Colorado started 0-3 on the road in Pac-12 play, but it left Boulder for the Pacific Northwest this week with a chance to finally find a rhythm away from the CU Events Center. It did just that Wednesday night, putting together a cohesive, wire-to-wire performance to soundly knock off Washington, 98-81.
The Buffs’ winning streak stretched to four games with the victory, and they picked up their first win in Seattle since 2015.
The opening minutes of Wednesday’s contest were scratchy on both sides, with each team only able to muster a few buckets early on, but it wasn’t long before the floodgates opened for the Buffs. Luke O’Brien got Colorado's offensive explosion started with a corner 3-pointer, and Tristan da Silva quickly followed with an and-one off of a beautiful behind-the-back feed from Eddie Lampkin to put the Buffs up 16-12.
From there, the Buffs’ offense could not be stopped for the rest of the night. They attacked inside, moved the ball efficiently and got to the free-throw line at will. By the end of the first half, the Buffs were shooting above 57% from the field, and had made all 15 of their free throw attempts. To close the half, Cody Williams penetrated the paint and kicked out to a wide open Bangot Dak in the corner, who splashed home his second 3-pointer of the season to send Colorado to the locker room with a 50-41 lead.
Coming out of the half, the Buffs (15-5, 6-3 Pac-12) needed to avoid the same lull that doomed them in losses at Cal and Arizona State a few weeks back. After a relatively quiet first half, da Silva allowed his team to ease into the second half, opening with a personal 5-0 run that pushed the Colorado lead into the teens. From there, their offense was just too much for the Huskies (11-9, 3-6 Pac-12) to handle, and every run from Mike Hopkins’ squad was matched by a different Buffs’ contributor.
Time and time again, it was J’Vonne Hadley coming up with a bucket whenever the Huskies began to show any signs of life. One of his final blows landed with just under four minutes to play, as Hadley knocked down a corner 3 on a beautiful feed from KJ Simpson, ending a 7-0 Washington run and putting the game out of reach.
After missing the Buffs’ win on Saturday with knee soreness, Hadley came back and had a big night Wednesday, finishing with a career-high 24 points on 8-for-10 shooting in one of his loudest performances as a Buff. Simpson flirted with a triple double for the second time this year against the Huskies with 16 points, eight boards and eight assists. Lampkin reeled in his sixth double-double of the season with 14 points and 10 rebounds and Cody Williams added 19 as all five Colorado starters reached double figures.
The Buffs spent a majority of Wednesday night dominating in the paint, out-rebounding Washington 38-22 and collecting 11 offensive boards for 15 second-chance points. They also took advantage of their opportunities at the line, draining 26 of their 28 shots at the charity stripe.
For Washington, Keion Brooks Jr. continued his great season with 22 points and five rebounds, and Moses Wood added a trio of 3-pointers on his way to 13 points. Point guard Sahvir Wheeler struggled to score on Simpson all night, scoring just six points on 3-for-11 shooting.
The Buffs will get a few days off on the road now before they look to continue the momentum Saturday against Washington State. Tipoff in Pullman will be at 3 p.m. MST.
