BOULDER-- Tonight was the night that the Colorado Basketball we've been expecting all season finally showed up to play. The Buffaloes held the Cougars to only 49 points tonight and this is the seventh time in the last nine games that Colorado has scored above 80 points, they routed Washington State 81-49. The last time Colorado played Washington State, the Cougars scored 91 points, tonight the difference was 42 points.
1st Half Recap
Colorado played their most complete first half in a long time tonight against the Cougars and the tone for the game was set right from the beginning when the Buffaloes caused a shot clock violation on Washington State’s first offensive position. The Buffs lead the entire first half and finished the half with a 12 point lead. Derrick White had the Buffs first five points and would lead the team at halftime with 11 points and three steals.
Speaking of steals, Colorado had six steals and caused the Cougars to turn the ball over 13 times in the first half. Off of those 13 turnovers, Colorado had 15 points. Compared to how the Buffs usually take care of the ball, tonight in the first half was totally different, they only turned the ball over five times.
The Buffs were also playing great defense from the get-go. They came out in man-to-man and everyone was stepping up and doing their job on the defensive end. From the beginning of the season to now, Dom Collier’s defense has improved greatly along with freshman Bryce Peters. Peters has shown that not only can he bring enthusiasm on the defensive side but now that his confidence has grown he is showing that on the offensive side too. Peters ended the first half with five points in seven minutes.
As a team, Colorado shot 13-of-26 (50.0%) from the floor, 5-of-11 (45.5%) from beyond the arc and 6-of-10 (60.0%) from the free throw line. They out-rebounded Washington State 14-11 and only gave the Cougars one offensive rebound and the rebounding was very dispersed throughout the team, Xavier Johnson led the team with three and eight other players had at least one board.
2nd Half Recap
Colorado came out firing on all cylinders to start the second half and went on a 7-0 run going up by 20 on the Cougars within the first minute and a half of the second half. They marinated that lead the entire rest of the game and picked up their fifth Pac-12 win.
The Buffs were playing efficiently on the offensive side of the ball, they were getting open shots, moving well without the ball and also driving to the rack when they would see an open lane. Now their defense tonight is something we haven't seen all season, it looks like Coach Tad Boyle has finally got to them and they are figuring everything out. The Cougars finished the night with 24 turnovers, Colorado has 34 points off of those turnovers.
Colorado had four players in double digits, in White (23), King (11), Peters (12) and Tory Miller (11). Colorado controlled the paint tonight big time, scoring 42 points in the paint compared to the Cougars 14 points. They also out-rebounded Washington State 37-24 (25 defensively and 12 offensively). Wesley Gordon lead the team with seven and Lucas Siewert followed with six of his own.
Colorado shot 32-of-62 (51.6%) from the floor, 8-of-21 (38.1%) from three-point range and 9-of-14 (64.3%) from the charity stripe. The Buffs lead the entire game and picked up their second win in a row. They will head to Oregon next week to take on Oregon State and Oregon who they beat at home a couple weeks back.
