Contact CU Independent Sports Writer Alissa Noe at alissa.noe@colorado.edu.
There could not be a more raucous, bloodthirsty environment for the University of Colorado men’s basketball team to play on the road than at Fort Collins against rival Colorado State, and the Rams came out fighting in the first half. But, after going down by 13 at halftime, the Buffs battled back to beat down their foes 88-77 for their seventh straight win this season.
In a game ravaged by deficits, one team rose to the challenge while the other floundered under the pressure. After the way CU fought back from a 15-point deficit in its win at Auburn earlier this season, it wasn’t surprising that the Buffaloes won that battle.
“We were definitely there in the Auburn game,” Josh Fortune said. “I forgot the deficit, but we were down by a lot. It hurt at halftime and it hurt this halftime too. We just all came together and said we needed to play harder and do the small things.”
It was a tale of two halves for each team. In the first, the Buffs went down by 13 because they were ice cold on offense for much of the half. But in the second, the odds were ever in Colorado’s favor and vice-versa for Colorado State, who shot only 21.9 percent (7-32) in the second half.
“We came out and guarded,” Josh Scott said of the difference in play in the second half. “I think our guards took it upon themselves to get stops and the game was won by them. They got stops, Wesley was aggressive. I’ve been telling people Wesley Gordon is a force on offense and I think you saw that tonight. You know, those things combined, we got the win.”
Junior forward Wes Gordon, who only had three points to his name after the first 20 minutes of play, had a breakout second half. He finished the night with his sixth career double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds. He’s also had 52 rebounds in the past five games, proving that he’s been a force to be reckoned with on defense this season.
Senior forward Josh Scott, however, was the real reason for Colorado’s success. He finished the contest with 21 points and 11 rebounds, marking the 27th double-double of his career and his 74th game in double-digit scoring.
“This being [Scott’s] last time playing them, he wanted to win so bad,” Fortune said. “And then coach—we all wanted to win, but then Josh Scott and Coach Boyle wanted to win the most, because they’re Colorado residents and they wanted to get the win.”
Right behind those two, sophomore guard George King contributed 17 points, junior guard/forward Tre’Shaun Fletcher added 11 and junior guard Josh Fortune put the nail in the coffin with 16.
For the game, the Buffs shot 47 percent from the field (31-66) and 36.4 percent from the three-point range (8-22). On the other side of the court, the Rams shot 40.6 percent from the field (26-64) and 52.2 percent from downtown (12-23). They also assisted the ball 18 times and got to the glass for 42 rebounds.
The Rams also boasted four players in double-digit scoring with Gian Clavell leading the way with 18 points, followed by Antwan Scott (17), John Gillon (16) and Joe de Ciman (13). These four almost did the Buffs in collectively.
The Rams got the quick basket to start off the scoring, but the Buffs came to Fort Collins to fight. They immediately responded with a 10-0 run after sinking three straight threes and a free throw. But, after going up 12-5, the Buffs couldn’t score for the next four minutes as they allowed CSU to take a 16-12 lead.
No matter how hard the Buffs fought back purely through free throws, they could not seem to stifle the red hot Rams. To close out the half, the Rams shot lights out while the Buffs couldn’t seem to make a shot to save their lives.
With about a minute and a half left in the first, CSU extended its lead to 13 as the Buffs kept digging a deeper and deeper hole for themselves. At the half, the Rams led 52-39.
For the half, the Rams leveled the Buffaloes on offense as they shot an impressive 59.4 percent from the field (19-32) and 70 percent from the three-point range (7-10). They only committed one turnover and scored a total of 10 points off every single one of CU’s turnovers.
The Buffaloes, on the other hand, didn’t fare so well. They only shot 41.4 percent from the field (12-29) and 50 percent from the three (6-12). They committed five turnovers, which was somewhat surprising giving the 1 of 14 shooting drought they suffered midway through the half.
In the second half, the theme turned out to be fight CU, down the court, CU must win.
“I thought defensively—our staff, I asked them pretty directly at halftime what suggestions they had defensively, because I didn’t have any answers,” head coach Tad Boyle said. “What we were doing wasn’t working, and we decided to come out and switch one through five in the second half and I think that slowed them down.”
To start out the second half, the Buffs came out fighting. In the opening two minutes, the Buffs outscored the Rams 15-3 to gain their first lead since the early minutes of the matchup, 54-53. For much of the rest of the game, the Rams stayed right with the Buffs and wouldn’t let them gain a considerable lead.
But after the Rams tied it up at 68 with nine and a half minutes left, it was game over for the home team. From there on out, Colorado stormed the court on offense as they outscored Colorado state 20-9 to close out the game.
The Buffs ran away with their second straight victory while playing Colorado State in Fort Collins, 88-77.
“It means a lot to win against CSU,” Scott said. “Last year, we didn’t have a very good taste in our mouth when they came and beat us at our house. And this year we came out with the win, so I’m really happy.”
But Boyle took more away from this game as far as the team’s durability goes.
“I don’t know about the lasting impact,” Boyle said. “It’s one game on our schedule whether we won it or lost it. I do think we can gain some confidence from it and reaffirm, ‘hey, what we did against Auburn wasn’t a fluke.’ We’ve got toughness, we’re going to be in this position again probably at some point during this season—might be at halftime, might be in the second half, whatever the case may be. We know that we can come back.”
The Buffs return to their home floor on Saturday, Dec. 12 to take on Brigham Young at 6 p.m. For those who can’t make it to the game, it will be broadcast on the Pac-12 Network.
