By Anthony Lepine, CU Sports Information Student Assistant

DALLAS – The Colorado Buffaloes opened a highly anticipated 2013-14 basketball season with a disappointing offensive performance against No. 25 Baylor, falling 72-60 Friday night in the Buckets and Boots Showcase at the American Airlines Arena.

CU shot a dismal 33.3 percent, hitting just 22 of its 66 field goal attempts and never led in the contest. Nonetheless, with 2:23 remaining the Buffs trailed by only six after a layup by Josh Scott cut Baylor’s lead to 64-58.

“We cut it to six at that one point,” CU head coach Tad Boyle said, “but, we couldn’t get over the hump.”

The Buffs regained possession after a missed jumper by Baylor’s Cory Jefferson and a rebound by Wesley Gordon. But a bad possession ending with a forced jumper by Askia Booker left the Buffs still down six and needing a stop.

Instead, Baylor 7-footer Isaiah Austin connected on a jump hook and the Buffs again trailed by eight.

However, the Bears fouled Buffs junior guard Spencer Dinwiddie – who boasts an 82 percent career free-throw percentage – at the line with 47 seconds remaining. His pair of free throws again cut Baylor’s lead to six, but Baylor junior college transfer Kenny Chery answered with a pair of foul shots and CU was all but finished.

Dinwiddie’s three-point attempt rimmed out, the Bears corralled the rebound and finished out the game at the free-throw line, sending the Buffs back to Boulder 0-1.

“It’s disappointing, but it’s not the end of the world,” Boyle said. “We have to keep getting better, that’s all you can do . . . I just want to play hard, play smart and play together.”

The Buffaloes were missing their typical offensive production that has come to be expected from

CU's Big Three--Spencer Dinwiddie, Askia Booker and Xavier Johnsonwere limited to a combined 28 points on 11-of-37 shooting.

CU’s Big Three–Spencer Dinwiddie, Askia Booker and Xavier Johnsonwere limited to a combined 28 points on 11-of-37 shooting.

 

Scott was the bright spot on offense for Colorado as the sophomore finished with a double-double, scoring 15 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. Scott’s frontcourt-mate, redshirt freshmen Wesley Gordon, also delivered for the Buffaloes starting in his first career game.

Gordon finished with nine points and eight rebounds, and Boyle classified Gordon’s performance as “terrific.”

“I was nervous just because it was my first time really playing for a while,” Gordon said. “I just wanted to make sure I was doing my job out there. I expected it would be a physical game.”

Boyle relied on all of his freshmen in the season opener as the first two Buffs off the bench were true freshmen Tre’Shaun Fletcher and Dustin Thomas. Classmates Jaron Hopkins and George King would also be thrust into action early on in the game.

“I thought they played aggressively,” Boyle said. “They’re going to make mistakes, and I’m not down on those guys at all. They just have to learn from it and hopefully understand at this level you can’t make those mistakes.

“But, I love our freshmen. It’s not about our freshmen (the loss), it’s about our veteran guys that we need to play like they’ve been here and play at the level that they need to play at to win these kinds of games against this kind of competition.”

The Buffs will look to pick up their first win of the season on Sunday at 4 p.m. against Tennessee-Martin in the home opener at the Coors Events Center.

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