Colorado
15-4,4-2Pac-12
Washington State
12-8,3-4Pac-12
Balanced Buffs Sink Washington State With Three Double-Doubles
January 23, 2020 | Men's Basketball
BOULDER — No Tyler Bey proved to be no problem for the Colorado Buffaloes on their home floor Thursday night.
With their leading rebounder on the bench with an injury, the Buffs had three players record double-doubles and closed the game with a 24-6 run to collect a 78-56 win over Washington State in front of 7,864 at the CU Events Center.
The 23rd-ranked Buffs improved to 15-4 overall and 4-2 in Pac-12 play while WSU dropped to 12-8, 3-4.
Colorado had four players in double-digit scoring, led by senior Lucas Siewert, who had 16 points and 10 rebounds in his first start of the season. Siewert started in place of Bey, who sat out the game with a hand injury and thus missed the first game of his career, a stretch of 86 games that included 75 straight starts.
Evan Battey had 12 points and 10 rebounds and McKinley Wright IV had 10 points and 10 assists to complete the Buffs' triple double-double. D'Shawn Schwartz added 13 points for Colorado. It was the first time since a Dec. 1, 2018, win over CSU that the Buffs had three double-doubles, which is also the last time Siewert had a double-double.
CJ Elleby led WSU with 15 points.
CU led by just four midway through the second half before assuming control with a 12-1 run for a 66-51 lead. WSU briefly cut the margin back to 13 but the Buffs quickly built their cushion into the 20s in the final minutes.
Colorado held WSU to just 22-for-59 shooting from the floor, including just 8-for-28 (28.6 percent) in the second half. The Buffs shot 26-for-57 for the game and also had a 45-28 edge on the boards.
"Kind of a workman-like win tonight," CU head coach Tad Boyle said. "I thought we were much much better in that second half on many fronts than we were in the first half. I was in our guys a little bit that first half because I felt like we had some mental miscues that we can't have happen if we want to compete at the highest level of college basketball. I thought they responded. To be plus-17 on the boards without your best rebounder was a testament to our guys, so good win. We have to take it and move on."
HOW IT HAPPENED: The Buffs endured a rough first half that included 10 turnovers to take a 38-33 lead at intermission, then pushed the margin to 11 early in the second half. Buckets from Schwartz, Shane Gatling, Wright and Battey sparked a 10-1 surge that pushed Colorado's edge to 47-36 just four minutes into the half.
But the Cougars had one more comeback in their pocket and they cut CU's lead to four, 54-50, with 12:12 remaining on an Isaac Bonton 3-pointer.
That, though, was as close as WSU could come. Wright started a 12-1 run with a short jumper and Siewert followed with a 3-pointer. The Cougars got an Elleby free throw to momentarily halt the surge, but CU then answered with a Maddox Daniels 3-pointer and two Battey free throws to take a commanding 66-51 edge with just 6:49 remaining. The Buffs held WSU without a field goal for seven minutes in the stretch that included an 0-for-6 effort from the floor and Elleby had just six points in the second half.
"We just played with a little more energy," CU's Wright said. "In the first hal we were letting Elleby and those guys catch it where they wanted and get good looks. We weren't attached to bodies. In the second half we really dug into the scouting report and locked in."
The Buffs also dominated the boards in the second half, holding a 27-15 rebound edge. Siewert's 10 rebounds were a season high and came on the heels of a team-leading seven rebounds against Arizona last Saturday.
"We knew Tyler averages nine-plus rebounds a game so we weren't going to have those tonight," Siewert said. "Coach told me, even Tyler told me, to come out aggressive."
Bey spent the evening on the bench with his right hand taped.
"Tyler could have played tonight," Boyle said, "but he had an injury in practice that didn't allow him to practice on Tuesday and he was very, very limited (Wednesday). I just felt like if we could get through this game, I didn't want him to re-aggravate it. But he'll be ready to go on Saturday (vs. Washington)."
Battey also bounced back from a sub-par effort against Arizona, when he had just one rebound and no points.
"Evan was back to his old self," Boyle said. "We rely on Evan for a lot of things."
The Buffs also fixed some turnover issues at halftime. After committing 10 in the first half — including three by Wright in the first eight minutes — the Buffs had just four in the second half and Wright did not have another after his first three.
"Early in the game I was moving too fast, not handling the ball correctly and just going out of control," Wright said. "I slowed down. When I slow down, it's a lot easier."
Colorado started slowly, as the Cougars took advantage of some early Buffs turnovers to build a 10-5 lead less than five minutes in.
CU finally took the lead midway through the first half, 18-17, on a pair of Battey free throws that finished a 6-0 run. The two teams then traded the lead four times before Colorado finally took control with a 10-2 surge for a 35-28 lead with 1:38 to play in the half. Dallas Walton had an offensive rebound and bucket in the run and D'Shawn Schwartz added a 3-pointer before Wright hit a layup, then found Battey wide open underneath for a bucket to cap the run.
Colorado then had a chance to push the lead to eight late in the half, but a turnover following a timeout led to a three-point play by WSU's Noah Williams and it took two Wright free throws with 1.4 on the clock to give the Buffs a 38-33 lead at the half.
WRIGHT DIMES: Wright now owns the CU record for points-assists double-doubles with his seventh, breaking a tie with Jay Humphries. He also has seven double-figure assist games to tie Humphries' record in that category and he is now third on CU's all-time assist list with 442.
TURNING POINT: After WSU pulled to within four midway through the second half, the Buffs put together a 12-1 run that put them in control for the rest of the game and WSU never threatened again.
WHAT IT MEANS: The Buffs remain within one game in the loss column of Pac-12 leader Stanford with another home game on the horizon.
KEY STATISTICS: The Buffs had a commanding 45-28 lead on the boards and held WSU to just 37.3 percent shooting for the night, including 28.6 percent in the second half (8-for-28).
BUFFS BITS: The Buffs got some quality minutes off the bench from Dallas Walton (seven points and four rebounds) and Maddox Daniels (nine points on 3-for-5 shooting from beyond the arc) … CU had 19 assists and 14 turnovers … CU was 17-for-20 from the free throw line.
NEXT UP: The Buffs wrap up their two-game homestand Saturday with a 7 p.m. game against Washington at the CU Events Center (FS1). The Buffs have lost five in a row to the Huskies, including three last year — two regular-season games and a Pac-12 tournament semifinal. The only player on CU's team to play in a win over the Huskies is Siewert, who played in a win over UW as a freshman.
Colorado then heads to Los Angeles next week for a Thursday game at UCLA (9 p.m.) and a Feb. 1 (Saturday) game at USC (8:30 p.m.).
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
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