MBB: Near-perfect game stifles Huskies
Feb 10th
Buffs’ Balanced Scoring, Tight Defense Stifles Huskies
By B.G. Brooks, CUBuffs.com Contributing Editor
BOULDER – Colorado overpowered Washington 91-65 on Sunday night at the Coors Events Center, capping a crucial three-game home stand with its third consecutive win and its second-largest margin of victory since joining the Pac-12 Conference. The night quickly turned into all Buffs all the time, and coach Tad Boyle called it “as complete of a performance by our team that we’ve had in a long time. When you defend and you rebound and you shoot the way we did, it’s a recipe for a runaway win. “I’m really proud of our guys, they played together . . . we had 18 assists, it’s been a long time since we’ve had that number, we really shared the ball and played inside-out. Great individual performances and a great team performance.”
The X man had 27 points
The win gave the Buffaloes their second three-game Pac-12 winning streak of the season. They opened 3-0, then lost Spencer Dinwiddie and Tre’Shaun Fletcher during a 71-54 defeat at UW and dropped four of their next five games. But on Sunday night, CU (18-6, 7-4) in no way resembled the team that last month slipped badly in Seattle. Getting an air-tight defensive effort on UW sharpshooter C.J. Wilcox and 20-point scoring performances from three players, the Buffs rolled to a 48-33 halftime lead and led by as many as 30 points (89-59) in winning for the 15th time (against one loss) at the CEC this season. Their 15 home wins are the second-best for a CU team; the 2010-11 Buffs went 18-2. Xavier Johnson, Josh Scott and Askia Booker accounted for 68 of CU’s total, with Johnson scoring a career-high 27, Scott tying a career high with 21 (10 rebounds for his 11th double-double of the season) and Booker adding 20.
“Those guys just picked it up,” said UW coach Lorenzo Romar. “All three of them picked up the slack for what they didn’t have. I don’t think (their length inside) bothered us much. Not as much as it did the first time. It bothered us the first time we played them although Josh Scott is a very good player and shot blocker and defender.” A trio of Buffs reaching 20 points hadn’t happened since Feb. 3, 2007 when Kal Bay (21), Dominique Coleman (20) and Richard Roby (20) all reached the 20-point mark against Oklahoma State. Booker scored 26 points in CU’s 68-63 win over Washington State on Wednesday night, and Johnson had 20. The WSU and UW games marked the first time in XJ’s career for back-to-back 20-point games, and he also was instrumental in keeping Wilcox in check.
“I felt like if not his best game as a Buff then it’s right up there,” Boyle said of Johnson. “He was terrific on both ends of the floor. The thing I’m most proud of with Xavier Johnson is his ability to take on a defensive challenge. He did it against Cue Johnson (WSU guard) and he did it tonight against C.J. Wilcox.” Johnson called Wilcox “a great player. I didn’t guard him last game, so coach was trying something new and put me on him. I was able to contain him for the most part, but most of the credit goes to Jaron (Hopkins). He guarded him most of the game and did very well on him.”
Scott, who was held to one point and one rebound – both season lows – against WSU – recovered in a big way. His 21 points and 10 rebounds gave him his 11th double-double of the season. “The only thing I’d say about that game (WSU) is that I didn’t rebound well,” Scott said. “There’s not very much you can do offensively with three people in the paint. Tonight I just played my game like I did the other night and it all worked out.” Scott also called going 3-0 in the three-game home stand “huge. You always want to win at home and for us losing any of these games wasn’t an option. It’s big. We have a heavier next couple of weeks so any games we win at home is huge at this point in the season.”
CU outrebounded UW (13-10, 5-5) 44-30 and held the Huskies to 32.3 percent (21-of-65) from the field. Wilcox entered the game averaging 19.8 points (18.9 in league play). In the first game in Seattle, he scored 31 points, including seven 3-pointers. The Buffs limited him to eight points on 2-for-10 shooting Sunday night, and he was 0-for-7 from beyond the arc. Freshman Nigel Williams-Goss led the Huskies, who had averaged 76 points a game, with 15 points. Since January, the Buffs have had to compensate for injuries and the trend continued Sunday. Wesley Gordon, who had 8 points, 10 rebounds, 4 blocked shots in Wednesday night’s win against Washington State, missed Sunday’s game with an ankle sprain he suffered when slipping on ice on Saturday. Gordon watched in street clothes, sitting alongside Dinwiddie on the CU bench. Making his first college start in place of Gordon was freshman Dustin Thomas, the “next man up” in Boyle’s philosophy.
