CU Men’s Basketball
Roberson, CU Men Stay With It, Edge Ducks
Feb 8th
By B.G. Brooks, CUBuffs.com Contributing Editor
EUGENE, Ore. – Colorado basketball coach Tad Boyle had wanted his Buffaloes to play a 40-minute game, and it took them nearly that long to take their first lead on Thursday night against No. 19 Oregon.
But when CU finally got its advantage, it held. Andre Roberson’s lay-in with 29.5 seconds to play, coupled with intense defense on the Ducks over the final 41/2 minutes earned the Buffs a dramatic 48-47 win at Matt Knight Arena.
Andre Roberson made big plays when CU needed them
Thursday night marked CU’s first win in Eugene in 58 years, and it was accomplished in the manner Boyle expected. “Playing Oregon is like a street fight; they’re tough,” he said. “And we tried to prepare our guys for that . . . we gutted it out, we didn’t play our best. We won with our defense and our rebounding at the end.”
CU’s offense was hard to find; the Buffs’ winning total was their fewest in the modern shot clock era. The last time CU won while scoring fewer than 50 points was on Feb. 2, 1967 in a 49-42 victory over Oklahoma State.
On Thursday night, the Buffs shot only 36.5 percent from the field, but they held the Ducks to 36.2 percent. CU’s defense was particularly unforgiving in the final 4:26, holding the Ducks scoreless after they had taken a 47-40 lead.
“You shoot 36 percent on the road . . . you find a way,” Boyle said. “Hopefully our guys can learn from that and take some confidence from it. We’re going to start playing better offensively and making some shots and become more efficient. We’re in a little bit of a funk offensively right now, but we’ll break out of it.”
CU had only one player in double figures – Roberson, who collected his 35th career double-double with 10 points and 13 rebounds. It his Pac-12 Conference leading 10th double-double this season.
Roberson scored four of his points and grabbed three of his rebounds in the final 2:15. “There was a look in his eye, a determination, an energy that I hadn’t seen before,” Boyle said. “It was reminiscent of what I saw out of Carlon (Brown) and Nate (Tomlinson) and Austin (Dufault) towards the end of last year. Those seniors said we’re going to get this done and find a way. Andre was the same way.”
Said Roberson: “I didn’t want us to lose, and it starts with me . . . I just took it on myself to go out and play defense and continue to fight. We were still right there; we just weren’t getting over that hump to get the lead. I tip my hat to each and every one of our guys.”
The first tip of his hat might go to Spencer Dinwiddie, whose late defense was as critical as Roberson’s, according to Boyle. Dinwiddie pressured E.J. Singler on Oregon’s final full possession into a difficult shot, appearing to get a piece of the ball.
Said Boyle: “Spencer was terrific . . . those two guys (Dinwiddie, Roberson) were the difference in the game for us defensively. He played great defense (on Singler). Whether he got a touch, I don’t know. We had two fouls to give. We talked about maybe giving one on the drive or on the dribble. We didn’t want to foul a shooter, obviously, (Oregon) being down one. We showed very good judgment there.”
Dinwiddie, who finished with eight points and four assists, gave more credit to Roberson’s ‘D’ than his own. He also said ‘Dre’ “pulled down every single big board we needed. One time he even let out a primal scream after he got one of those boards. He’s big for us because he’s our best rebounder and that means so much for us. As you saw, with his nose for the ball, he got the last shot blocked, got it right back, scored it and it didn’t even faze him. He won the game for us.”
After falling short last weekend in a disheartening loss at Utah, CU (15-7, 5-5) needed a healing night on the court. So did Oregon (18-5, 7-3) after dropping a pair of games in the Bay Area. But it was the Buffs who finished strong this time, closing out the game with an 8-0 run and improving to 2-2 against ranked opponents this season.
CU also has beaten then-No. 16 Baylor but lost at then-No. 3 Arizona and then-No. 9 Kansas. The Buffs’ last road win against a ranked opponent was on Jan. 12, 2011, when they defeated No. 21 Kansas State 74-66.
Oregon freshman point guard Dominic Artis missed his fourth straight game with a foot injury. But until the final minutes, the Ducks weren’t as turnover prone Thursday as they had been in their previous three games, when they totaled 65. By halftime, forging a five-point lead, Oregon had committed just four turnovers to CU’s eight.
But the Buffs committed only four second-half turnovers and never succumbed to the Ducks’ pressure. Oregon also finished with a dozen turnovers.
The Buffs never led in the opening half and trailed by as many as eight points (15-7) with 11 minutes before the break. During the stretch when they fell behind by that margin, they strayed from what Boyle wanted from them – specifically, to attack the rim in transition and run after getting stops. Problem was, the stops weren’t plentiful enough to allow CU to speed up its transition game. The Buffs stayed out of sorts offensively for nearly 6 minutes.
