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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).
-COLORADO-
Runner-up national champs Louisville beat CU women
Dec 22nd
Release: December 21, 2013
By: Troy Andre, Assistant SID
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Lexy Kresl had 17 points and Jen Reese corralled her second career double-double, but Louisville had a little bit more Saturday afternoon at the KFC Yum! Center as the No. 7 ranked Cardinals outlasted No. 11 Colorado 69-62.
Louisville All-American candidate Shoni Schimmel had a game-high 30 points, including 13-of-16 from the line as Cardinals improved to 12-1.
Reese had 14 points despite an off-day from the floor (4-of-14), and pulled down a team-season-high 14 rebounds for the Buffaloes (9-1) who saw their 33-game nonconference regular season win streak end.
It was a tough, physical battle, the kind one would expect from a game between two of the nation’s top teams. But that aggressiveness cost both teams at times; and Colorado a little more in the end. A total of 56 fouls were called, 32 on Colorado. The teams combined for 70 free throw attempts, Louisville hitting 24-of-40 while the Buffaloes were 17-of-30.
Colorado held a potent Louisville offense well below its average. The Cardinals entered the game averaging over 90 points per game, and over 100 in their last four. The Buffaloes were able to slow Louisville down and force the 2013 NCAA runner-ups to score in the half court.
“They get a lot of their points in transition,” Kresl said. “One of our goals was to slow them down and make them execute their plays and that worked to our advantage.”
But Colorado gave the Cardinals more opportunities than they hoped. The Buffaloes were outrebounded for the first time this year, 52-47. Louisville crashed the offensive glass, pulling down 21 on that side of the court. Even though second-chance points were even (11-11), it was the missed opportunities for stops that hurt the Buffs.
“Defensive rebounding is something that we pride ourselves on, but it let us down,” CU head coach Linda Lappe said. “I knew offensive rebounding was something they were good at. At the end of the game it came down to if we could make stops, but overall proud of our effort; how hard we played.”
“Just not boxing out, they got a few too many opportunities on the offensive boards,” Kresl added.
Despite the rebounding struggles, Colorado was in the game the whole way as neither team led by more than seven points and featured nine lead changes.
Kresl gave Colorado an early 8-5 lead with a 3-pointer, but
LEXY KRESYL scored 17-points in the game.
Bria Smith hit back-to-back jumpers to even the game at 10-10.
The Cardinals pushed their lead to 24-18 on a Sara Hammond layup with 8:01 left in the first half, but Colorado answered with its biggest run.
Kresl, who scored 15 of her 17 points in the first half, answered Hammond with a jumper that set off a 13-0 run. Arielle Roberson put back a Reese miss and a pair of Kresl free throws tied the game at 24-24.
Lauren Huggins broke the tie with a long 3-pointer to give the Buffaloes a 27-24 lead, forcing a Louisville timeout. At the beginning of the timeout Louisville’s bench received a technical foul giving the Buffaloes an opportunity to extend the lead.
Kresl hit the two technical free throws coming out of the timeout to give the Buffaloes their largest lead at 29-24. Unfortunately that was it for Colorado in the first half and the Cardinals came storming back.
Schimmel finally ended Colorado’s run with a runner in the lane, drew a foul and completed the 3-point play. Younger sister Jude Schimmel then connected on a pair of fast break layups in the closing minutes as a 9-0 run gave the Cardinals a 33-29 lead at the half.
Colorado quickly erased the Louisville halftime lead as a Sborov 3-pointer ended a 7-2 CU run out of the break for a 36-35 Buffs lead.
However, shortly after that the fouls started to catch up with Colorado. Sborov picked up her third moments after her 3-pointer. Brittany Wilson then picked up No. 4 with nearly 13 minutes left with Ashley Wilson and Roberson matching that total moments later.
Still the Buffaloes continued to stay close. Sborov hit a bucket to tie the game at 46-46 with 9:44 remaining, but the Cardinals reeled off seven straight behind the Schimmel sisters.
Louisville then kept Colorado just out of reach, mainly from the foul line. The Cardinals, who entered the game hitting 51 percent from the floor on the season, made just 34 percent for the game, and only 29 percent (9-of-31) in the final 20 minutes.
The trouble was Colorado wasn’t much better. A 46-percent shooting team for the season, CU connected on just 37 percent, although the Buffaloes were closer to their average in the second half (45 percent).
“(Louisville) helped us get ready for (Pac-12) conference,” Kresl said. “We grew as a team throughout the game.”
In the end, the game was put away at the line. Louisville hit 18-of-24 from the line in the second half compared to just 10-of-18 for Colorado.
