Colorado
2-0,0-0Pac-12
San Diego
2-3,0-0WCC
No. 25 Buffs Use Big Run To Sink San Diego
November 16, 2019 | Men's Basketball, Neill Woelk
BOULDER — When their shots weren't falling, Tad Boyle's 25 No. Colorado Buffaloes had to lean on their defense Saturday night.
That defense finally led to an 18-0 second-half offensive run, which the Buffs used to break open a tight game and claim a 71-53 win over San Diego before 7,713 at the CU Events Center.
Colorado improved to 2-0 with the win while the Toreros fell to 2-3.
Colorado's Tyler Bey recorded his second straight double-double and 11th in his last 16 games (21st career) with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Lucas Siewert came off the bench to score 11 points and add five rebounds, and D'Shawn Schwartz had 15 points — 13 in the second half — and three rebounds. McKinley Wright added 11 point, six boards and five assists for the Buffs.
Joe Calcaterra and Noel Coleman each had 10 points for San Diego.
With 10:47 left in the game, Colorado led by just four, 46-42. But Siewert started CU's 18-0 run with a 3-pointer, then added another two minutes later as the Buffs blew the game open. Defensively, Colorado came up with 10 straight stops to fuel the run.
"It was a workmanlike effort, if you will," Boyle said. "Maybe in some respects an ugly win — but when you win by 18 at home and you have a little sense of disappointment, or we didn't play as well as we're capable of playing, I think that's a sign of progress to some degree."
HOW IT HAPPENED: The Buffs struggled early, especially on the offensive end. CU shot just 11-for-32 in the first half and led by only three, 30-27, at intermission. Colorado also finished the night with 15 turnovers and hit just 14 of 21 free throw attempts.
"We know we have to be better than we were tonight to be the kind of team we want to be this year and and turnovers are a good example, free throw shooting is a good example," Boyle said. "Little things separate programs that are great or elite and programs that are good and solid, and right now I think we're good and solid, but we're certainly not elite and we're not where we want to be. But we'll take the win against a good San Diego team that has beaten us two years in a row."
The Buffs finally found some offensive consistency early in the second half when Schwartz scored 11 points in the first seven minutes, including a 3-pointer at the 13:04 mark that pushed CU's lead to nine, 46-37.
But the Toreros fought back one more time, closing the gap to four, 46-42, on a Calcaterra 3-pointer with 10:47 to play.
That's when CU's defense finally kicked in for an extended stretch and the offense followed suit. Colorado produced 10 straight stops on the defensive end, including eight missed shots by the Toreros, and the Buffs turned those stops into their 18-0 run and a 64-42 lead with 5:24 remaining.
"We live by defense, period," Bey said. "We didn't have it in the first half and we picked it up in the second."
Siewert started the run with a 3-pointer, which was followed by a Bey basket and a big Bey block on the defensive end that set up another Siewert trey. Bey added two free throws, Evan Battey drained a long 3-pointer, D'Shawn Schwartz drove the lane for a bucket and Shane Gatling wrapped up the run with a pair of free throws.
James Jean-Marie finally ended the CU run with a basket at the 4:30 mark, but by then, Colorado's lead was still 20 points and the game was over for all intents and purposes.
"They just finished plays in the paint and scored in the paint while we didn't," USD coach Sam Scholl said. "They have really good players that can score in a lot of ways."
Boyle pointed to the opening basket of the 18-0 run as a key moment. The bucket came with the Buffs in transition, when Bey took it into the lane and passed it to Wright, who immediately whipped it to a wide-open Siewert.
"Driving it and making that extra pass is how we're going to have to play and we did that more in the second half than the first half," Boyle said. "I thought the first half our motion offense was atrocious. We stood around, we didn't cut, we didn't move the ball … You have to move the ball and share the ball and we did a better job of that in the second half and the numbers obviously show that."
With four players in double figures, Colorado's depth was again apparent, and it took its toll on the Toreros down the stretch.
"We've got a lot of athletes on this team, we have a lot of depth and quality depth," Boyle said. "I think we have to wear teams down, especially in this building at home."
Siewert was again outstanding in his role off the bench, shooting 4-for-7 from the field, including 3-for-5 from long distance, to collect his 11 points along with five rebounds.
"It doesn't matter if you're starting or coming off the bench," Boyle said. "It really doesn't. What I want our players to understand is this team has a lot of weapons. It's going to be different guys every night. Know who you are and what you do. Lucas is a good example. I thought he played really played within himself tonight and he didn't force the issue."
The first half featured seven lead changes, with both teams putting together 7-0 runs over the last 10 minutes. The Buffs erased a 22-18 deficit with seven straight points, sparked by five points from Siewert.
San Diego tied the game at 27-27 with just over a minute to go before a Maddox Daniels 3-pointer with 40 seconds on the clock sent CU into the locker room at intermission with a three-point edge.
Bey led the Buffs with 10 points in the first half, including two 3-pointers — the first time in his career with two treys in one game.
TURNING POINT: Siewert's 3-pointer midway through the second half started an 18-0 CU run that turned a close game into a runaway.
WHAT IT MEANS: The Buffs had a very good second half, but have yet to put together two solid halves in their first two games. That will no doubt be a point of emphasis from Boyle over the next couple of days.
CU STANDOUTS: Tyler Bey recorded his second straight double-double and 11th in his last 16 games (21st career) with 14 points and 10 rebounds … Lucas Siewert came off the bench to score 11 points and add five rebounds … D'Shawn Schwartz had 15 points — 13 in the second half — and three rebounds … McKinley Wright added 11 points and six boards for the Buffs.
KEY STATISTICS: While the Buffs did finish with 15 turnovers, they forced 19 San Diego turnovers, and had a 22-15 edge in points off those miscues … CU had a 25-20 edge in points off of the bench … Colorado shot 50 percent from the field in the second half (12-for-24), including 6-for-11 from 3-point range … The Buffs also had a 40-33 rebounding edge.
NEXT UP: The Buffs have a quick turnaround, as they return to action Monday with a 7 p.m. home game against UC Irvine at the CU Events Center (Pac-12 Network).
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
