Colorado
14-3,3-1Pac-12
Arizona State
10-7,1-3Pac-12
Buffs Defense Stifles Arizona State For Key Road Win
January 16, 2020 | Men's Basketball, Neill Woelk
TEMPE, Ariz. — Coaches love to say defense travels.
Tad Boyle's No. 20 Colorado Buffaloes backed that saying up Thursday night by throttling Arizona State in the second half to collect a 68-61 win over the Sun Devils at Desert Financial Arena.
Colorado improved to 14-3 overall and 3-1 in Pac-12 play while the Sun Devils fell to 10-7, 1-3. The victory ended a six-game losing streak for the Buffs on ASU's home floor, as CU held Arizona State to just 34.3 percent shooting for the game (24-for-70), including just 12-for-40 in the decisive second half.
Colorado struggled on the offensive end early and trailed by nine just a few minutes into the game, but came back to tie it up, 28-28, by halftime. CU then took control early in the second half, using an 11-0 run to take a 44-32 lead with 10:35 remaining and the Sun Devils never came closer than five again.
Junior Tyler Bey had an outstanding second half for the Buffs, scoring 16 of his 19 points after intermission to go with eight rebounds and five assists. Lucas Siewert added 14 points on 4-for-6 shooting from 3-point range, McKinley Wright had 11 points and five rebounds and Shane Gatling had 10 points. Evan Battey led the Buffs on the boards with nine rebounds, and also scored five points.
Point guard Remy Martin led ASU with 25 points, but he shot just 9-for-25, including only 4-for-14 in the second half.Â
CU did not shoot particularly well, finishing just 21-for-52, but the Buffs were 12-for-25 in the second half (48 percent). While ASU won the rebound battle, 42-40, including a 17-8 edge on the offensive boards, the Buffs didn't allow the Sun Devils to convert many of those second chances. Colorado actually held a 10-8 edge in second-chance points.
"It was the epitome of winning ugly, which sometimes you have to do on the road," Boyle said. "I couldn't be more proud of our guys to not get their heads down when we struggled early offensively, especially in the first half. It was a great, great win."
 HOW IT HAPPENED: ASU threatened to blow the game open early, jumping out to a 12-3 lead just five minutes into the contest.
But Siewert hit back-to-back 3-pointers in the next two minutes to pull Colorado back within striking range. ASU then pushed its lead back to seven, but 3-pointers from Bey and Siewert fueled an 8-0 run that gave Colorado its first lead of the game, 18-17, with 6:36 left in the half.
The two teams then traded the lead seven more times before halftime, with a Wright bucket in the final minute sending the two teams into the locker room at intermission tied at 28-28.
"We felt great at halftime because we were on the road and tied up," Wright said. "Anytime you're in that type of situation, you're in a good position."
Led by Bey, the Buffs finally assumed control in the second half. The CU junior started an 11-0 run with a bucket inside to end a 4:21 Colorado scoring drought, and collected a steal and assist on a Daylen Kountz bucket a minute later. Gatling then stretched the run to 9-0 with a 3-pointer off a beautiful feed from Bey in the post and Battey capped the surge with a pair of free throws at the 10:35 mark to stretch Colorado's edge to 44-32.
"Early in the year Tyler might have forced a tough shot, but he turned and faced and fired one out to Shane and Shane hit a three," Boyle said of Bey's key assist. "That's the evolution of his game."
Bey also had two steals and two blocked shots to go with his 19 points, eight rebounds and five assists.
"Those are the plays Tyler can make because he's so long, he's so athletic," Boyle said. "When he plays as focused as he is the last two games defensively, he's as good as there is — not in the Pac-12, in the country. He was phenomenal."
At the same time the Buffs were putting their offense together, their defense was outstanding. At the end of CU's decisive 11-0 run, Arizona State was just 2-for-20 from the floor in the second half.
The Sun Devils did have a run in their pocket after Colorado's surge, cutting CU's lead to just five, 49-44, with just more than seven minutes to play on a Rob Edwards 3-pointer.
But the Buffs quickly gathered themselves and pushed the lead back to 13, 62-49, with two minutes to go, then held the Sun Devils at bay down the stretch.
The win was CU's first in Tempe since 2012, Colorado's first year in the Pac-12.
"It feels so good," Wright said. "We talked about it all week in practice. Championship teams have to win on the road. Our end goal is a Pac-12 championship. It starts here, it starts on the road. We got one, we'll try to get one more on Saturday."
Indeed, the Buffs' task becomes tougher Saturday when they travel to Arizona, where they are 0-7 since joining the Pac-12.
WIN FOR COLEMAN: The win was no doubt special for CU assistant Anthony Coleman, who spent the last three seasons on the ASU staff before making the move to Colorado over the summer.
"This was for AC," Bey said. "We got the 'dub' for him."
TURNING POINT: An 11-0 Colorado run midway through the second half gave CU a 12-point lead and the Sun Devils never came closer than five again.
WHAT IT MEANS: The Buffs collected a big road win on their first conference road trip of the season in a building that has been notoriously unfriendly to them. The win should give them some confidence heading into Saturday's game at Arizona.
KEY STATISTICS: CU held Arizona State to just 34.3 percent shooting for the game (24-for-70), including just 12-for-40 in the decisive second half. That includes a 2-for-20 start to the second half for ASU … The Buffs were 12-for-25 from the floor in the second half … CU hit 19 of 26 free throw tries while the Sun Devils had just 11 attempts and made seven … The Buffs kept ASU's transition game in check all night and outscored the Sun Devils 12-2 in fast break points.
QUOTEWORTHY: "We always talk about defense and rebounding. We did half of that tonight. They had 17 offensive rebounds … But midway through the second half offensively our guys made the plays they had to make and we kept getting stops. That's what we talked about every timeout in the huddle." — CU coach Tad Boyle
NEXT UP: The Buffs wrap up their desert road trip with a 12:30 p.m. game Saturday at Arizona (Fox), then return home next week for a pair of games at the CU Events Center. Colorado hosts Washington State on Thursday (8 p.m.) and Washington on Saturday (7 p.m.).
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
