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CU men surge to first Pac-12 victory
Jan 3rd
By B.G Brooks, CUBuffs.com Contributing Editor
BOULDER – The launch of Pac-12 Conference Thursday night at the Coors Events Center sprang very few surprises on Colorado coach Tad Boyle. The biggest might have been 6-10 Eric Moreland and his 11th hour reinstatement, but Boyle’s Buffs eventually adjusted to Moreland’s presence, as well as Oregon State’s 2-3 zone, and earned a difficult 64-58 win.
“Good win . . . welcome to Pac-12 Conference play,” a relieved Boyle said. “Nothing’s going to be easy. Anybody who saw the game saw the talent and skill Oregon State has (and) with Moreland back, they’re a different animal . . . they just keep coming at you with athletes off bench.”
That’s where Moreland, a junior, spent 12 non-conference games, suspended by coach Craig Robinson for a summer violation of team rules. Robinson initially levied a 14-game suspension, but late Wednesday night – on the eve of conference play – announced that Moreland had satisfied whatever was required to return to the court.
The Buffs (12-2, 1-0) had prepped for Moreland’s backup – 6-10 senior Angus Brandt – but CU post Josh Scott claimed Moreland’s unexpected return didn’t surprise him: “To be honest I was kind of expecting him to play . . . I don’t know why I figured it but I just did.”
In three games against CU last season, including a 64-58 win at the CEC that stands as the Buffs’ last home loss (Boyle is 54-7 at home), Moreland averaged 10.2 points and 10 rebounds. But his length and athleticism is typical for the Beavers. Said Boyle: “We’re not going to win a jumping contest with Oregon State.”
And in Thursday night’s first half, the Buffs didn’t win the rebound battle either. Moreland got eight first-half boards (10 total, with two points) as Oregon State (8-5, 0-1) out-boarded the Buffs 21-13, marking the first time this season CU has not had a first-half rebounding edge. But after a “come to Tad” halftime address, the Buffs regained their intensity and out-rebounded the Beavs 21-13 in the second half. That might have made Oregon State’s 37-34 edge for the night a little more palatable for Boyle.
His team held the visitors to 37.5 percent from the field – Oregon State arrived shooting 50 percent – and converted 17 OSU turnovers into 25 points. Those numbers, bolstered by the Buffs’ nine steals, helped them overcome a mediocre shooting night; CU finished 38.2 percent from the field (21-of-55) and hit only five of its 20 3-point attempts.
“The best thing is we won when we didn’t shoot the ball well,” Boyle said.
CU overtook Oregon State with a 13-3 run in the final 8 minutes, but sealed the win by hitting five of eight free throws in the last 1:49 after the Beavers rallied from a 12-point deficit and closed to within four points.
Three Buffs were in double figures – Jaron Hopkins, Askia Booker and Josh Scott, each 13 points. Scott also had 10 of the Buffs’ 34 rebounds. The Beavers got 23 points from Roberto Nelson, the Pac-12’s leading scorer with a 21-point average. Nelson got 16 of his total Thursday night in the second half and was three-of-five from 3-point range.
The Buffs led 28-23 at halftime, but getting that five-point advantage was a major struggle. The Beavers’ 2-3 zone, which reminded Boyle of Syracuse’s traditional defense, made almost everything the Buffs attempted a challenge, most notably shooting and rebounding. Neither team led by more than five points in the first 20 minutes, with Oregon State’s largest advantage being 10-5 on a pair of Nelson free throws at the 13:26 mark.
Moreland entered the game with 16:33 left before halftime and right away collected the first of his eight first-half rebounds. In 13 minutes, he also had an assist and a blocked shot – but his rustiness showed in committing four of Oregon State’s 12 first-half turnovers. Those led to 15 CU points and were largely responsible for the Buffs’ halftime advantage.
The Buffs opened the second half with a steal by Booker that led to an inside basket by Scott to take a 30-23 lead. And the Beavers were about to see more of Scott, who delivered a soft jump hook for the Buffs’ next basket.
After a Spencer Dinwiddie trey put CU up by seven (35-28), Wes Gordon hit one of two free throws and Scott added a put-back to push the Buffs to their first double-digit lead – 38-28 with 16:28 to play. But it wouldn’t last; Oregon State outscored CU 12-2 over the next 51/2 minutes to tie the score at 40-40 with 10:35 left.