“I’m really proud of our players, to win when you don’t play your best,” said Boyle. “You have to do it at some point of the year, you just do, and multiple times sometimes because it’s not always going to be pretty.”
After the Ducks took their eight-point first-half lead, the Buffs got strong minutes off the bench from Jeremy Adams, who hit a pair of free throws and three-pointer during a 10-2 run that pulled CU into a 17-17 tie.
But Oregon, responding with a 9-2 surge, went back on top by seven points (26-19) and CU needed a turnaround jumper by Josh Scott at the halftime buzzer to trail 28-23 at intermission.
Oregon got 12 first-half points from Singler and eight off the bench from Emory. Singler and Emery finished with 14 each for the Ducks, who had won 20 consecutive home games stretching back to the 2011-12 season (14-0 this season).
The Buffs opened the second half with a traditional three-point play from Dinwiddie – his first points of the game. That cut the Ducks’ lead to 28-26 with 17:57 to play, and another Dinwiddie layup brought CU to within 30-28 less than a minute later.
An Xavier Johnson trey – his second of the game – pulled the Buffs to within 32-31 with just over 15 minutes remaining. But the Ducks outscored their visitors 7-2 over the next 4 minutes and increased their advantage to 39-33 with 11:02 left.
CU pulled to within 47-43 at the 3:01 mark on one of two free throws by Askia Booker, to 47-44 on one of two foul shots by Scott, then to 47-46 on a putback by Roberson with 2:07 to play.
After each team squandered a possession apiece, the Buffs got the ball after an offensive foul by Singler with 50.1 seconds remaining. Boyle called timeout with 46.2 seconds showing, and Roberson’s lay-in gave CU its one-point lead at the 29.5 mark.
After rebounding Singler’s miss in the final 2 seconds, Roberson was fouled and went to the foul line to shoot one-and-one. He missed the first attempt and Oregon’s Arsalan Kazemi rebounded. But with less than a second to play, the Ducks were done.
“Our guys got stops when they had to,” Boyle said. “As painful and as disappointing as that Utah loss was for us, it might have done this team some good. We learned a couple of things: We know we have to play from the get-go, which I think we did . . . we competed. And secondly, knowing we can come back at the end. We came back and we won.”
The Buffs play next at Oregon State on Sunday (7 p.m. MST, Pac-12 Network).
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CU Men Beat California-Berkeley Bears, Reach .500 In Pac-12
Jan 27th
By B.G. Brooks, CUBuffs.com Contributing Editor
BOULDER – It was a steep climb out and the trail only gets steeper, but the Colorado Buffaloes finally surfaced on Sunday at the Coors Events Center. Opening with another stellar defensive performance then staying above ground with a season-best effort from the free throw line, CU beat California 81-71 to even its Pac-12 Conference record at 4-4.
The Buffs began conference play 1-4, and in that nowhere-to-go-but-up context, reaching .500 “is really a positive sign,” said CU coach Tad Boyle. “But when we were 1-4, we wanted to get to 2-4 . . . we worried about the next game. But we’re not happy being 4-4; we have to win the next game and keep scratching and clawing and move our way up.”
Did we mention the trail only gets steeper?
Three consecutive road games await, beginning Saturday at Utah, followed by trips to first-place Oregon (Thursday, Feb. 7) and struggling Oregon State (Sunday, Feb. 10). The Buffs don’t return to the CEC until Feb. 14, when Arizona visits.
But with January waning, CU appears to be shaping up, even though at times Sunday it was hard to tell. Said Boyle: “The game was one of those deals where our shooting (59.6 percent) overcame a lot of other ills and some deficiencies we know we have to get better at.”
Topping his list were the 20 CU turnovers that led to 22 Cal points. There also were the Bears’ 53 second-half points – 33 of them attributable to guards Allen Crabbe and Justin Cobbs, who finally got untracked after nearly silent first halves and helped whittle an 18-point Buffs lead to eight in the final minute.
“We let them get closer than we should have,” Boyle said.
But in the final 60 seconds, Spencer Dinwiddie hit eight consecutive free throws to keep the Buffs afloat. For the afternoon, he hit 9-of-10, leading CU to its best foul-shooting performance of the season – 18-of-22 (81.8 percent).
Finishing with 16 points, Dinwiddie was one of four CU players in double figures. Askia Booker scored 20, Xavier Johnson added 18 and Andre Roberson 15. Johnson, a 6-6 freshman, also collected 12 rebounds for his first career double.
Roberson played only 2 first-half minutes due to foul problems and was limited to five rebounds after his 20-board performance against Stanford on Thursday. He led the nation in rebounding (11.9) entering the game.