Thomas fouled out with 1:41 to play after scoring 3 points and collecting 4 rebounds. Boyle said his team, while obviously missing Dinwiddie, has “settled in. We’ve moved on, we certainly miss Spencer still but I think Askia Booker has really taken on that mentality of a facilitator, Xavier Talton has stepped in and given us good minutes. We do need Wesley back because he’s going to be important to us. We’ve made the transition, but now the test for us is to go on the road. We’ve done what we needed to do at home, we’ve won our home stand and now we need to go on the road and get some road wins.” The Buffs opened and closed the first half on baskets by Talton, who was making his second career start at guard.
Talton opened the scoring with a 3-pointer from the left wing and three of his teammates quickly followed suit. CU hit its first six shots, including its first four 3-point attempts. “Colorado, wow,” said Romar. “They came out on fire, shots contested, not contested. They were just knocking shots down and knocked us back on our heels right away. I thought coming into the game we were pretty focused and ready to play but their ability to hit shots early pushed us back a little bit. They did a nice job coming in to play.” CU shot 52 percent from the field and 60 percent from beyond the arc (6-of-10) in the first 20 minutes and finished at a season-best 64.4 percent (9-of-14) from long range for the game. The Buffs shot 55.4 percent (31-of-56) from the field for the night. Booker, Johnson and Thomas all hit their first 3-point tries, helping push CU to a 16-4 with 16:10 left before intermission.
UW didn’t get its first field goal until just under 31/2 minutes into the game, missing 10 of its first 13 shots. The Buffs stretched their lead to 17 (26-19) before they temporarily cooled off, allowing the Huskies to creep back to within seven (37-30) with 4:10 left before the break. But over those final 4 minutes, CU outscored UW 11-3. When Talton hit a buzzer beater to end the first-half scoring, the Buffs had a 48-33 lead and their largest first-half total of the season. Booker’s 16 points led all first-half scorers and gave him a career high for points scored in one half.
The opening of the second half mirrored the first, with Talton draining a triple from the left wing and Johnson scoring the next six points to send CU up 57-39. Booker then hit a pair of free throws with 15:25 to play, fed Scott for a fast break dunk and hit a short jumper in the lane to push the Buffs ahead by 23 (63-40). If the Huskies were going to avoid their third consecutive loss, something dramatic had to happen – and fast. It didn’t, and UW lost for the fifth time in six Pac-12 road trips. CU, meanwhile, hadn’t beaten a conference opponent that badly since burying Utah 73-33 in 2011 — both schools’ first season in the league. The Buffs play at UCLA on Thursday (7 p.m. MT, ESPN2) and at Southern California on Sunday (6 p.m. MT, ESPNU).
WBB: CU women continue free fall
Feb 9th
Buffs Can’t Overcome Stagnant Second Half, Lose 75-63 CORVALLIS, Ore. –
The Colorado Buffaloes cut a 10-point second-half Oregon State lead to three on two occasions but couldn’t complete their comeback, losing 75-63 here Saturday afternoon at Gill Coliseum. The Buffs (13-9 overall, 3-8 Pac-12) stayed with the Beavers for most of the first half but couldn’t keep up with the home team to start the final 20 minutes. OSU (14-9, 6-5) outscored CU 10-5 to open the second half and the Buffs never caught up when their offense went stagnant in the final 6 minutes.
Nonetheless, CU coach Linda Lappe said her team could have salvaged the afternoon had its defense stayed as solid as it was for most of the opening half. The Beavers hit 60 percent from the field (15-of-25) in the second half. “We were on pace to hold them under 60 points, which would have won us the game,” Lappe said. “I’m not impressed with our defense right now. It’s what we should be all about . . . we have to be more defensive minded so we can grind out games and win.”
Saturday’s game was originally scheduled to played Friday night, but it was pushed back a day because of a winter storm in the area. Then Saturday’s tip time also was pushed back an hour. With the exception of trips to the free throw line and free throws made, the statistics showed an even contest. Both teams made 25 field goals, collected 38 rebounds and hit four 3-pointers.
But OSU made 21-of-28 free throws – including 14-of-16 in the first half – while CU went 9-for-16 from the foul line. Four Beavers players reached double figures in scoring, topped by freshman point guard Sydney Wiese’s 20. Forward Deven Hunter added 18 points and nine rebounds, while guard Ali Gibson added 12 points and center Ruth Hamblin 11 points. “Give Deven Hunter a lot of credit; she was a monster in there,” Lappe said. And the 6-6 Hamblin also made life inside the lane treacherous for CU, blocking four shots and forcing the Buffs to alter several other attempts. Lappe said her team “went around Hamblin in first half, but we tried to go through her in the second (and) you’re not going to do it . . . she’s so big. I didn’t like a lot of our shots in the second half – they were by the wrong people and they were the wrong shots. We have to do a better job of executing our offense.”
