Legend Has It: Buffs Bring the Heat Against Warhawks
BOULDER— After coming off a rough game Monday against Seattle, Colorado rebounded tonight beating the Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks 89-70.
Colorado finished with 49 total rebounds, 18 offensive, and 31 defensive, Wesley Gordon lead the charge again this evening with nine and Tory Miller finished the night with eight.
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“Rebounding wise I just think that we kind of just go out there and guys go after every ball, it’s what we do,” Miller on the rebounding tonight.
“I thought we got better in that area, we had 18 tonight which is a great number but we missed a lot of shots so you can look at that two different ways,” Coach Tad Boyle after the game. “Our whole thing is we want to be relentless on the boards.”
The Buffs got off to a hot start, George King and Derrick White made their presence known from the get-go. They scored the Buffs first 16 points.
“I just wanted to be aggressive and do what my team needed and help us get off to a good start because we didn't get off to a good start last game and George came on and hit two three’s which was huge of us and we just played well to start,” White said about starting the game off hot.
From struggling to play defense on Monday, the team came out with a different defensive intensity and it showed, holding the Warhawks to only 23 first half points.
“I thought we did a good job defensively for the most part but we kind of slacked off in the second half like Derrick said so we just got to get better playing 40 minutes of great defensive,” Josh Fortune on the defense effort tonight.
“Our players need to understand that we have to play for 40 minutes with intensity and effort and focus, I thought we lost some of that defensively in the second half, the first half couldn't have been better,” Boyle on defense.
Making his collegiate debut tonight for the Buffs was point guard Bryce Peters and the difference Peters made when he came in was noteworthy. His first career points came off a one-handed throw down, he also knocked a deep three-pointer at the halftime buzzer.
“Energy is the key word with Bryce, he brings it on defense, brings it on offense, he had three steals, he gets his hands on a lot of balls, he’s got a good feel for the game. He made some calls playing the point guard in the second half without me having to ask him to do that, we haven't had a freshman guard do that since I’ve been here,” Boyle on Peters.
“I thought Bryce brought a lot of energy on the defense level and then that transferred onto the offense for him and the team. I thought his energy from the get-go was fantastic,” Fortune on Peter’s play.
Colorado had five players score in double figures tonight, Xavier Johnson and Fortune finished with 14, White and King had 12 and Miller had 10.
“Five guys in double figures is always fun, sharing the ball, you know I would like to have a few more assists than 14, I liked that 20 number against Sac State but again I think that was the result of shooting the ball well,” said Boyle. “But overall I think when the ball doesn't stick and if we can stay unselfish as a group we got a chance to be really good.”
Also on Monday against Seattle, the Buffs struggled from the free throw line going 26-of-41, tonight they were 28-of-35. Fortune shot a perfect 10-of-10 which was the best performance from the line since Askia Booker went 14-of-14 in December of 2014.
“We wanted to attack, play inside-out and get to the line,” Fortune.
“One of our goals every game is we want to make more free throws than the opponent shoots, the way you do that is getting to the free throw line more, playing defensive without fouling and making shots when you get to the line,” Boyle on free throws. “That’s by design, getting to the free throw line.”
The Buffs have a tough test next week when they face Norte Dame in New York.
“Now it’s off to New York, it’s hard not to be thinking about moving forward right now.”
Next 4 Games
Monday, November 21st vs. Notre Dame (in New York)
Tuesday, November 22nd vs. Texas or Northwestern (in New York)
Sunday, November 27th vs. Wofford
Wednesday, November 29th vs. Colorado State