Following a nice vacation down in Maui and three marquee games in three days, a letdown was only natural. Even if the Buffs could see it coming, they couldn’t avoid it.
“Coach warned us to not have this Maui hangover, and we had it,” forward Trevor Baskin said after the game.
Colorado was able to snap out of it before 40 minutes ticked off the clock. After a sluggish first half, the Buffs played a much cleaner second half to knock off Pacific, 75-66, Monday night in Boulder.
“For some reason, we weren’t ready to play,” CU head coach Tad Boyle said postgame. “That’s on me. We gotta be better. Our defensive effort tonight, it was a carry over from practice yesterday. I saw it coming yesterday in practice.”
Colorado jumped out to a quick 8-4 lead, but it was clearly affected by the long travel and a busy week last week. Despite having a few days to recover from their Maui quest, the Buffs were a half step slow in all aspects of the game in the first half.
The ball wasn’t popping like it was at times last week. The drives were getting cut off before the Buffs could make it all the way to the rim. Pacific was the first one to a few offensive rebounds, much to the chagrin of Tad Boyle. Pacific used that Colorado sluggishness to its advantage, ripping off a 15-0 run to take a 19-8 lead with 13 minutes to go in the first half.
“Had a lot of guys reaching, not disciplined,” Boyle said. “Can’t guard the ball. Our ball screen defense was designed to keep the ball out of the paint believe it or not. I know it’s hard for you guys to believe that, but that’s what it was designed to do.”
From there, the Buffs (6-2) were playing catchup for the remainder of the opening 20 minutes. Sebastian Rancik ended the long Tigers run with a big 3-pointer before the two teams traded buckets back and forth.
With just under four minutes remaining in the half, Andrej Jakimovski drilled back-to-back 3s to cut the Pacific lead to just four at 33-29. However, the Tigers shut the Buffs out for the final 3 minutes of the half to take a 38-29 lead into the break.
Colorado didn’t come out of halftime with the energy you would expect from a home favorite trying to get back into a game. Pacific was unable to extend its lead, but it did enough to keep Colorado at arm’s length for the first few minutes of the half.
With just over 13 minutes to play, the Buffs began to wake up. Backup guard RJ Smith knocked down a huge 3 before Bangot Dak electrified the CU Events Center with a huge chasedown block. The Buffs got a runout on the other end and Harrison Carrington threw down a huge dunk to cut a 48-38 Pacific lead in half.
Just a few minutes later, Smith hit yet another huge 3 (something that’s becoming a theme this season) to give the Buffs a 51-50 lead with just over 11 minutes to play, and Boyle’s group finally felt like it was in control.
“RJ is a good player, and RJ is an important player for this basketball team,” Boyle said. “He’s just got to continue to improve but he’s given us good minutes, there’s no doubt about it. RJ was a big part of the game tonight.”
Pacific (5-5) hung around for a little while longer, but the Buffs eventually pulled away. Elijah Malone finally got a basket down in the post to put CU up by five before three Baskin free throws extended the lead. Shortly after that, Dak soared for another emphatic block – his fourth of the night – and punctuated his night with a huge dunk on the other end to give Colorado a 66-56 lead with just over 3 minutes to go.
The Buffs never looked back from there and finished off the win to improve to 6-2 on the season. Jakimovski led the Buffs with 17 points and knocked down four 3-pointers. Baskin stuffed the stat sheet in this one, finishing with 13 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists and three blocks. Dak blocked four shots of his own to go with seven points and six rebounds.
Elias Ralph led all scorers with 24 points for Pacific and starting guard Elijah Fisher added 17 after a big first half.
The Buffs will have a few days to rest and regroup before a huge rivalry game Saturday night when Colorado State comes to Boulder. Colorado has its sights set on avenging last season’s tough loss in Fort Collins and getting another quality win during its nonconference slate. Tipoff of that one will be at 6 p.m. MST.
“We know what happened last year,” Baskin said of the previous matchup against Colorado State. “I wasn’t a part of that team, but I’m taking it personally. That’s what you have to do in this game.”
“We want our get back, for sure.” Smith added.
