For the first time since the 2012-13 season Colorado has had two players Pac-12 Player of the Week. Forward Tristan da Silva was named as the latest recipient of the award Monday after a standout week for the Buffs that ended with victories over Oregon and Oregon State.
The 6-foot-9 junior from Germany shined in the Buffs' dominant 68-41 win over Oregon as he scored a career-high 30 points on 11 of 17 from the floor against the Ducks. He tied a career high with three steals in that matchup as well.
KJ Simpson missed that with an illness making da Silva's play in that game even more important for CU.
"We all have confidence in each other," da Silva said when asked about making up for the absence of Simpson against the Ducks. "Offensively, we have a lot of talented guys on our squad. He is our leading scorer that's for sure -- in the average [stats]. When KJ is out, I feel like we have to rely on each other more. Share the ball more. Play together and make sure that we get the best shot for our team. [Our leading scorer] That can be anybody on the team.
When the Buffs arrived at Saturday's game against Oregon State, da Silva again proved that he is more than capable of handling the scoring load by adding another 17 points in a 20-point win against the Beavers.
He only missed three shots in that game to go with 5 rebounds and 2 assists.
"He's a matchup problem," Buffs head coach Tad Boyle said after Saturday's game. "Especially when he's at the five, because now he can pick and pop, he can be on the perimeter, and he can drive the big guys. We posted him up against in the first play in the second half, we wanted to post him up at the start of the game, but we didn’t get the tip so he can post up perimeter guys when he's hit the three.
"The easiest position for him to play and for opponents to have him play is four, but when he's at three and five, he's a matchup nightmare.”
Simpson earned the Pac-12 Player of the Week award last week, so this is the first time in close to a decade that the Buffs have had two players pick up the honor in the same season. Askia Booker and Andre Roberson were the last two CU players to accomplish the feat.
The Buffs (11-6, 3-3 Pac-12) will be back in action Thursday when the travel to Los Angeles to face USC before taking on No. 7 UCLA on Saturday. Tipoff for Thursday's matchup against the Trojans is set for 7 p.m. MT.
