Buffs Look To Build Momentum Saturday Against Oregon State

THE SEASON: Colorado is 10-6 overall and 2-3 in the Pac-12 Conference after defeating Oregon 68-41 on Jan. 5. The Buffaloes have won six of seven overall and five straight overall.

The Buffaloes picked up their first league win of the season with a 73-70 decision at Stanford on Dec. 29. Colorado then fell 80-76 at California on Dec. 31. Despite the setback, which snapped an overall five-game winning streak, the Buffaloes have won at least one game on their last eight multi-game Pac-12 road trips.

Colorado completed the nonconference portion of their schedule at 8-3. With the 86-78 win over Southern Utah on Dec. 21, head coach Tad Boyle earned his 262nd win at Colorado, breaking a tie with Sox Walseth for the program's all-time mark.

Colorado held Oregon to 41 points and 26.9 percent from the field, the second fewest by a Buffaloes' conference opponent in the Pac-12 era (33 vs. Utah, Dec. 31, 2011).

Colorado held Oregon to 19 points and six field goals made in the first half, the fewest by a Pac-12 opponent at the CU Events Center the since the Buffaloes held the Ducks to six field goals and 17 points on Feb. 2, 2019.

Oregon made just 1 of 14 from the 3-point line. The Ducks' one 3-pointer made and 7.1 percent from the arc was the lowest by a CU opponent since Oregon State shot 5.9 percent (1-17) on Feb. 15, 2020 in Corvallis.

Colorado leads the Pac-12 in offensive rebounds (11.6 orpg) while ranking second in steals (8.1 spg), third in scoring (75.6 ppg), turnover margin (+0.8) and rebound margin (+5.4), fourth in overall rebounding (38.8 rpg), defensive boards (27.2 drpg) and scoring margin (+7.5) and fifth in overall shooting (.459), assists (14.0 apg) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.1).

Sophomore KJ Simpson leads Colorado at 18.7 points and 3.8 assists per game. He also tops the Buffaloes in field goals (99), 3-pointers (29) and free throws made (53).

Simpson earned his second Pac-12 Men's Basketball Player of the Week on Jan. 2, averaging 28.0 points, 5.0 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 1.5 steals during the Bay Area road split. He shot 48.8 percent from the field (21-43) and 83.3 percent from the free throw line (10-12).

Simpson had a monster game at Stanford, scoring a career-high 31 points, hitting 11 of 23 from the field and 8 of 9 from the free throw line. He's the first Buffalo to have multiple 30-point games in a single season since Derrick White had four in 2016-17. His 31 points were the most by a Buffalo since White had 31 against Arizona in the quarterfinals of the 2017 Pac-12 Tournament.

Simpson's 23 field goal attempts were the most by a Buffalo in regulation since Richard Roby had 24 against Pepperdine on Dec. 4, 2006. Overall the 23 was the most since Askia Booker had 23 in a 43-point effort in a triple-overtime win over USC on Jan. 29, 2015.

Against Cal, Simpson had 25 points on 10 of 20 shooting along with five assists and a pair of steals. He scored 16 of his points in the final 2:06 of the game, as the Buffaloes nearly erased a 21-point second half deficit.

On the Pac-12 charts Simpson is second in scoring, seventh in assists, eighth in steals (1.5 spg), ninth in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.6), 11th in free throw percentage (.779) and 20th in 3-point shooting (.354).

Junior forward Tristan da Silva is averaging 14.9 points, 5.1 rebounds and 1.5 steals while shooting 52.2 percent from the field, leading the team in thefts and ranking second in the other three categories.

Da Silva scored a career-high 30 points in the win over Oregon, hitting 11 of 18 from the field, including 3 of 4 from 3-point range. His field goals tied career-highs with 11 field goals as did his seven free throw attempts (5 of 7) and three steals. Da Silva has had three steals in four of the last six games and is averaging 2.3 steals (total of 18) over the last eight games.

Da Silva recorded his first career double-double with 20 points and a personal-best 10 rebounds against Southern Utah. He is averaging 19.3 points and 7.0 rebounds over the last six games.

On the Pac-12 charts, da Silva is seventh in steals (1.5 spg), 10th in scoring and 13th in overall shooting, 15th in defensive rebounds (4.1 drpg) and 17th in 3-point percentage (.365).