The Buffs, who have lost seven of their past nine games, had three players in double figures, led by Arielle Roberson (12), Jen Reese and Brittany Wilson contributed 10 each, but OSU held Reese scoreless in the second half. The Beavers hit five of six free throws in the first half’s final 48.3 seconds to take a 36-13 lead at the break. Wiese, who led all first-half scorers with 12 points, hit three of her four foul shots to give OSU its five-point advantage – the largest for either team in the first 20 minutes.
The Buffs were competent at the foul line, but they simply didn’t get there enough in the first half. And when they reached the stripe in the second half, they had trouble converting. Roberson hit only one of her seven free throw attempts. Reese led CU with 10 first-half points, going four of five from the field. But she missed all six of her second-half field goal attempts. The score was tied four times in the first half – the last at 31-31 – with 13 lead changes.
CU’s last lead was 29-28 on Reese’s pair of free throws. Oregon State, which had been averaging 80-plus points a game at home and 73.1 overall (fourth in the Pac-12), opened the second half with a 10-5 run and took its largest lead – 46-36 – only 4 minutes into the final 20. CU kept chiseling away at OSU’s lead, and when Ashley Wilson hit a 3-pointer from the left wing near the 11-minute mark the Buffs were only back by three points – 55-52.
A Lexy Kresl layup kept CU’s deficit at three – 57-54 – with 6:50 to play but the Buffs could come no closer. A quick 5-0 run courtesy of a layup by Hunter and a Gabriella Hanson triple pushed the Beavers’ lead to 62-54. But empty possession after empty possession awaited the Buffs; they didn’t get their next basket until Ashley Wilson hit a jumper in the lane with 2:20 remaining – a span of 4:27 without a field goal.
During that span, the Buffs went 3-of-15 from the field. In the meantime, with CU also having problems getting stops, OSU built its biggest lead – 11 points twice – until Hanson hit one of two free throws in the final 10 seconds to put the Beavers up by their final 12-point margin. “You always give your opponent credit,” Lappe said. “They made more plays and just drove it at us.” Because of the winter storm in the Pacific Northwest, CU’s scheduled Sunday game at Oregon has been pushed back to Monday (6 p.m.).
Buff golfers moving up in tourney
Feb 7th
BUFF GOLFERS MOVE INTO 15tH AT AMER ARI INVITATIONAL
WAIKOLOA, Hawai’i — The University of Colorado men’s golf team improved two spots here Friday into 15th place as the first rounds of the 24th annual Amer Ari Hawaii-Hilo Invitational are now in the books.
No. 3 Oklahoma State remained atop the leaderboard, owning a 28-under par team score of 548; the Cowbuys extened their lead to two strokes, but with No. 60 Oregon moving from sixth into second with a 26-under 550. No. 13 Washington also moved into the top five, jumping from 10th into third (16-under 272 on the day for a 26-under 552), with No. 25 Southern California and No. 26 Auburn tied for fourth (553); No. 17 UCLA had the best round of the day (17-under 271) and is alone in sixth with a 554.
Colorado, No. 83 in the final Golfweek fall rankings, moved from 17th to 15th with a two-round score of 568, or 8-under par. The Buffaloes turned in their second best single round score of the season, a 7-under 281, bested only by a 13-under 275 they scored in the first round of the last fall tournament at Texas-El Paso.
CU at one point was 14-under par as a team and in 10th place a little over midway through Friday’s round, with 17 birdies and only three bogeys collectively through either 10 or 11 holes, depending on where the players were on the course. But in the shotgun format, where the Buffs started on Friday positioned them to close with many of the more challenging holes.
“This will probably be one of if not the toughest tournament this spring in college golf, and we have an opportunity to keep moving up with a good final round tomorrow,” CU head coach Roy Edwards said. “I think we’re ahead of where we normally would be, we’re doing well and we don’t seem to have a lot of rust. More than anything, it took us a while to get used to the Bermuda greens. We just have to keep seeing a little more success with each round and continue building on that.”
The always tough field here has 10 of the nation’s top 50 competing, including three in the top 10; seven of CU’s Pac-12 rivals are among the group.
Jeremy Paul led CU for the second straight round
Freshman Jeremy Paul recorded CU’s best round for the second straight day, turning in a 4-under par 68, as he improved to 7-under 137 for 36 holes which has him tied for 12th overall. His round included seven birdies and eight pars against three bogeys, and he closed strong with two of those birds coming in his last four holes, including his final hole of the day (No. 12). He has an eagle, nine birdies and 22 pars through two rounds, with just four holes worse than par (all bogeys).
