Colorado University Athletics
Colorado
14-5,5-3Pac-12
Oregon State
9-9,1-6Pac-12
Buffaloes Roll Past Beavers To Improve To 12-0 At Home
January 20, 2024 | Men's Basketball, Neill Woelk
BOULDER — Colorado put six players in double figures Saturday and the Buffaloes took control early and never let up, rolling to a 90-57 win over Oregon State at the CU Events Center.
Tad Boyle's Buffs won their third in a row to improve to 14-5 overall and 5-3 in Pac-12 play while also improving to 12-0 at home — CU's best home start since the 1968-69 Buffs had a 12-0 home record.
Oregon State lost its fifth in a row to fall to 9-9, 1-6.
Tristan da Silva led CU with 19 points. Eddie Lampkin Jr. added 17, Cody Williams scored 16, KJ Simpson tallied 13 and Luke O'Brien and Assane Diop each chipped in 10 for Colorado (a career high for freshman Diop). Lampkin led CU with eight rebounds while Simpson and da Silva each grabbed seven. Julian Hammond III had five assists and Simpson dished out four.
Tyler Bilodeau led OSU with 18 as CU held the Beavers' leading scorer, Jordan Pope, to just 10 points — seven under his season average.
The Buffs were in control of this one from the outset. Colorado built a 20-point edge midway through the first half, pushed the margin to 45-23 at the break and extended the cushion to 33 early in the second half. Oregon State never came closer than 23 after intermission and CU led by as much as 36 in the final minutes.
The Buffaloes dominated nearly every statistical category. CU shot 52.5 percent from the floor (32-for-61) while holding the Beavers to 20-for-60 shooting, and Colorado also had a 41-31 edge on the boards.
CU is now 89-6 all-time under Boyle (5-0 this season) while hitting the "gold standard" — holding an opponent to 40 percent or less shooting and having at least a plus-8 margin in rebounds.
Colorado also had a 52-32 edge in the paint and the Buffs finished with 19 assists and just eight turnovers, matching their season low in that department.
"We challenged them at halftime to come out and not do what we've done all year, which is kind of let teams back in," Boyle said. "We did that. Six guys in double figures, 19 assists, eight turnovers — a lot of good things. Just a workmanlike effort by our guys."
HOW IT HAPPENED: Colorado assumed control early on both ends of the floor, taking a 15-4 lead less than seven minutes in and stretching the cushion to 26-6 midway through the half.
The Buffs were efficient on the offensive end, hitting eight of 13 field goal tries in a 19-2 run over a seven-minute stretch. Da Silva scored four in a row to start the surge, Williams added a dunk and Simpson scored six in the run to give CU a 20-point lead, 26-6, at the 9:12 mark.
Defensively, the Buffs held OSU scoreless for five minutes in the run, forcing nine consecutive empty possessions.
While OSU's Bilodeau did finish with 18 points, 12 of those came in the second half, long after the game had been decided. Pope, meanwhile, shot just 3-for-11 for the game and had only one 3-pointer.
"KJ did a terrific job on Pope and I thought Tristan defensively on Bilodeau was phenomenal," Boyle said. "Those two defensive efforts were great."
The Buffs kept the pressure on until halftime, stretching their lead to 22 in the final minutes of the half. Williams, who shot 6-for-10 from the floor, had two 3-pointers in the final five minutes while Simpson and da Silva both added buckets in the final minute to send Colorado into the break with a 45-23 lead.
Da Silva led CU with 11 points in the first half and Williams chipped in 10. Colorado shot 17-for-34 in the opening 20 minutes and the Buffs had 11 assists on those 17 baskets while OSU shot just 10 for 29.
Colorado then made sure the Beavers didn't have a comeback in their pocket in the second half. The Buffs opened the half with a 14-3 run to build a 33-point cushion, 59-26, and CU's lead never dipped below 23 again the rest of the game.
"Every game matters," da Silva said after the game. "We can't be lackadaisical with certain opponents. We have to make sure that we dig in every single time that we step on the floor, whether it's from one half to another or from one game to another."
The Buffs played without regular starter J'Vonne Hadley, who missed the game with an injury, but 11 Buffs did see action. Along with his career-best 10 points, Diop also had a career-high four rebounds and two assists.
Now the Buffs turn their attention to an upcoming three-game road trip that will see CU play the Washington schools and Utah.
"We just went on a three-game road trip and came back 0-for-3," Boyle said. "Now we have another opportunity with a three-game road trip. It's not going to be easy and we just have to show what we can do."
TURNING POINT: The Buffaloes put this one away quickly, using a 19-2 run to take a 26-6 lead midway through the first half and the Beavers never threatened to make it a game after that.
WHAT IT MEANS: The Buffs moved up into a tie for fourth in the Pac-12 standings, just one game behind second place Arizona and Arizona State.
KEY STATISTICS: The Buffaloes shot 52.5 percent from the floor (32-for-61) while holding the Beavers to 20-for-60 shooting … Colorado \ had a 41-31 edge on the boards … The Buffs committed just eight turnovers, tying their season low.
NEXT UP: The Buffs hit the road for three in a row: a 9 p.m. game next Wednesday at Washington (ESPNU); a 3 p.m. game Saturday at Washington State (Pac-12 Network); and a 3 p.m. game Feb. 3 at Utah (Pac-12 Network).