The Buffs did get a few stops, a pair of free throws by Kresl and one each from Roberson and Reese cut the Louisville lead to 63-59 with 1:10 left. The defense came up big when Jude Schimmel missed a jumper with under a minute left, and Roberson grabbed the rebound. Rachel Hargis eventually ended up at the line, hitting 1-of-2 to make it a one possession game at 63-60.
But that was it as Shoni Schimmel clamped down hitting four free throws down the stretch, and scored the final points on a breakaway basket in the closing seconds.
“I like how our team fought throughout the game,” Lappe said. “You want to be in a position to have a chance to win at the end of the game; we had that, but just didn’t make enough plays down the stretch. We learned a lot about this game. You want nonconference to prepare you for conference, and we felt this did that today.”
Colorado will return to action on Sunday, Dec. 29, by hosting Southern Utah at 2 p.m. at the Coors Events Center.
Colorado Buffaloes Women’s Basketball
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It wasn’t pretty but #11 CU women stay undefeated
Dec 8th
And a strange afternoon of hoops in Boulder, but strange was good. The No. 11 Colorado women remained unbeaten with a 79-56 win over Illinois, but it was anything but business as usual in the Coors Events Center.
For starters, the Buffs (8-0) and Illini (5-5) had their pregame warm-up time shortened due to the aftermath of the CU’s men’s last-second upset of No. 6 Kansas. That game started at 1:20 p.m., with the women’s contest scheduled to begin just after 5 p.m. But it took longer than anticipated to clear the CEC court after it was stormed by CU students and fans following the electrifying 75-72 win.
Then, with 8:30 left in the first half of the women’s contest and the Buffs up 27-20, alarms sounded in the CEC. Play continued, but after a couple of possessions, the court and stands were cleared. A sprinkler head had burst in the loading dock area of the Events Center, triggering the alarms and stopping play for 20 minutes. Players went to their locker rooms, fans went to the building’s upper concourses.
Meanwhile, second-year Illinois coach Matt Bollant might not have known what he was missing. He was ill and remained at his Boulder hotel, which made associate head coach Mike Divilbiss the head man for the afternoon.
“There’s not much you can say in that situation,” Divilbiss said of the delay. “We’re a young team and it’s just one of those things – you just have to learn to get past the environment.”
Once back on the court, Illinois guard Amber Moore got a quick score but the Buffaloes quickly went up by double-digits for the first time on a three-pointer by Jen Reese (16 points) and a jumper byRachel Hargis (12) for a 32-22 lead.
Forward Jacqui Grant (game-high 20) helped keep Illinois close. When the Illini cooled off from the outside, they started going in and the 6-3 freshman scored four of her 15-first half points on a run that cut Colorado’s lead to 40-35.
But Lauren Huggins hit another 3-pointer and Hargis matched an Illinois score with a layup of her own to give the Buffaloes a 45-37 halftime advantage.
Reese hit her first three field goals of the second half as the Buffs built their lead to 20. A Jasmine Sborov trey and a soft Hargis layup pushed CU in front 62-42. But Illinois increased its press, contributing to the Buffs’ 20 turnovers, and crept to within 14 (62-48).
CU finally settled down as Sborov (10) hit a three-pointer at the 7:56 mark to push the lead back to 17 and the Illini were done.
“I thought it was a great win for our team,” CU coach Linda Lappe said, acknowledging Illinois’ athleticism, quickness and different defensive looks. “There were a lot of different obstacles and adversities through the game – not having the normal warm up time, having a fire alarm . . . I liked how we came out of being in the locker room for 15 minutes and got back into it. So, there were a lot of positives to take out of it.”
Once again, the Buffs’ balance was apparent. Four players, topped by Arielle Roberson’s 17, reached double figures and 10 of the players used by coach Linda Lappe scored. The Buffs outrebounded the Illini 51-30 and held the visitors to 30.8 percent shooting from the field (20-of-65).
In addition to her seven points, senior guard Brittany Wilson set career highs in assists (eight) and rebounds (13) and tied a career-best with three blocked shots.
“The ball just kept falling in my hands I guess and I just jumped up for rebounds and pushed the ball down the floor,” Wilson said. “I found open teammates – one being Jen Reese.”
CU committed 21 turnovers to Illinois’ 14, but Wilson said given the Illini’s average of forcing 26, the Buffs will take their 21 and move on. “You don’t want to have 21 turnovers a game,” she said, “but we won, so hey.”
Reese, who sat out the Wyoming game on Wednesday night with concussion symptoms a broken nose, said her fast start “was good to get the confidence up. Even if I did miss it, it’s short memory. But it was good to come back and it felt good.”
The Buffs are off until Thursday, when they host the University of Denver (7 p.m.).