HOOPS RECAP: Xavier Johnson leads Buffaloes to Rocky Win over Wofford
BOULDER— The Colorado men’s basketball team took on the Wofford Terriers today at home but they didn’t quite get out to a great start but they pulled out a 75-60 win.
The team lacked effort on both the offense and the defense. As the previous games have shown, the Buffs defense isn’t where it needs to be. Nowhere close actually.
“I think we need some better energy level and body language from a few guys, we didn't have guys play to the level they are capable of playing and we are going to need that to beat the good teams,” Coach Tad Boyle.
The Buffs turned around their defense in the second half and kept the Terriers at 37% only hitting 10 shots from the field.
“I think they slowed themselves down honestly, we continued to pressure them and they made some turnovers and their shots started going short because of altitude and because they got tired of running around, I think they just beat themselves to be honest,” Xavier Johnson on Wofford second half offense.
“Our energy picked up a little bit, we started getting after guys, we knew what they were going to do coming down so I think we just made little adjustments,” Wesley Gordon after the game.
Colorado also struggled to defend the perimeter, the Terriers hit 8-of-23 from three.
Wofford also out-rebounded Colorado in the first half, not ideal when the Buffs should have had the edge with rebounding.
“We have to exert our will on the offensive glass which in the second half we did a little bit better job but we only ended up with six offensive rebounds tonight and we missed 20 shots so we need a better ratio than that,” Boyle on rebounding.
Johnson lead the charge in the first half with 12 points, eight of which came in the first five minutes of the game and five rebounds and Gordon had eight points with five rebounds.
Johnson would end the night with a double-double with 27 points and 12 rebounds. His 27 points tie his career high, this was also his seventh career double-double and his free throws attempted and free throws made (7-of-11) also ties his career high.
“I’m just trying to play basketball at the end of the day, I’m trying just to win, I know we got some big games coming up from here on out so we need to be better as a team,” Johnson on still progressing.
“I think X has played really really unselfishly, I thought he has taken good shots, he had 27 points tonight on 14 shots that’s efficiency, that’s good,” Boyle on Johnson. “I really like the way he is helping lead this team, one thing we know Xavier does, for the most part, night in and night out is he competes.”
The Buffs would also struggle in the paint yet again today, forward Tory Miller did not play after suffering an ankle injury against Texas, which left the post play up to Lucas Siewert and Gordon. Gordon would end the night with 10 points and nine rebounds, Siewert didn’t have any points or rebounds.
“I do think we missed Tory a little bit tonight his energy level off the bench is usually pretty good for us,” Boyle on forward play.
Despite the Buffs slow start in the first half going 11-of-23 (47%) from the field, they rebounded nicely in the second half, hitting 15-of-23 (65.2%) to end the game. In total, they shot 26-of-46 (56.5%). They also flipped the switch on the boards and out-rebounded Wofford 32-25. 26 on defense, and six on offense.
Three players finished with 10 points, Gordon, Derrick White and George King. King went 4-for-4 from the field and one-of-one from the free throw line.
“I think we’re all capable of scoring, I think we can all dominate, it’s just who wants to dominate and I think that we all just need to have a mindset that we want to win and with that, we can do great things,” Johnson said.
The Buffs are going to need to show an unselfish attitude going forward if they want to beat good teams down the stretch.
“If we can kind of play with that, "we" instead of "me" type attitude, our team is going to be really hard to beat I think as we move through this year,” Boyle after the game.