But despite his first-half foul problems and those of Josh Scott, who missed the half’s last 7:53 after picking up his second foul, the Buffs prospered before intermission. That was mainly due to Johnson, who stepped up Roberson’s absence and got 10 of his points and eight of his rebounds before Askia Booker
the break.
“You could make a legitimate argument that he was the game’s offensive MVP,” Boyle said. “He was terrific . . . he’s really grown up.”
When Roberson went to the bench, Johnson said he “felt like I needed to help in rebounding . . . Andre is a big part (of that).”
Cal (11-8, 3-4) was led by Cobbs with 22 points – 16 in the second half, and Crabbe added 21 – 17 of those in the second half. But in combining for their 43 points, they needed almost that many shots between them – and Boyle said he could live with that: “They made some tough shots . . . if they’re going to get 43 points you want them to take 41 shots to get them.”
CU’s lock-down defense in the first half – Cal was limited to 20.6 percent from the field – and the Buffs’ overall strong board work – a 35-30 rebound advantage – created enough of a cushion before Cobbs and Crabbe began finding their groove in the final 20 minutes.
The Buffs led 34-18 at halftime and shot 50 percent from the field (13-for-26). But that percentage at times belied their offensive efficiency. After taking a nine-point lead (14-5) on consecutive treys by Booker, CU went nearly 7 minutes without scoring again.
That drought wasn’t fatal, though, because the Buffs defense nearly had the Bears clamped shut. Cal’s 18 first-half points were its lowest this season. But with Crabbe and Cobbs heating up, the Bears finished the game at 41.7 percent from the field – slightly above Boyle’s defensive goal.
“I thought we got tired,” he said. “’XJ’ was exhausted; he’s not used to playing 18 minutes in the first half. But they were tired, too . . . then when Cobbs and Crabbe started making shots, it’s amazing how that energizes you.”
Xavier Johnson
Booker (13) and Johnson (10) were CU’s only two players in double figures in the first half, while Cal had no one totaling more than six points. Crabbe (19.6 ppg) and Cobbs (14.3 ppg) were held to four and six points, respectively.
Roberson and Scott were back in the Buffs lineup to open the second half, but their return didn’t prevent the Bears from a 7-0 start to pull Cal to 34-25 in the first 1:34. Crabbe scored five of those seven points, prompting a timeout from Boyle.
On that possession, the Buffs got a layup from Johnson, then one of two free throws by Roberson to restore their double-digit lead (37-27). Three minutes later, Booker’s fourth trey of the game pushed CU ahead by 14 (46-32), and if Cal felt this one slipping away, that feeling was justified.
By the 9:05 mark, the Buffs had gone up 58-40 – matching their big lead of the afternoon – on a layup by Johnson. But with Crabbe hitting back-to-back treys, the Bears crept to within 65-54 with 4:06 to play.
Then it was Cobbs’ turn. Scoring nine consecutive points, he pulled the Bears to within nine (73-64) in the final 1:05. A trey by Tyrone Wallace got them to 75-67, but Dinwiddie was perfect on eight free throw attempts in the last minute to keep the Buffs safe.
Cal’s hot second-half shooting (60.5 percent) and closing to within eight points late, said Dinwiddie, were the result of “mental lapses. As much as you preach playing the possession, I think all of us as a team look at the scoreboard and say, ‘Look, we’re up 12, then we hit a three and we’re up 15.’
“When that starts to roll downhill a little bit and you’re only up eight, then you have to tighten the screws a little bit. Sometimes you can’t.”
Nonetheless, the win put CU in fifth place in the Pac-12, trailing Washington (4-3), the two Arizona schools (5-2), UCLA (6-2) and Oregon (7-0). Dinwiddie called the win “very important. To say you don’t look at the standings would be a lie. You don’t focus on them, but you look at them.
“We knew that people on top of us were playing each other . . . these (Stanford and Cal) are two very big wins. We’re going to look to go to Utah and just continue to win the next game.”
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Balanced, Physical Men’s Basketball Team Pounds Cardinal By 21
Jan 25th
By B.G. Brooks, CUBuffs.com Contributing Editor
BOULDER – After being manhandled twice by Stanford in their first Pac-12 Conference season, the Colorado Buffaloes struck back Thursday night – hard, early and often.
Leading from opening tip to final buzzer, the Buffs bashed the Cardinal 75-54 at the Coors Events Center before 11,212 – the fourth largest crowd in school history. It was CU’s first win against Stanford in six tries, with the Buffs’ last victory coming on Dec. 23, 1990 in Boulder.
Despite the five straight losses to Stanford – and particularly the pair last season – CU coach Tad Boyle downplayed any revenge factor that might have motivated his team. “It was sweet,” said Boyle, “because I respect Stanford and (coach) Johnny Dawkins . . . but relative to what happened last year – no.”
