BOULDER – After two straight games told a tale of two halves, the Colorado men’s basketball team finally put together a full 40 minutes to stay undefeated at home while spoiling the Oregon Ducks’ 5-0 start to Pac-12 play.
“Really a good win over a quality team, quality coach, quality program,” Colorado head coach Tad Boyle said after the win. “...Our guys really had a lot of grit tonight, show a lot of grit and a lot of toughness and a lot of competitiveness and I know that’s what this team is made of, and they showed it tonight when they had to.”
Colorado ultimately won this game mentally, as they led a 32-15 run over the final 11-and-a-half minutes following a two-handed jam by Brennan Rigsby that put the Ducks up 55-54. Both teams shot above 36% from deep, ran the break, and slammed home highlight dunks, but it was Colorado’s ability to do the little things correctly that won them the game. They won the rebound battle by 12 and shot 27% better from the charity stripe on just four more attempts.
Of any player on Thursday night, though, it was Tristan da Silva who found himself in the middle of everything in the second half. His three turnovers and 0-of-4 shooting start to the half allowed the Ducks back in the game before scoring seven points in the beginning of CU’s game-winning run. The star senior finished with 13 points (4-of-13 FG) and a game-high eight rebounds.
“His resiliency, his maturity, his belief in himself and his teammates is pretty special,” Boyle said about da Silva. “He’s very important to this team, just like many guys are, but he showed why he’s a senior and why he’s a leader because he knocked that thing down. He didn’t let the mental part of the game and his frustrations hurt us, even though his turnovers were hurting us. He was as frustrated as anybody, but we were plus-19 with Tristan in the game. That shows you how important the kid is to us.”
Cody Williams and KJ Simpson led the scoring charge as they combined for 45 points on the night. Williams notched career-highs in points (23) and 3-pointers made (3) while also swatting two shots along with a steal. Simpson followed with 22 points, five rebounds, five assists, and three steals.
“I think the biggest thing was just staying locked in,” Williams said after his career night, “and I knew, coming back there would be a little bit of rust, kind of getting a feel for the game. Tonight, I just feel like it really clicked.”
When finding out his older brother Jalen had 27 points for the Oklahoma City Thunder on Cody's career night, Cody joked, “Oh, that’s embarrassing.”
The Buffs’ three-headed dragon played a big role in the 16-point win but it wouldn’t have come without great overall team play. J’Vonne Hadley scored 11 points in another Hadley-esque performance, Eddie Lampkin Jr. played decently despite fighting foul trouble, and Luke O’Brien went for 10 points, including eight in the second half.
Their defense, however, is what stood out in the dismantling of the Pac-12’s top team. While forcing 13 turnovers and allowing 46% shooting from the field isn’t necessarily fantastic, Colorado’s ability to limit Oregon’s leading scorers Jackson Shelstad and Jermaine Cousinard to a combined 20 points was huge. The Buffs also turned the defense into offense as they scored 28 points in transition.
“Just get stops,” Simpson said when asked what changed for the Buffs. “Obviously, we knew this wasn’t going to be easy. Oregon’s playing a lot of great basketball. Credit to them, they have really good pieces to that team, great coaching staff, so we knew coming in it was going to be a battle. But we couldn’t get down on ourselves. When the timeouts and the huddles and at free throws, we just stressed, ‘We know how to play defense.’ No matter what happened on offense, as long as we guarded and stopped and ran in transition, that’s when things started to open up for us.”
From the opening tip, the game came in runs and in whistles. On a night that featured 33 fouls and 38 free throws, the Buffs had to keep a tight head to push through the bursts of scoring by each team. While an 11-0 run fueled by turnovers and fast breaks helped Colorado build their 43-34 lead heading into the half, each team had traded runs beforehand. To start the second, Oregon was the one feeding off turnovers to take a lead before the Buffs eventually responded with the final blow.
With another gritty, hard-fought win under their belt, though, the Buffs look to protect home court once more against Oregon State before heading on the road again. Tipoff is set for 5 p.m. MT on Saturday (Jan. 20).
Cover photo by Roberto Patrick Gerra/Sko Buffs Sports
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