Buffs hold off UCLA in sloppy conference opener

Senior guard Askia Booker exploits a gap in the Bruin defense during the second half of play at Coors Event Center. Booker recorded 20 points against the Bruins in his 116th career game. (Nigel Amstock/CU Independent)

There were 15 people before tipoff who truly believed that Colorado would beat UCLA Wednesday night, and they were all in the Buffalo locker room. The 10,000-plus that packed into the Coors Event Center to watch Colorado’s conference opener weren’t so sure. These Buffs, after all, entered the game on the heels of demoralizing losses to George Washington and Hawaii, and looked shakier in the early season than any team Tad Boyle has coached.

And that was before word trickled through the arena that Buffs’ junior forward Josh Scott would miss the game due to back spasms. It was the perfect storm, and the Buffs had to find the eye.

“If ever a team needed a win, the Colorado Buffaloes needed a win tonight,” Boyle said.

They got what they needed, and after 40 minutes of ugly, entertaining basketball, pulled away with an improbable 62-56 victory. Before the game, Buffs’ senior guard Askia Booker made sure his teammates knew the stakes:

“Right before we came on the court, I grabbed the guys in and I told them, ‘Everybody doesn’t think we can win without Josh Scott. Everybody in here.’ I told them that we were guaranteed to win this game if we played hard enough and we played together. Outcome is, we won.”

Early, it didn’t appear that Colorado would. The Buffs’ ball security was bad and their transition defense was worse. They turned the ball over 11 times in the first half — including five in the first four minutes — and 18 times in the game. Junior guard Xavier Talton struggled to cover UCLA’ sophomore guard Bryce Alford (son of Bruins’ head coach Steve Alford) off the ball, and UCLA killed Colorado with 11 first-half offensive rebounds.

The Buffs’ defense kept them alive. Boyle quickly put sophomore guard Jaron Hopkins on Alford, and Hopkins harried him into the kind of game (2-of-16 shooting, 0-of-9 from deep in 37 minutes) only a coach’s kid could have. Colorado was quick to close out on shooters and to close driving lanes before they opened up. The Bruins shot 30 percent from the floor, 25 percent from deep and 40 percent from the free-throw line in the first half.

Still, the Buffs only carried a one-point lead into the break, and that’s only because of their stellar free-throw shooting. Colorado took 11 foul shots in the first half, more than UCLA did in the entire game, and hit nine. But, the Buffs carried the turnover bug into the second half. Their bench players struggled and the Bruins took a six-point lead shortly after halftime.

Then, the Buffs got the short end of two no-calls by the referees — first, when Randy McCall’s crew ruled a what could have been a foul on Colorado sophomore forward Tre’Shaun Fletcher as a turnover, then when they missed a travel by Alford that quickly led to a Norman Powell three. With each call, the crowd got angrier and Boyle gesticulated more intensely (he even took off his suit jacket). And, for perhaps the first time this season, the Buffs responded to adversity positively. They scored 11 straight points to reclaim the lead.

Sophomore forward Xavier Johnson, rocking a sleek black-and-gold shooting sleeve, scored seven of his 14 points in that run. He threw down a devastating two-handed spin dunk over UCLA freshman forward Gyorgy Goloman — the Hungarian scampered out of the way as soon as Johnson elevated, which was slightly more embarrassing than if he had allowed himself to be dunked on.

The Buffs were a different team after that. Booker hit a pull-up three to give Colorado the lead for good with five minutes left. He led the Buffs with 20 points and served up the highlight of the night with a half-court alley-oop to a flying Jaron Hopkins that put the game out of reach. He tried to replicate it a few possessions later, though, and threw a pass straight to UCLA’s Kevon Looney.

Boyle just laughed when asked about the latter play: “I’m kind of used to it. I’m looking forward to the day when that doesn’t happen. You take the good with the bad. That’s what life’s all about. Ski was good tonight at times. That play wasn’t good.”

As good as Booker and Johnson were, though, sophomore forward Wes Gordon was better. His stat line — 11 points, 14 rebounds and seven blocks — almost defies logic, and it still doesn’t illustrate his impact. His rebounding kept Colorado in the game. He hit a career-high seven free throws. The Bruins were afraid to venture near the rim when he patrolled the paint. Gordon has been the Buffs’ most efficient offensive player this season, and there’s no reason he shouldn’t see more touches.

“I’m trying to figure that out,” Boyle said with a smile.

Gordon also made one of the smartest plays of the game in the closing seconds: he chased a loose ball out of bounds and threw it off of Powell’s leg to force a turnover. That play de-clawed the Bruins for good.

An exuberant, exhausted Johnson said after the game that the players never doubted themselves: “No. Nope. Not on our side. I’m talking about you guys, the media so far. We’re good. We know what we’re capable of doing. I mean, we haven’t showed it as far as stat-wise so far this year, but you see it. You see it in glimpses but not all the way. But we’ll keep showing it and you guys keep doing you guys.”

And that is what matters. They don’t win games on the faith of fans or media.

Notes

This was Colorado’s first win over UCLA since the Buffs joined the Pac-12
The victory was also Tad Boyle’s 100th as Colorado’s head coach. “It’s no bigger than the 99th,” Boyle said. “I want the 101st. They’re just milestones. They don’t mean a lot to me. Again, this is a profession where it’s hard to really enjoy stuff like that. I just want get 101. It’s all about the next game. Players win games. Coaches get credit for it and it goes on their record and they get hired and fired because of it. Really, it’s about getting your team to play the right way and that’s what I’m concerned with, not milestones like that.”