The Buffs had an immediate answer in forwards Xavier Johnson and Gordon. “XJ” contributed a pair of tip dunks – the second following a Gordon block – and Gordon hit a short jumper to ignite a 13-3 run that restored the Buffs’ 10-point (53-43) lead.
“I mean, coach preaches defensive rebounding,” Johnson, who finished with nine points and nine rebounds, said of his tip-dunks. “I pretty much just followed Spencer and Wesley up on the shots and was able to get the tip dunks. They were good momentum swings for the team.”
Two minutes later, the Buffs would stretch their lead to 12 (58-46) on a three-point play by Johnson. But the Beavers were far from done. They closed to 60-56 on a 3-pointer from the right wing by freshman Malcolm Duvivier with 2:11 left, prompting a timeout by Boyle.
Dinwiddie hit one of two free throws (61-56) at the 1:49 mark, added two more (63-56) with 41.2 seconds to play and when Buffs guard Xavier Talton chased down a long rebound in the final 15 seconds, the Beavs were done. Johnson hit one of two foul shots for CU’s final point.
Boyle pointed to Talton’s late rebound and “XJ” outdueling OSU’s Devon Collier for a “50-50” ball as the plays of the game. Said Boyle: “Those were hustle plays, the 50-50 balls, the long rebounds, the loose balls that we had to come up with – and we did tonight.”
He’s hoping the intensity remains at a high level on Sunday afternoon. No. 10 Oregon, which remained unbeaten (13-0, 1-0) with an overtime win Thursday night at Utah, visits the CEC. “We need a sellout, we need this place rocking,” Boyle said. “We need a Kansas-type crowd effort on Sunday.”
Roberson’s late scoring frenzy puts close game away
Dec 29th
But putting into practice what they had emphasized recently in practice, the Buffaloes showed if they continue to grind they can succeed. Applying the brakes to stubborn Southern Utah Sunday in the last 8 minutes, the Buffs finally put away the Thunderbirds 75-59 and now can turn their full attention to the Pac-12.
CU opens conference play on Friday at Southern California, then plays at UCLA next Sunday. The Buffs’ Pac-12 home opener is Friday, Jan. 10 against No. 23 Cal, with No. 4 Stanford visiting on Sunday, Jan. 12. The Pac-12 features four ranked (AP) teams, with Arizona State at No. 25.
Although CU did enough against Southern Utah to claim its 10th non-conference win (10-1), the Buffs often had difficulty getting in synch offensively and let a 14-point second half lead dwindle to two with 8:09 to play.
But that was as close as the Thunderbirds (7-3) would get. After Carli Moreland hit a pair of free throws to bring Southern Utah to 54-52, the Buffs launched a 19-2 run to take a 19-point lead (73-54) with 1:24 remaining.
Outscored 21-7 over the final 8:09, the T-Birds were toast.
“Overall, I liked how we responded to the last three days of practice,” CU coach Linda Lappe said, noting the Buffs had focused on rebounding, tighter defense and setting screens. “I saw all three things improve.”
Most apparent, according to guard Jasmine Sborov, was the defensive factor: “To be honest, it didn’t really feel like the score was that close leading up to the two-point deficit . . . we looked at scoreboard and we were like, ‘All right, we need to get down, get some stops and just extend our lead.’ I think that’s one negative thing with this game – we were up and then we were down and we were up and we let them get closer. We didn’t step on their throats and just keep going.”
Not until they needed to, anyway. During the decisive 8-minute surge, Arielle Roberson scored seven of her team-best 18 points while Ashley Wilson, who finished with career highs in points (14) and assists (5), contributed four points. Roberson added 12 rebounds for her fourth double-double in five games and seventh of her career.
Wilson’s performance came in 21 minutes off the bench. “That’s kind of my role – to provide energy off of the bench,” she said. “It just happened; it’s a credit to my teammates, they gave me energy.”
Down by 12 points at halftime, the Thunderbirds crept to within four before the Buffs answered with a 12-2 run to take what appeared to be a comfortable 50-36 lead. Not so. The visitors kept competing, climbing back to within 54-52 before CU delivered its final answer.
“We relaxed instead of keeping our foot on the gas,” Wilson said. “They play hard (but) we responded every single time; it shows what kind of team we have.”
