Contact CU Independent Basketball Beat Writer Alissa Noe at Alissa.noe@colorado.edu and follow her on Twitter @crazysportsgirl1
After a blowout 95-53 win over Hampton on Saturday night, the Colorado men’s basketball team tied for the third-longest win streak in school history with 10 in a row and snagged their 10th straight game over 80 points.
But that wasn’t even the best part.
Throughout the game, the Buffaloes assisted like fiends, as they helped out their teammates 23 times, which made their six turnovers look like pure child’s play.
“I wish they could all be like that,” head coach Tad Boyle said.
The one heart-stopping aspect of the night surrounded junior forward Wes Gordon, who left the game with a knee injury in the first half and did not return.
“I think they took him to get X-rays, hopefully precautionary. I mean he banged his knee, he didn’t twist it so, you know, I don’t think there’s any issues there,” Boyle said. “I think he bruised it, hit in the same spot twice in a row and that’s pretty painful, so hopefully it’s just ice it, rest it and he’ll be better.”
The Buffaloes, who are sitting comfortably on the AP top 25 bubble at 29th, saw their big man senior forward Josh Scott record his 77th career double-digit scoring performance as he led all scorers with 21 points and eight rebounds.
Sophomore Tory Miller earned his second career double-double as he finished the night with 19 points and 10 rebounds.
“I guess this season, in general, I’ve just been playing with a chip on my shoulder, and I think we all have, picking us to finish seventh in the Pac-12,” Miller said. “Just building off last year, like I said, just playing with a chip on our shoulder and going out every night just playing mad.”
Behind Scott and Miller, two more Buffs added double-digit scoring, with sophomore guards George King and Dominique Collier adding 12 and 10 points, respectively.
The Buffs shot fairly well from the field, going 31-of-65 from the floor (47.7 percent) and 9-of-24 from three-point range (37.5 percent). On the other side of the ball, the Pirates didn’t bode so well. They shot 21-of-65 from the field (32.3 percent) and 2-of-14 from beyond the arc (14.3 percent).
Things got off to a quick start for the Buffaloes as they went up early with a nice trey from King. A few minutes later, the Pirates responded with a couple layups and gained the lead for a few precious seconds.
That didn’t last long.
Promptly after taking the lead, Hampton boarded the pain train with Josh Scott was the conductor. Colorado ran away with the game after that, and Hampton lost all hope of getting back in the game.
With 1:16 remaining in the first half, the Buffaloes increased their lead to as much as 20 points, 42-22. But the Pirates cut back at the lead ever so slightly by halftime, 42-25.
During the second half, the pain train accelerated and the wounds grew as Scott and his teammates destroyed all of Hampton’s hopes and dreams of coming into Boulder and walking away with a win.
By the end of it all, the Buffs sealed the deal, 95-53.
The Buffaloes head to Las Vegas for their third game of Las Vegas Classic to take on Penn State on Tuesday, Dec. 22 at 8:30 p.m. A live audio calling of the game will be provided through cubuffs.com.
“We’ve got some momentum—again, I think tonight was a step forward,” Boyle said. “We’re still a team that can still improve; we still have room for improvement, but you’re right- these games are over with. Every game from here on in is going to be a big time opponent, big time atmosphere hopefully.”