Junior J'Vonne Hadley leads the Buffaloes in rebounding (6.6 rpg) and field goal shooting (.540) while averaging 9.3 points per game. Hadley registered career-highs with 17 points on eight field goals made at California. He shot 8 of 11 from the field after having made just 8 of 22 the previous three games.

On the Pac-12 charts, he is second in offensive boards (2.8 orpg), 10th in overall rebounding and 11th in field goal percentage.

Sophomore Lawson Lovering leads Colorado in blocks (16) while ranking fifth in rebounding (4.1 rpg) and assists (19). Lovering had career highs with 10 points and five field goals made at Stanford. His five field goals came on just six attempts.

Lovering is 12th in the Pac-12 in blocks at 1.1 per game.

Nique Clifford is averaging 6.6 points and 4.1 rebounds while ranking third on the team in assists with 29. Clifford had 12 points, four rebounds in the win over Oregon.

Julian Hammond III is averaging 6.8 points and is second on the team in assists with 32. Starting for the first time this season, Hammond responded with a career-high 16 points against Oregon.

Hammond is averaging 10 points over the last five games. He had back-to-back 11-point games against Southern Utah and Northern Colorado.

Luke O'Brien is averaging 5.0 points and 3.6 rebounds per game. O'Brien had a career and team season-high 11 rebounds, along with six points, against Oregon. It was just Colorado's fourth double-figure rebounding effort of the season.

He had a season-high 12 points at Stanford, hitting on all three of his 3-point attempts. O'Brien had entered the game having hit just 3 of 20 from long range. Prior to the Cal game, O'Brien had scored in double-figures in three-straight games, a mark he hit just once in his first 52 collegiate games.

O'Brien is shooting 17 of 29 (.586) over the last five games.

ABOUT THE BEAVERS: Oregon State is 7-8 overall and 1-3 in the Pac-12. The Beavers have dropped two-straight, both on the road, against Oregon (77-68) on Dec. 31 and Utah (79-60) on Jan. 5. Oregon State averages 65.1 points per game, ranking next-to-last in the Pac-12. The Beavers lead the conference in free throw shooting at 75.8 percent. Defensively, OSU allows 66.5 points while opponents shoot 41.1 percent.

Jordan Pope leads Oregon State at 12.8 points and 2.7 points per game. He also tops the Beavers with 26 3-point field goals and has the fourth-best free throw percentage in the Pac-12 (.857). Glenn Taylor Jr. is second on the team in scoring (11.9 ppg) and assists (38). Dzmitry Ryuny averages 6.1 points and leads OSU in rebounding at 5.3 per outing.

SERIES RECORDS: This will be the 31st meeting between Colorado and Oregon State with the Buffaloes holding a 20-10 advantage. Colorado has won five of the last six meetings including the season sweep last year. Colorado has won 11 of 14 all-time meetings in Boulder.

SCORING IN BUNCHES: With Tristan da Silva's 30-point effort against Oregon, it marks the first time since 2014-15 the Buffaloes have two different players score at least 30 points in a game (along with KJ Simpson). Askia Booker had two 30-plus point games (30 vs. Arizona on Jan 15, 2015 and 43 at USC on Jan. 29, 2015) while Josh Scott had the other (32 vs. Washington State on March 7, 2015)

Da Silva and Simpson have combined for seven games of 25-plus points, the most since Derrick White (7) and Xavier Johnson (2) combined for nine in 2016-17.

SCORING IN BUNCHES II: A pair of individual scoring streaks that hadn't been accomplished in over five years has happened twice already this season by two different players.

Tristan da Silva had three straight games of 20-plus points to round out the nonconference schedule. He's the first Buffalo to achieve that since Derrick White in the final three games of the 2016-17 season (two Pac-12 Tournament, one NIT).

In that span, da Silva had two 25-plus point outings which hadn't happened since George King scored 25 in back-to-back games against Mercer and Air Force Nov. 19 & 26, 2017.

KJ Simpson has matched both feats over the course of his last three games with 21 against Southern Utah, a career-high 31 against Stanford and 25 at California.

Buffs Look To Build Momentum Saturday Against Oregon State

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Players Mentioned

Nique Clifford

Tristan da Silva

J'Vonne Hadley

Julian Hammond III

Lawson Lovering

Luke O'Brien

KJ Simpson