Lappe agreed: “They’re a feisty group, well-coached and have lot of energy . . . at times we didn’t look very good, didn’t get stops and our offensive sputtered. Southern Utah made us play a half-court game, made us become stagnant (offensively) at times.”
But, noted Lappe, compensating with solid defense down the stretch was good for the Buffs with the Pac-12 schedule looming: “In terms of playing defense and unleashing our aggressiveness, we needed to do that against an opponent.”
CU also got double-figure scoring from Jen Reese (11) and Jasmine Sborov (12), who also recorded her first career double-double with a career-high 10 rebounds.
Desiree Jackson led Southern Utah with 21 points and was her team’s only player in double figures.
“Slow start” doesn’t come close to describing what the Buffs overcame to eventually pull away and take a 36-24 halftime lead. Just under 9 minutes into the first half, CU had one more turnover (five) than baskets (four) but still led 10-7.
But after Moreland, a 6-1 senior forward from Broomfield, tied the score at 13-13 on a 3-pointer, CU made its move. Over the next 6 minutes, the Buffs outscored the Thunderbirds 17-6 to take their first double-digit advantage (30-19) on a basket by Ashley Wilson.
Southern Utah rallied briefly, closing to within six points (30-24) before CU used a 6-0 run – four free throws by Roberson, a layup by Jamee Swan, who made her second career start – to establish its 12-point halftime advantage. But the T-Birds quickly cut into that, forced the Buffs to make a run, then the whole process was repeated.
Neither team shot impressively from the field – CU checked in at 37.9 percent, Southern Utah at 34.0 – and between them the Buffs and Thunderbirds committed 45 turnovers (CU 21, Southern Utah 24). And long-range accuracy was lacking: the teams were a combined 2-of-26 from beyond the arc, with each getting one trey in 13 attempts. The Buffs also clanked 12 free throws, giving them 25 misses in their last two games – which Lappe conceded concerns her.
Still, noted Wilson, “We’re happy with this win. There were a lot of different things we worked on the last three practices that definitely showed up in the game. We wanted to ramp up our defense a whole lot more going into Pac-12 because we know there are a lot of good teams that are going to come after us . . . so, it was a great win.”
CU redshirt freshman Lauren Huggins did not dress; she is recuperating from a lower leg injury and is hopeful of returning for the Pac-12 opener. In Huggins’ absence, freshman Desiree Harris saw her first playing time of the season, getting 5 minutes.
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU
Colorado Buffaloes
The Buffs were “perfect” entering the Pac-12 season
Dec 29th
By B.G. Brooks, CUBuffs.com Contributing Editor
BOULDER – Ready or not, the Pac-12 Conference schedule is fast approaching – and the Colorado Buffaloes appear ready.
No. 21 CU was perfect at the free throw line – the Buffs set a school record by hitting all 26 of their attempts – imperfect at times elsewhere, but all-in-all good enough on Saturday night to march past Georgia 84-70 at the Coors Events Center.
“I told our team in the locker room, this is a good win against a quality SEC opponent,” said Buffs coach Tad Boyle. “These guys are going to win a lot of games in the SEC. They are a talented group, but this is a time for us to exhale for a day.”
Then the heavy breathing will commence and not slow until March. The Buffs open Pac-12 play on Thursday (8 p.m.) against Oregon State at the CEC, then host Oregon on Sunday, Jan. 5 (3 p.m.). Boyle will give his team Sunday off, then call the Buffs back on Monday morning to start preparations for the Beavers.
Rebounding from a 78-73 loss to No. 7 Oklahoma State in Las Vegas that snapped a 10-game winning streak, CU finished its non-conference schedule 11-2 and matched its best start in 34 years.
“To be 11-2 with the caliber of schedule that we played says a lot about this group, and we’ve got a lot of basketball ahead of us,” Boyle said. “Season number one is over with, our nonconference portion is done, and now we are going into an 18-game marathon of the Pac-12. Our league is very good, and we’re going to have to be ready mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually, the whole nine yards. We’re excited about it, and I’m proud of what our guys did tonight.”
The individual pride of his players, said Boyle, was responsible for the 26 consecutive free throws, which broke the former school mark of 14-for-14 set in 1980 against Nebraska. The Pac-12 record is 28-for-28 by Washington State (vs. Oregon, 2009), the NCAA record is 34-for-34 (three teams).
