BOULDER – In an easily overlookable matchup against the Pepperdine Waves, the Colorado Buffaloes played exactly how they needed to on Sunday afternoon – at least in the first half.
“Still some areas we need to keep getting better at,” Colorado head coach Tad Boyle said after the win. “I never want to get satisfied, but I thought, you know, the guys would bounce back. I knew they would.”
With the five-point loss to the No. 20 Colorado State Rams in the rearview mirror and the No. 8 Miami Hurricanes on the horizon, the Buffs’ nearly perfect first half of basketball propelled them to the 91-66 victory. With only 28 points allowed while racking up 16 assists on 62.5% shooting thanks to paint touches on almost every possession in the first half, CU improved in the areas they have meant to clean up all year.
However, the second half performance that featured the Buffs only out-scoring the Waves 39-38 brought back the familiar worry that has led to two early losses for the black and gold.
“That was an issue last year,” senior Tristan da Silva said, “we’re trying to get back to consistent basketball for two halves, putting two halves together. It’s easier said than done but that’s what we’re working on.”
Colorado’s da Silva played like his usual self – maybe even better – racking up 22 points on a perfect shooting night (5-of-5 FG 2-of-2 3PT, 10-of-10 FTs) while freshman Cody Williams poured in 21 points (9-of-13 shooting, 2-of-2 from deep) along with four rebounds. The freshman forward’s performance marked back-to-back 20-point outings for the first time in Williams’ young college career after having 21 against CSU.
“It was great,” da Silva said. “You know, getting back out there and then playing the way we’re supposed to. It was good.”
“Getting back to Colorado basketball, I felt like it’s just the best feeling,” Williams added.
Defensively, Colorado kept the Waves out of the paint and forced tons of jump shots as Buffs’ seniors J’Vonne Hadley and Luke O’Brien held Pepperdine’s Michael Ajayi to just 13 points on 4-of-18 shooting. The Waves’ leading scorer on the season averaged 18.7 points per game on 52.2% shooting before the contest.
“Some really good defensive performances,” Boyle said. “Ajayi is a really, really talented player averaging 18 points. He had 13 but he got it on 18 shots. So I thought J’Vonne Hadley was terrific on him and Luke had him a couple times as well. Those two guys played really good defensive games for us.”
After the opening tip, Colorado scored on a second-chance layup by Williams due to a paint touch shot by Hadley. But it wasn’t without Waves’ guard Houston Mallette knocking down a pull-up jumper to match the opening basket. Mallette finished the afternoon with 15 points on 7-of-14 shooting as he led the Waves in scoring.
As the Buffs strung together some baskets, Mallette and his Pepperdine squad stuck around early. But with the Waves’ first 12 points coming from jumpers (they only had four points in the paint in the half), their inability to get the rim wasn’t sustainable for their offense.
“We talked in our scouting report about when, you know, Mallette had the ball and Ajayi had the ball that we wanted to shrink the floor with everyone else and really make it more as much of a team defensive effort as it was just an individual matchup,” Boyle said. “J’Vonne Hadley had Ajayi and Cody had Mallette but it wasn’t just those two guys.”
After the Waves cut the early lead to five with a three-pointer by redshirt freshman Cord Stansberry, Buffs’ guard Julian Hammond ignited a 13-2 run by himself. Kicked off with a three-pointer by Hammond, the Buffs’ backup guard scored or assisted on all 13 of CU’s points during the run, including an and-one as well as two alley-oop assists to Williams and freshman Bangot Dak. Hammond finished the afternoon with 10 points and a game-high four assists.
“I got a lot of confidence in Julian,” Boyle said. “He’s a big part of our team. Very efficient. He can shoot the ball well, he can make plays.”
Now enjoying a 30-14 lead, the black and gold cruised to a 52-28 lead heading into the half. Of the final 14 points of the half, da Silva scored 11 of them.
“It felt good,” da Silva said. “I was just getting open looks, knocking ‘em down, it just kind of came easy getting to the free throw line too. That’s easy buckets right there.”
The first half also featured a deeper bench than Boyle has displayed so far. With redshirt freshman RJ Smith sidelined due to injury and Boyle hinting at a deeper rotation after CSU, Dak, freshman Assane Diop, and redshirt freshman Harrison Carrington got some more run than usual.
Dak performed the best with four points, an assist, and a block but all three players faired decently in their time – especially Carrington who saw his first action on the hardwood outside of garbage minutes.
“I wanted to play 10 guys in the first half,” Boyle said. “We got, you know, RJ Smith with him being down…Harrison Carrington was kind of next man up, you know, 10th guy. Bangot Dak, wanted to get him in the game and Assane. Those freshmen bigs, they just need time, they need experience, the seasoning. So trying to get those guys minutes was critical.”
With the Buffs up 24 coming out of the break, the Buffs’ shooting cooled off (as much as it can when shooting 62.5% from the field in the first half) as the defense lost its fire. Despite starting the half with a 14-7 run, Pepperdine rallied as Colorado only won the half 39-38.
While the half wasn’t horrible, at least offensively, Boyle chalked up the differing intensity of play to a lack of running guys off the three-point line and their inability to limit offensive rebounds and turnovers.
“So guarding the three-point line better, defensive rebounding better,” Boyle said regarding the second half. “I’d say those two things. You know, we had 13 turnovers again, had some silly ones at the end.”
Nonetheless, Colorado cruised to the 25-point win.
With a week off before heading to Brooklyn, New York for the 2023 NABC Brooklyn Showcase, the Buffs look to use the extra time to work on their individual needs as they will play the “best team we’ve played up to this point” in No. 8 Miami (FL) according to Boyle. With Colorado dropping two of the three games they’ve played on the road this season, the black and gold will need some fine-tuning to prove that they are ready for the challenge.
“We got to get ready because they are a really good team,” da Silva said about the upcoming match. “We’ve shown that how to be effective and how well we can defend at home. But at that neutral site, we still got to prove that.”
Cover photo by Cristian Blanco/Sko Buffs Sports
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