It was a rough first half and a game not lacking in turnovers, but the No. 25 Colorado Buffaloes (2-0) rallied in the second half and took down visiting San Diego, 71-53, snapping a two-game losing streak to the Toreros.
Below are some thoughts, takeaways and analysis following the Buffs' home-opening victory.
1. This one may very well fall into the "ugly win" column, but the growth and depth of this team was showcased.
***Let's put it this way, the Buffs played a pretty lukewarm at best first half, shooting 34% from the floor and winding up with 15 turnovers, yet they did lead at halftime and I think more than made up for their sins in the initial 20 minutes with a solid second half.
Colorado shot 50% in the second half, was 6-of-11 from long range and made 11-of-14 FTs, all marked improvements from the first half (39% from long, 43% from the FT line).
At the end of the day, the Buffs were able to turn up the heat big time and overpower a young, but good and physical, San Diego team. As much as we want to complain about some sloppiness, which is a valid complaint, CU had an 18-0 run in the second half and took down a team that had gotten the best of them for the past two years.
A first half as rough as what Colorado put together tonight was the type of setback that would have doomed the 2017-18 and 2018-19 squads. I think the Buffs showed that there is margin for error with the depth and talent of this team — although make no mistake, that by no means is a trick up the sleeve Tad Boyle or any of these players want to find themselves banking on on a regular basis.
2. Tyler Bey is off to the start that we all wanted to see.
***It was said a lot, especially by Boyle but also Bey himself, that he wanted to work on his three-point shot in the offseason. Obviously, we have a limited sample size to look at here, but the fact of the matter is that Bey has thus far shown off some very impressive skills from long range for a guy who only took 22 three-pointers last year.
He sank 2-of-3 tonight from deep and both were well-timed and well-selected shots.But on the whole, another double double for him with 14 points and 10 boards, he's got back-to-back DDs to begin the year.
He had a team-high three turnovers, but ultimately, I thought they were forgivable. Bey's skills moving in the paint with his back to the rim looked good, he drew fouls, asserted his dominance in grabbing boards and turned in an all-around pretty darn good performance.
3. Lucas Siewert's night is a textbook example of the "quality depth" that Boyle's team has really working to the Buffs' advantage.
***Siewert came off the bench, played nearly 21 minutes (the most of CU's bench players) and scored 11 points while hitting a team-high three long balls. Against ASU, Siewert had nine points and eight boards and tonight he handed in another solid performance coming off the bench.
This is exactly the kind of supplementary role that is going to help float the Buffs to wins. I think Siewert is handling this role very well and if it ain't broke, don't fix it. He's thriving so far when he's on the bench to begin things, can watch the game / his opponent(s) for a few minutes and then hit the ground running when he takes the floor. Seems to me he's epitomizing a kind of visualize and then attack method.
Siewert has experience starting and no doubt could answer the call if needed, but right now I say keep him where he is. His leash in terms of playing time should be as long as his hot play continues. So far, he's earned a good-sized leash.
4. D'Shawn Schwartz took awhile to heat up, but he was a game-changer for CU in the second half.
***Schwartz scored 13 of his 15 points in the second half. It's fair to say that in the first 20 minutes, he was a relative non-factor, but then again, everyone essentially besides Bey could in varying capacities be thrown into the same bag (Bey led all game participants with 10 first half points).
Before the Buffs busted the game wide open, Schwartz in the second half scored five straight points for CU in the span of 38 seconds early into the half, giving the Buffs a bit of breathing room and a 34-30 lead.
A few minutes later, he scored eight straight for the Buffs — four straight FTs and a corner three-pointer. When that three went down, yes, Colorado again was up by only four, 37-33 with 16:39 to play, but all of his above points carried more weight because the rest of the team was still waking up.
It was Schwartz who kept Colorado afloat until shots started going down.
5. Honorable mentions to Shane Gatling and Evan Battey
***Both players may not have dominated the stat sheet and at the end of the day, neither of them were exactly the x-factor guys tonight, yet, starting with Gatling, while he did have an ugly turnover early on at the hands of San Diego's Marion Humphrey, I have to say, this year Gatling has been asked to be more of a point guard and elevate his defense.
Humphrey played him hard when the two were matched up, and that early TO was his only such offense. It came after he hit a three and generated a turnover of his own, so let's cut him some slack.He's capable of producing more, especially as a senior, but he took steps in the right direction tonight in terms of being a better threat off the bench.
As for Battey, he continues to show that he's a capable distributor of the ball, as he notched a pair of assists tonight. He put the Buffs up by 17, hitting a three-pointer as the shot clock expired and the game clock reading 6:52, so I give him props for that.
As with Gatling, he's capable of much more, and we've certainly seen that in the past, as recently as the ASU game, where he grabbed nine RBs and scored 11, but he did enough tonight.
Additional takeaways and thoughts as well as a full discussion on the game can be found HERE at Buff Nation, the premium message boards serving the legions of CUSportsNation.
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