When news broke Friday that senior guard Elijah Parquet’s foot injury would sideline him for the remainder of the 2021-22 season, it was another blow to an already-injury-plagued Buffaloes team currently on a three-game losing streak.
Entering Saturday’s game vs. Oregon State, the Buffs had gone 1-5 over their last six games, averaging nearly 18 turnovers a contest.
Following a near-total collapse Thursday vs. Oregon, in which CU’s one-point halftime deficit turned into a sloppy, 15-point loss, the Buffaloes were in desperate need of a victory against the Pac-12 cellar dweller Beavers.
They got exactly that, as, powered by an explosive offensive performance, Colorado dismantled Oregon State, winning, 86-63.
“Much-needed win for us mentally and emotionally,” Tad Boyle said after the game. “...We needed this. We shot the ball well and we hopefully gained some confidence from this.”
The game was also notable in it being the first meeting between CU and Oregon State since the Beavers defeated Colorado, 70-68, in last season’s Pac-12 Tournament title game.
The Beavs won the game by a basket, using their Pac-12 Tournament win to steal away an NCAA Tournament automatic bid, advancing all the way to the Elite Eight.
“I don’t know if you guys remember, but last year, (OSU) took the ring from us in the Pac-12 Championship,” Jabari Walker said. “We kind of had a chip on our shoulder as far as that and we did this for our alumni, trying to get (the Beavers) back today.”
CU scored 51 total points vs. Oregon Thursday; by halftime Saturday, the Buffs had managed 49, and were leading by 22.
The Buffs got off to such a big early lead in large part to the team’s highly accurate three-point shooting.
By halftime, Colorado had already hit a season-best 11 shots from downtown. The Buffaloes hit their first eight attempts from long range, with six players making one in the opening half.
Keeshawn Barthelemy was particularly hot, going 4-of-5 from three-point range in the first half, scoring a team-high 14 points.
He and Walker battled for the team lead in points as the second half went on, with Barthelemy edging Walker by one, with 16 total points on 6-of-10 shooting.
Walker contributed his second straight double-double (15 points, 11 rebounds) vs. Oregon State, good for his Pac-12-leading 11th on the season.
By game’s end, things had evened out considerably as far as offensive contributions were concerned.
Nique Clifford scored a career-best 15, Tristan da Silva contributed 10, while Luke O’Brien had an efficient day at the office, scoring seven with eight rebounds (second only to Walker) with three assists.
“The rough patch we’ve been in, we needed to respond and come out and just get back on track,” Clifford said postgame. “I think it was a good win for us. Hopefully we can just stay on this track.”
Turnovers, the primary common denominator for Colorado’s woes of late, did not hurt the team Saturday, with the Buffs committing 13 on the night. It was the least committed by Colorado since Dec. 10 vs. Milwaukee.
The Buffaloes also dominated the glass, out-rebounding the Beavs, 40-23, although Oregon State did manage 10 offensive rebounds on the night.
Colorado got off to a hot start instantaneously, going up 13-0 on Oregon State shortly after the first media timeout.
While the Beavers managed a counter attack of eight straight points, and the score read 16-11 in favor of CU with 12:41 left before halftime, from there, the Buffs steadily pulled away.
A quick 10-0 run made the score 26-11 CU with 10:23 remaining and over the final 12:41, Colorado outscored Oregon State, 33-16.
OSU’s Jarod Lucas hit the first basket of the second half, a three-pointer at the 17:51 mark, but Evan Battey responded with a three-pointer of his own 29 seconds later.
That initiated an 8-0 run by the Buffs, whose lead eclipsed 30 points for the first time following a Walker three-pointer with 11:56 to play.
Boyle inserted walk-ons Jack Pease, Benan Ersek and Cody Mains into the game with a bit under three minutes to play, but things remained well in hand from there, leading into a resounding win for the Buffaloes.
The Buffs next play this upcoming Saturday, Feb. 12, vs. Utah at home.
Following the win over OSU, Boyle indicated that he was giving the Buffs two straight days off from practice to recharge and rest.
“You’ve got to use this time to regroup mentally, physically, guys are dinged up, get in the training room, get some rest, catch up on some sleep, get your academics in order and we’ll come back on Tuesday and kind of get back to basics.
"Tuesday and Wednesday will allow us some time to iron some things out that we need to get ironed out as we get ready for the stretch run of the season here in February.”