Boyle was reminded during the game by assistant coach Jean Prioleau that the Buffs had not missed a foul shot. “I asked him not to speak about it again,” Boyle said. “Coach (Rodney) Billups came up a few minutes later and said it on my right. I asked him not to talk about it again. Obviously, I’m proud of what the team did at the line, but I don’t talk about it when we miss them, and I’m not going to talk about it when we make them.”
Boyle called free throw shooting “a personal thing, an individual thing, and I want our guys to take individual pride, and when they do that, nights like this are fun when you don’t miss any. I don’t want to discount it, but I don’t want to be a hypocrite about it, pat the guys on the back when they do and call them out when they don’t. It’s an individual thing, but I was proud of them. It’s such a mental thing, and I want our guys relaxed. I want them confident.”
He called setting the school record “nice,” but added, “In the big picture of things, there might be some games where we’re going to want some of those back. That’s just basketball.”
Post Josh Scott hit all eight of his free throws on the way to 14 points – he also grabbed 13 rebounds – and guard Spencer Dinwiddie was perfect on his seven foul shots in contributing 17 points. They were among five Buffs in double figures, topped by guard Askia Booker’s 19 – 12 of them in the second half. Also in double digits were forwards Wesley Gordon (10) and Xavier Johnson (13).
Johnson scored 11 of his total in the first half when he hit his first three 3-point attempts, enabling the Buffs to go ahead 11-6 and never look back. Leading by as many as 18 points in the first half, the Buffs allowed the Bulldogs (6-5) to close to within eight with 10 minutes to play. But CU clamped down defensively, allowed Georgia to get no closer and left the CEC with its 53rd home win (seven losses) under Boyle.
“It was good just being able to have Spencer give me the ball for open jump shots, and I was able to knock them down,” said Johnson, who managed only three points in last weekend’s loss. “It’s always easier to shoot at a court you’ve been shooting on for two years. So, it was good. I enjoyed it.”
Georgia had four players in double figures, led by Nemana Djurisic and Kenny Gaines with 12 each.
Boyle undoubtedly will want his defense tightened by Thursday. The Bulldogs shot 51.9 percent (14-of-27) in the second half and finished at 50 percent from the field for the game (28-of-56). But the Buffs shot 51 percent for the game (25-of-49) and outrebounded the Dawgs 34-22.
Boyle credited Georgia for its marksmanship but added, “I just feel like defensively, we have to get better. There’s going to be nights in Pac-12 conference play where we don’t shoot 51 percent, and maybe we don’t outrebound the opponent by double digits. Those are the nights that we are going to have to rely on our defense, and it’s not good enough right now. Bottom line. Our defense is not good enough for Pac-12 level play if we want to compete for a championship. It has to get better . . . we have a short time to get that there.”
The Buffs led 46-35 at intermission, scoring their most points of the season in an opening half. The Bulldogs never led and managed only one early tie (3-3) before falling behind by as many as 18 twice before the break.
Johnson led a 3-point flurry, connecting on his first three attempts from behind the arc before his fourth attempt from downtown rimmed out. But he wasn’t the only Buff who was dialed in from long distance; after Dinwiddie and Jaron Hopkins added treys of their own CU, had hit five of six 3-point attempts and led 21-15. The Buffs finished 8-of-20 from behind the arc.
With Georgia moving in and out of a zone defense, CU’s early barrage of treys no doubt was welcome. But the Buffs relied on getting to the rim and the foul line in a 15-3 run that opened a 36-20 lead with 5:25 left in the half. Booker scored all seven of his first-half points during that stretch.
Booker hit seven of his 12 field goal attempts (two of four from 3-point range), with his 19 points tying a season high. He also had a game-best four assists.
Boyle said Booker “was feeling it tonight. He was very efficient and he took good shots. I thought he was terrific . . . we’ll take seven-for-twelve from Askia every night. I thought his floor game was good. You could tell he was dialed in.”
With their 11-point halftime lead, if the Buffs could stay interested and maintain their intensity the second half offered little hope of a comeback for the SEC visitors. For the most part, CU did both – until Georgia finally cut its deficit to single digits (57-49) on a 3-pointer by Brandon Morris at the 10-minute mark.
