off an assist from Namon Wright gave CU its first 10-point lead of the night, 45-35, at the 14:28 mark. Mines managed to cut the gap back to single digits temporarily, but Colorado pushed it above 10 again on a Deleon Brown basket and Namon Wright free throw with 12 minutes to go and the Buffs slowly built the cushion the rest of the night.
All four of CU's eligible scholarship freshmen had their moments. Along with Wright's nine points, the point guard added four assists, but also had three turnovers. Tyler Bey had six points and four rebounds, with his night including a sequence in which he grabbed a defensive rebound, hit the outlet pass, and then raced down the floor to take a pass from the wing and deliver a hop-step slam dunk. D'Shawn Schwartz added two points, two rebounds and an assist.
"Tyler Bey did some really good things," Boyle said. "Tyler Bey is as talented a player as I've ever coached in terms of his length and athleticism. He's got great instincts. He just has to learn to be disciplined and learn habits of basketball. When those two things kick in for Tyler Bey, he's as good as any player in the Pac-12 in terms of what he can do on the court because he's very, very talented."
Junior Namon Wright, playing for the first time in nearly two years after sitting out as a transfer last season, finished with eight points — seven in the second half — along with three assists and two rebounds.
"It felt a little weird," Wright said of getting back into game flow. "In the first half I didn't feel like myself. In the second half I got a lot more comfortable."
Boyle was not, however, overly pleased with his team's rebounding. The Buffs managed to finish with a 35-34 edge on the boards after being outrebounded 20-16 in the first half.
"I felt like it was a team we should have dominated on the boards," Boyle said.
Still, for the first time under the lights for a team that features seven players who had never played a minute in a Colorado game, Boyle said it was a satisfactory dress rehearsal. The Buffs did finish with 19 assists on 33 baskets, with four different Buffs having at least two assists.
"I like this team," he said. I think we've got some pieces, but we've got a long way to go and a short time to get there."
FIFTH STARTER: Boyle's starting lineup included a surprise Monday night. While four were expected — Tory Miller-Stewart, George King, Dominique Collier and McKinley Wright — the fifth was Alexander Strating, who ended up playing just seven minutes.
"That fifth spot is wide open," Boyle said. "You're going to see guys play themselves into the starting lineup and maybe back out of the starting lineup."
CU STANDOUTS: CU senior George King was the Buffs' most consistent player, delivering 13 points on 6-of-9 shooting to go with four rebounds and a pair of assists in just 15 minutes of play. … Dominique Collier had eight points, four assists and three rebounds. … McKinley Wright had nine points and four assists. … Tyler Bey had six points, four rebounds and a blocked shot.
KEY STATISTIC: The Buffs turned 28 Mines turnovers into 28 points, and also outscored the Orediggers 40-20 in the paint.
QUOTEWORTHY: "I thought it was good for us to give everybody a feel. It was good to get a lot of guys in so they could get acclimated for the season." — CU senior George King.
NEXT UP: The Buffs officially open their season Nov. 10 with a 6 p.m. home game against Northern Colorado at the Coors Events Center.
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
