Last night, the No. 21 Colorado Buffaloes (5-0) fought from behind, overcoming double-digit deficits in both halves en route to a 71-67 win over the Clemson Tigers in the MGM Resorts Main Events title game, held in Las Vegas.
McKinley Wright IV was not at his best during the game and the Buffs struggled early against the Tigers' 2-3 zone, but ultimately, were lights out from the free throw line, while Tyler Bey and D'Shawn Schwartz stepped up and helped carry CU to the win.
Below are some thoughts and takeaways from the win.
McKinley Wright IV wasn't at his best, but the Buffs still found a way to win: I'd be willing to put money down that last night is the worst game he'll turn in this season. He was just ice cold from the floor. Wright IV ended with 10 points, but four of them came from the charity stripe.
Overall, his floater was nonexistent — strange, given how well its looked thus far in the season. He took a couple of awkward 16-18 footers that missed the mark, including a pull up jumper in transition that he missed as opposed to driving hard to the net and likely drawing a foul.
He did not play well, putting it lightly.
Late in the game, on a few second chance point opportunities, Wright was directly under the net and a recipient of passes that ultimately saw him trying to take incredibly awkward shots with big men closing in on him from all sides.
Not saying that's all his fault, but it certainly doesn't seem likely that the coaches drew up plays to have their 6-foot-flat guard doing dirty work under the rim, but who knows.
Ultimately, Tad Boyle said at the beginning of this season that this team, with its depth, was build to sustain the possibility of a few injuries to key players. I'd also argue that it's built (to an extent) to carry the load when Wright is not able to contribute much.
We saw that last night, with Tyler Bey (18 points, 10 rebounds) and D'Shawn Schwartz (12 points, 5 rebounds) stepping up.At the end of the day, Wright being off his game that much is not something the he or the Buffs want to have to deal with regularly, but it was nice to see Bey, Schwartz and Evan Battey, who finished with 11 points, make an impact.Overall, resilient and gusty win, no doubt.
On Evan Battey: There's validity to say that he needs to be more disciplined on the whole — last year he often found himself with a par of fouls less than 10 minutes into games and thus far in 2019-20, he's gotten into similar trouble.
I think he just needs to pick his battles more carefully — when he can avoid trying to get a hand in on a dribbling player around the point when he's switching guys , it'd do him well. But another part of this equation is that I really still feel like refs are having a hard time not blowing the whistle on Battey just because the guy's 270 pounds.
Forgetting if it was his third or fourth (I think third) PF, but he went down to the ground in the CU paint, inadvertently bringing down a Clemson player, and got charged with the foul. Thought that was a lame call.
Buffs thrive playing 'inside out,' they did very little of that vs. Clemson: Boyle says it often, but the strength of this team is their big men being able to get double teams in the paint which then opens the door for the ball to be dished back to the perimeter when guards are inevitably left unattended due to extra attention being played on Bey, Battey, and others.
Last night, particularly in the first half, the Buffs were getting close to zero penetration. Clemson's 2-3 zone seemed to give CU quite a bit of trouble. That combined with Wright not being at his best in terms of scoring the ball and distributing it out to others, really hampered Colorado's efforts in the first 20 minutes of play.
It definitely got better in the second half, but a veteran team like this should not be completely thwarted by a stout zone defense. I don't want to be concerned moving forward here — there's a good argument that suggests that while both the Vegas wins leave room for more to be desired, the Buffs pulling them off is a testament in and of itself of the 2019-20 squad's overall improvement and lack of youth.
That said, (and I do believe it has been said on this board) — look at what Dayton is doing to opponents. I'm not sure these kind of improvised, come-from-behind wins are going to fly against the real creme of the non-conference crop this Nov. and Dec.
Make no mistake, Colorado won because of an insane tightening of the bolts from the FT line: 24 of 25 made on the night? Good lord that is impressive, especially considering the Buffs went 9-of-20 against Wyoming and had shot 60% in total heading into the Clemson game.
I simply don't see any other path to victory if the Buffs hadn't been lights out and made the vast majority of their FTs. In the first half, down 27-17, Colorado held Clemson scoreless while going on an 8-0 run, all points from the FT line.
CU went from the 9:45 mark, when Shane Gatling made a layup, to the 2:29 mark, when Lucas Siewert made a 3-pointer, without a single FG. All points scored during that span came from the charity stripe. Then in the second half, when the Buffaloes had battled back from a 50-38 deficit and the game was neck and neck, Battey ended up missing a lone FT but other than that, it remained a dependable source of points for CU, which desperately needed them.
So overall, this team is 5-0, and if business is handled Saturday night vs. Sacramento State, will slide within the top 20 with ease. I just think of how last year's tam would have handled some of these games, namely, the Wyoming and Clemson contests.
At least in terms of last night, coming back on a neutral court from double digit deficits, that simply isn't happening for last year's team early into the season. No sir.
There's fair criticisms of this squad to make here and now, but let's not discount the resiliency we've witnessed thus far.
Last night was a solid win for the Buffs and will be a game looked back upon that'll potentially boost Colorado's NCAA Tournament credentials.
