Colorado started its season about 15 minutes of game time later than it was supposed to Monday night, but it still had enough in the tank to get the job done. After no-showing for a majority of the first half, the Buffs played a dominant second half to comfortably take down Eastern Washington, 76-56, on opening night in Boulder.
“We obviously weren’t ready to play out of the gate tonight for whatever reason,” head coach Tad Boyle said postgame. “Eastern Washington was the better coached team. They played better than us. Thank God they got tired and they’re playing at altitude, otherwise it would've been a loss for us, but our guys finally woke up defensively. We got some stops, strung some stuff together, got out in transition. There’s so much to improve on, and I knew that with this team, but I wasn’t expecting the start that we had.”
There are always going to be some growing pains with so much roster turnover, and there were some ugly ones for Boyle and the Buffs in this one. Nearly the entire first half was a slopfest, as the Buffs struggled to knock down any shots from the outside while constantly throwing the ball to the other team.
CU had eight turnovers in the first eight minutes of the game, digging an early 27-10 hole for it to climb out of as a result.
“They just took the ball from us,” Boyle said with an exasperated tone. “Of our first eight turnovers, seven of them were steals. They stole the ball from us. That means you’re weak with the ball, you can’t dribble it and they’re taking it from you.”
On the other end, Eastern Washington’s Vice Zanki was the difference in the opening 20 minutes. The Croatian sharpshooter knocked down four out of his five 3-point attempts to kickstart the Eagles offense early on and take advantage of Colorado’s struggles.
The Buffs began the long road back into the game towards the end of the first half. Boyle’s group hunkered down on defense and closed the opening 20 minutes on a 15-4 run to cut the deficit to six heading into the locker room.
Coming out of the break, Colorado immediately turned the tide. Transfers Trevor Baskin and Andrej Jakimovski quickly put six points on the board for CU in the opening minute of the second half to briefly tie things up at 31 before the Buffs fell back into their bad habits.
A rushed, turnover-filled stretch of play gave Eastern Washington a few openings on offense, and it took advantage to stretch the lead back to seven, 42-35, before the Buffs made their final push.
In the midst of a rough night, Bangot Dak hit the shot that turned the tide for CU. A rare corner three by Dak followed up by a transition layup from Javon Ruffin seemed to loosen the Buffs up and the entire CU Events Center took a collective deep breath. A few minutes later, Ruffin made another layup with just under 10 minutes to go that gave the Buffs a lead that they would keep for the rest of the night.
Overall, Dak’s big 3 started a 21-5 run that put the Buffs into a comfortable lead that they would hold onto until the final buzzer. Colorado cruised on the offensive end in the second half after the dismal start, scoring 51 points in the final 20 minutes on 18-for-32 shooting with just five turnovers.
Freshman Sebastian Rancik led the team in scoring with 13 points after a late barrage from beyond the arc. The four-star recruit out of California knocked down four of his five shots from the outside on the night, and his shooting looks like it is going to be a huge asset in Boyle’s rotation. Baskin and Ruffin finished with 12 points each.
“The thing about Sebastian is he is really coachable,” Boyle said. “He’s really conscientious, he wants to get better. When he gets his feet set, his ball is going in. We want him shooting the ball when he gets his feet set on the perimeter.”
Boyle will have plenty to nitpick with his group after Monday's performance. The Buffs turned the ball over 18 times, 13 of those coming before halftime, and the ball movement was nonexistent for a large part of the first half. Colorado also struggled to finish around the basket, starting just 5 for 14 on layups before finishing 13 for 24 around the rim.
The Buffs will have a chance to put out a better showing on Friday when Northern Colorado makes the short trip down to Boulder. Tipoff for that contest will be at 7 p.m. MST.
