Following a 75-61 win over Arizona State Thursday to close out the regular season, for the 12th time in Colorado men’s basketball program history, the No. 24-ranked Buffs (20-7, 14-6 Pac-12) produced a 20-win campaign.
Eight of those 12 seasons have happened in Tad Boyle’s tenure as head coach, while Thursday’s win led the Buffs to 20 wins in the regular season for just the seventh time.
Given the COVID-induced shortened season, that’s all the more impressive.
For the Buffaloes, they ended their condensed regular season on a positive note, having won their final four games ahead of the Pac-12 Tournament.
While there’s more work to be done in the postseason, the Buffs wrapped this season in striking contrast to last year, as they went 4-1 over their final five games as opposed to the crippling 0-5 collapse that ended the 2019-2020 campaign.
The only thing that would keep CU from claiming the No. 3 seed in the Pac-12 Tournament — the highest ever for the Buffs since joining the conference in 2011 — would be if Saturday's game between USC and UCLA got cancelled.
If that happened, the Buffs would stay at No. 4 based on winning percentage.
While the Buffaloes ran away to a double digit victory, things were far from pretty early in the first half. Colorado had four turnovers on its first four offensive possessions and had 10 total in the opening half.
A fiery timeout called by Boyle midway through the half in which he dug into his players in large part due to the sloppy start may have helped to right the ship; CU committed just three additional turnovers in the final 20 minutes of play.
For all the Buffaloes’ sins (especially in the first half), Arizona State didn’t do much to capitalize.
The Sun Devils’ biggest lead was six points and although CU didn’t take its first lead of the game until there was less than three minutes left before halftime, ASU was unable to craft any sort of breathing room.
Jabari Walker drained a three at the 2:44 mark to put the Buffs up, 27-26, and he later scored on a putback layup that gave Colorado a one-point lead at halftime, 31-30.
As the second half got underway, an 8-0 run by the Buffaloes, sparked by McKinley Wright IV (four points) Evan Battey (two points) and Maddox Daniels (two points) gave Colorado the biggest lead either team had gained to that point.
Arizona State came within four points a few times after that but a 9-for-30 shooting display (30%) down the stretch watered down any hopes for the Sun Devils to retake control of the game.
On that note, perhaps ASU head coach Bobby Hurley put it best when detailing why.
“They really just turned it up in the second half,” he said. “We kind of just folded and McKinley Wright had his fingerprints all over that.”
Wright IV finished the night with 24 points on 10-of-17 shooting. He scored 17 of those points in the second half and also chipped in four rebounds and three assists.
Also turning in a key performance was Jeriah Horne, who contributed a double-double of 12 points and 12 rebounds, the latter being a team-high.
Horne shot a pair of airballs early into his time on the floor in the first half, but bounced back nicely (per usual) en route to scoring in the double digits for the eighth time in his last 10 games.
“Our guys really responded in the second half,” Boyle said. “...I’m really proud of what these guys have accomplished this year, the way they’ve done it and there’s more basketball to be played.”
Star ASU point guard Remy Martin had about as opposite of a night compared to Wright as possible; the senior Sun Devil scored just six points on 1-of-9 shooting to go along with three boards and one assist.
In the eight games that Wright IV and Martin have faced off — always a fun affair to watch given the two of them are the same age and both developed into top tier point guards within the Pac-12 — Colorado has gone 6-2.
Not that Wright IV is keeping track.
He deflected a postgame question about how Martin has been on the receiving end of far more national attention and accolades than he during their collective college careers.
What seems to be at the forefront of Colorado’s outgoing senior point guard is how the team is playing right now ahead of the Pac-12 Tournament and eventually, the NCAA Tournament, which the Buffs are all but a lock to make at this point for the first time since Wright IV got to CU.
“I feel like we’re rising at the right time,” Wright IV said. “It’s March — this is when the best teams are still playing later on this month and we’re one of those better teams. (If) we keep guarding and rebounding the way we are and let the offense take care of itself, we’ll be in a great position to make a run.”
The Buffaloes will take two straight off-days Friday and Saturday before returning to organized practices and preparing for whomever they will face this upcoming Thursday in Las Vegas.
“All I know is that we’re going to use this time as wisely as we can,” Boyle said. “There’s some guys on this team that need to get rested up and take care of some of the banged up injuries they’ve been fighting down the stretch. There's other guys on our team that need to get in the gym, work out in the gym and get some shots up.”