“Today was much better for sure, even though we played fairly similar to how we did on Thursday, we just made more putts,” Edwards said. “Jeremy played another solid round, though he really played better than he scored; he gave away a couple of shots on the par-5s. He usually plays those a few strokes under par and today he was even.”
Junior David Oraee also went sub-70 on Friday, carding a 3-under 69, scoring four birdies and 13 pars against a single bogey; he is in at even-par 144 with one round remaining, as he is tied for 63rd individually. He birdied three straight holes (Nos. 18, 1 and 2) at one point and had all four of his on the day in a six-hole span.
Sophomore Philip Juel-Berg is also tied for 63rd after fashioning a 2-over par 74, giving him an even-par 144 through two rounds. He had 14 pars for the second straight day, flipping his birdie-to-bogey count from three-to-one to one-to-three. He was even through his first 10 holes, but bogeys Nos. 6 and 8 jumped him to 2-over, where he remained for his final five holes.
Freshman Andrew Bonner played more consistently in the second round as he turned in a 1-under 71 for an even-par 144, also tying him for 63rd. He had three birdies and 13 pars against two bogeys Friday, cutting down his holes over par for the round from five to just two. He birdied his second hole of the day (No. 17) and remained under par from that point on for the entire round.
Freshman Yannik Paul opened up on fire, and after five birdies within a seven-hole span, stood at 5-under through10 holes, but he cooled off and came back down to Earth, playing his last eight holes at six-over to finish with a 1-over 73. His 36-hole total of 148 has him tied for 99th,
Senior Johnny Hayes is competing here individually, meaning his score doesn’t count toward CU’s team total; he shot a 3-over 75 for the second straight round, with his 6-over 150 total tying him for 107th. For the second straight day, he had one birdie, 14 pars, two bogeys and a double, except on Friday, he was even-par with two holes to go and finished up bogey-double.
“David played really solid today, anything under 70 is a good round here,” Edwards said. “There are a lot of those (rounds in the 60s) here because of the quality of the field, but breaking 70 is a quality score. He wasn’t himself yesterday but came back and showed what kind of player he has been and is for us. Yannik was on fire early on, but then had a couple of loose swings on just the wrong holes. Had those been on some holes where you could hit it a bit off line, you could still come back and make par. He just had a couple of bad breaks after a terrific start.”
Stanford’s Cameron Wilson used a 7-under 65 to take over the individual lead, as he is with a 12-under 132; three players are one stroke behind him, as 17 players are within five shots of the lead, all at 7-under or better.
The third and final round of the tournament is Saturday, with a shotgun start set for at 10:30 a.m. mountain time.
BUFFALO INDIVIDUALS (*—competing individually)
T12. Jeremy Paul…………………………. 69-68—137
T63. Philip Juel-Berg…………………….. 70-74—144
T63. David Oraee…………………………. 75-69—144
T63. Andrew Bonner…………………….. 73-71—144
T99. Yannik Paul…………………………… 75-73—148
T107. *Johnny Hayes……………………… 75-75—150
TOP 5 INDIVIDUALS
1. Cameron Wilson, Stanford………… 67-65—132
T2. Thomas Lim, Oregon……………….. 64-69—133
T2. Lorens Chan, UCLA………………….. 68-65—133
T2. Jeffrey Kang, USC…………………… 66-67—133
T5. Rico Hoey, USC………………………. 65-69—134
T5. Chelso Barrett, TCU………………… 66-68—134
TEAM SCORES
1. Oklahoma State…………………. 271-277—548
2. Oregon…………………………….. 276-274—550
3. Washington………………………. 280-272—552
T4. Southern California……………… 273-280—553
T4. Auburn…………………………….. 274-279—553
6. UCLA……………………………….. 283-271—554
T7. Georgia Tech…………………….. 286-270—556
T7. TCU…………………………………. 272-284—556
T7. Texas………………………………. 274-282—556
T10. Arizona State…………………….. 280-277—557
T10. Stanford…………………………… 281-276—557
12. Texas Tech……………………….. 278-282—560
13. Hawai’i-Hilo……………………….. 279-286—565
14. Oregon State…………………….. 285-281—566
15. COLORADO……………………… 287-281—568
16. Hawai’i…………………………….. 279-291—570
17. San Jose State………………….. 290-287—577
18. UC-Davis………………………….. 290-289—579
19. Osaka Gakuin…………………….. 286-295—581
20. CSU-Monterey Bay…………….. 295-287—582
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