But the Buffs quickly righted themselves with a 7-0 run and shot back ahead by 15 (66-49) on a conventional three-point play by Booker with 8:33 remaining. CU regained its 18-point advantage in the final 2 minutes and sent the CEC crowd of 10,848 home happy – and anxiously awaiting Pac-12 play.
The Buffs believe they are ready. “I mean, we’re 11-2,” Scott said. “We’ve played really good teams, and had a really good out of conference schedule. We’re feeling pretty confident going into Pac-12 play. We’re going in trying to win it. So, it’s good.”
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU
GAME NOTES
• An 11-2 record to start the season, matches the 1979-80 season (34 years ago) after 13 games.
• CU improves to 19-5 record in December games overall under the Boyle coaching staff, 16-1 in December home games.
• Under the Boyle coaching staff, the Buffs are now 30-1 (.968) at the Coors Events Center in November and December (only home loss, Wyoming, Dec. 9, 2011, 65-54 stopping CU’s 22-game non-conference home winning streak).
• During the opening two months of the season (Nov. & Dec.) CU is now 39-12 overall (.765) in home, road, neutral games.
• 9-0 home record this season at the Events Center and the 53rd win at home out of 60 games (.883) over the last four years.
• Second straight win against Georgia; third win versus the Bulldogs – all at home, and trails UGA in the all-time series, 6-3.
• CU closed out the 2013-14 regular season non-conference slate with an 11-2 record. Including 2013-14, the Buffs have won double-digit non-conference games in three of Boyle’s four seasons at the helm, amassing a 44-15 non-conference mark during that span.
• The Buffs tied a season high with 6 first-half three-pointers (Jackson State, Nov. 16; Arkansas State, Nov. 18). With 46 points in the opening frame, they also matched their highest first-half scoring output of the season (Jackson State, Nov. 16; Arkansas State, Nov. 18).
• CU has made at least one three-pointer in 379 straight games (dating back to Jan. 19, 2002). Tonight, the Buffs were 8-of-20 (.400) from beyond the arc.
•The Buffs were 26-for-26 from the charity stripe, marking their first perfect outing from the line since Feb. 27, 2010 (12-of-12 vs. Iowa State). Tonight marked the first time in program history that a CU squad shot 1.000 from the line while attempting at least 15 free throws.
•This was just the 10th known time in CU history that CU was perfect from the free throw line and just the sixth time with 10 or more FTAs.
10-of-10 at Kansas State, 2/12/75; 2-of-2 at Oklahoma, 2/9/80; 14-of-14 at Nebraska, 2/16/80; 12-of-12 at Nebraska, 1/21/81; 2-of-2 at Iowa State, 2/28/81; 2-of-2 vs. Oklahoma, 2/26/83; 4-of-4 vs. Oklahoma, 1/6/90; 11-of-11 at Kansas State, 2/18/06; 12-of-12 vs. Iowa State, 2/27/10; 26-of-26 vs. Georgia, 12/18/13.
•The previous mark for FT percentage with at least 20 attempts was 25-of-26 (vs. Oklahoma, Feb. 17, 1996).
• CU tied a school record 28 consecutive FTs made (all 26 tonight and the final 2 vs. Oklahoma State). The previous mark was previously set vs. CSU (last 23) and UC Irvine (first 5) on Dec. 7 and Dec. 10, 1983.
• CU outrebounded Georgia 34-22, marking the ninth time this season the Buffs have won the battle on the glass. They are 8-1 in those tilts.
• Five players scored in double figures: Booker-19, Dinwiddie-17, Scott-14, Johnson-13, Gordon-10.
Askia Booker
• Tied his season-high with 19 points (Oklahoma State, Dec. 21) to lead the Buffs in scoring for the fifth time in 13 games this season. He also chipped in a game-high 4 assists.
Spencer Dinwiddie
• Started his 82nd career game, tying for No. 12 all-time (Mike Reid, 1982-86).
• Finished with 17 points, the 12th time this season he has scored in double figures.
Josh Scott
• Grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds and scored 14 points to post his 6th double-double of the season (8th career).
Wesley Gordon
• Scored 10 points (his third double-figure scoring effort of the season), while collecting six rebounds, a block, an assist and a steal.
Xavier Johnson
• Connected on a season-tying three treys, all in the first half, en route to a 13-point scoring output (one point shy of his season high, 14 vs. Kansas on Dec. 7). His double figure scoring effort was his 7th this season (19th career).
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