What happened last year actually occurred twice – once at Stanford, once in Boulder. The Cardinal won big in both places, 84-64 and 74-50, respectively. And the Buffs were brutalized both times, outrebounded by a combined 85-53 total and shredded defensively as the Cardinal shot a cumulative 50 percent from the field.
Thursday night’s story unfolded much differently, even if the physicality remained high. Said Boyle: “It was a bloodbath out there . . . it was one of those games where you had to put the ball in the basket. We told our guys at timeouts not to look for fouls.”
There were 36 called and what appeared to be an equal number uncalled. But the Buffs, improving to 8-1 this season in the Events Center and 40-5 at home in Boyle’s third season, followed their coach’s advice and didn’t depend on whistles.
Instead, they relied on balanced scoring – all five starters were in double figures – tenacious rebounding by junior Andre Roberson and steely defense. Roberson tied a career high with 20 of the Buffs’ 48 rebounds (the Cardinal collected 30) and added 11 points.
“We fed off Andre tonight . . . (he) was a beast and played like the Andre we know and love. He was after it from the get-go” Boyle said.
Roberson’s energy seemed unlimited and spilled over to the entire starting lineup. Sophomore Askia Booker scored a team-high 13, including eight consecutive points midway through the second half when Stanford closed to within eight. Freshman Josh Scott and sophomore Spencer Dinwiddie also scored 12 points each, while freshman Xavier – it’s OK to call him “Jam” – Johnson contributed 11.
Making his fifth start, “XJ” also was a power source for CU, getting eight of his points on dunks that left the big crowd delirious. “He gave us big-time energy,” said Boyle. “Those dunks got us going.”
If Boyle downplayed any revenge factor, Booker said one was present “without a doubt . . . the coaches were talking about how bad they beat us on the boards last year.”
Added Roberson: “I definitely feel like we had a lot to prove . . . we came out tonight and put it on them.”
Roberson controlled the glass but had help. Booker and Dinwiddie accounted for seven rebounds, and Sabatino Chen came off the bench to collect six to go with his seven points. CU’s bench outscored Stanford’s 15-13, and the Buffs prevailed in the paint 44-20.
The Cardinal guards – Aaron Bright and Chasson Randle – were held to a combined 7-for-29 from the field. Randle led Stanford with 15 points, but he hit only five of his 21 attempts. And as a team, Stanford shot 31.3 percent (20-for-64) from the field, giving Boyle the edge he craves nightly in defense and rebounding.
Dawkins said CU “played with terrific energy and they moved well. They just defended well. I thought a tone was set from the beginning.”
Wanting a good start, the Buffs couldn’t have had a better one. Scoring on their first nine possessions, they went up 16-5, with Johnson’s first jam of the night – a baseline drive from the left side – getting CU to 16.
After his first slam, “XJ” wasn’t through and his teammates weren’t either. Jam No. 2 came on a drive from the right baseline at the tail end of a 16-5 run that pushed CU ahead 42-25. Then he scored the final points of the half on a tip dunk after a Scott miss for a 44-29 halftime lead.
CU outrebounded Stanford 24-14 in the first half, with Roberson getting 11 of his board total in the first 20 minutes. The Buffs were careful with the ball, too, not committing the first of their four first-half turnovers until 3:26 remained before intermission. They went 27 possessions before turning it over, finishing with a dozen.
After never trailing in the first half, the Buffs’ pressing second-half question was whether they could maintain their intensity – knowing the Cardinal would ratchet up its own. The short answer for CU: Yes.
When Johnson threw down his fourth jam – this one on a breakaway at the 14-minute mark – the Buffs took their largest lead of the night, 54-36. But the Cardinal wasn’t done.
Stanford closed to within 11 points (54-43) on a three-point play by Rosco Allen, then cut CU’s advantage to single digits (54-46) on a three-pointer by Randle with 9:55 to play.
But the Cardinal never came closer than eight points. A pair of free throws by Dinwiddie with 8:53 to play restored the Buffs’ 10-point lead (56-46). And after Roberson swat and rebound, the irrepressible Booker scored eight consecutive points for a 64-48 CU advantage with just over 6 minutes remaining.
Booker had gone to the bench because of fouls (he finished with four), but was sent back in by Boyle. “I was in foul trouble, and coach told me when I got back in the game to make something happen,” Booker said. “Coach believes in me . . . I love those moments.”
When Chen buried a three-pointer from the left corner with 2:23 left, CU went up by 19 (70-51). The lead got larger when Boyle emptied his bench, with crowd favorite Ben Mills scoring his four points in the final minute.
The Buffs (13-6, 3-4) are back at the Events Center on Sunday (1:30 p.m., FSN) to face California. Stanford (11-8, 3-3) visits Utah Sunday.
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