Colorado
Drake
Buffs Open with 100-71 win over Drake
November 13, 2018 | Men's Basketball, Neill Woelk
BOULDER — Colorado coach Tad Boyle had two directives for his Buffaloes in their season opener Tuesday night against Drake: play hard and play with confidence.
The Buffs did both, carving out a 100-71 win over the Bulldogs by utilizing hot shooting, balanced scoring and some solid defense. The 100 points was the most by CU in a season opener since a 113-89 win over Cal State-Northridge in 1990.
CU's effort showed up in the numbers: four players in double-figure scoring, 58.9 percent shooting (33-for-56) from the floor, a 44-29 rebounding edge, just 12 turnovers and 15 assists.
As for the confidence, "That's something you can't teach, you can't coach, but you want your players to have a little bit of swagger in terms of how they feel about themselves when they step on the floor," Boyle said. "You have to have that to be successful in college. You don't want it to be too much, but you want them to believe in what they've worked on over the summer and certainly through the fall. Overall I was pleased with the first game."
Senior Namon Wright led the Buffs, coming off the bench to finish with 25 points — his best effort as a Buff — along with eight rebounds. Sophomore McKinley Wright IV added 17 points and six assists, junior Shane Gatling scored 12 points and junior Lucas Siewert chipped in 11. Tyler Bey just missed a double-double, finishing with a career-high 14 rebounds and nine points.
Nick Norton led Drake with 18 points.
HOW IT HAPPENED: The Bulldogs hit the Buffs early from the 3-point line with three treys in the first six minute and the first half featured eight lead changes before Colorado seized control with a 15-2 run over the last four minutes to take a 45-34 lead at the half.
"Early we got caught asleep a little bit," McKinley Wright said. "They hit two wide-open ones out the gate and we kind of talked about it in the timeout. We did a good job the rest of the way of running them off the 3-point line and making them go in the lane for tough twos."
Namon Wright, who was 5-for-8 from 3-point range, sparked the 15-2 run with seven points, including a 3-pointer. McKinley Wright added a pair of assists and four points in the surge, including a driving layup at the buzzer.
"One thing we know Namon can do is shoot the ball," Boyle said. "We want him to shoot the ball when he's open. He did that tonight and got himself going. I told Namon, 'The better you play the more you're going to play.' Tonight was a testament to that. … You saw him get 29 minutes because he was playing so well."
The Buffs then put the game away early in the second half. CU scored the first seven points of the half to bump its cushion to 52-35, and after a Drake timeout, the Buffs quickly bumped the edge into the 20s. Namon Wright had six points in the early surge and the Bulldogs never came closer than 17 again, with CU's big lead hitting 34.
"Having a good point guard, having good teammates, just being confident in shooting the ball when I'm open and just playing defense," Wright said of his game. "A few of the baskets I got from playing defense — getting in the lane or we were running in transition. We were just playing as a team and we were running when we got stops."
After hitting seven 3-pointers in the first half, the Bulldogs managed just four more after intermission.
"Overall we started contesting shots better in the second half," Boyle said. "You can't let a good 3-point shooting team get rhythm and get hot because then you've got your hands full. The 3-point line is a great equalizer in college basketball. We've got to understand that. There's some room for improvement there."
But Boyle also liked the killer instinct his team showed early in the second half, something that wasn't always present last season.
"That's something we lacked a lot last year," McKinley Wright said. "We'd have halftime leads and come out and let the team get right back in the game. This year, our focus is kind of put teams away when we have them down. I think we showed that tonight now we have to keep them going."
TURNING POINT: After the Bulldogs took a 32-30 lead late in the first half, the Buffs responded with a 15-2 run to close the period and take a 45-34 lead into intermission. The Bulldogs never cut the lead back to single digits again.
BOARDS FOR BEY: Colorado's Bey had a career-high 14 rebounds, surpassing the 11 he had last year against Washington, and he missed his third career double-double by just one point.
"He was terrific tonight," Boyle said. "Going after every rebound, keeping balls alive. … He's going to have his share of double-doubles. I know he missed it by a point tonight. The way he played, the energy. The play we made at the rim, Evan got the ball to the rim and missed it and Tyler tipped it in. Those are the plays you just can't teach, you can't coach. He just made that with god-given ability and hustle and playing with great energy and effort. We're going to need that out of Tyler. He played his tail off."
BATTEY DEBUT: Redshirt freshman Evan Battey, who hadn't played in an official game since his junior year in high school, finally played in a game that counts. He finished with eight points, one rebound, one assist and a steal.
"He's still getting into the swing of things," Boyle said. "He hadn't played in a legitimate college basketball game ever. … There's going to be a transition period for Evan and his teammates understand that. We see what he does in practice every day. Now it is just a matter of getting the jitters out."
SCHWARTZ SITS: The Buffs were without the services of sophomore D'Shawn Schwartz, who served a one-game suspension after a minor NCAA rule infraction. Schwartz participated in a non-certified summer league game that did not meet NCAA criteria. He will be back in action Friday against Omaha.
Also sitting out because of a coach's decision was junior guard Deleon Brown. Boyle said Brown will be available Friday.
NEXT UP: The Buffs play host to Omaha in a 7 p.m. game Friday at the CU Events Center.
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
