Contact CU Independent Sports Staff Writer Olivia Butrymovich at olivia.butrymovich@colorado.edu. General Assignment News Editor Andrew Haubner also contributed to this story. Contact him at andrew.haubner@colorado.edu
Eight minutes and two seconds into the University of Colorado men’s basketball game against the University of California, the Buffaloes had scored one basket. They were 1-of-19 from the field in that span. But a layup and foul shot from Thomas Akyazili changed all that, and CU reversed its fortunes to defeat the Golden Bears, 70-62, for their third straight win.
The Buffs concluded their day shooting a bleak 22-of-58 from the field, while remaining strong from the free throw line, shooting 70 percent as a team. Colorado also recorded only eight assists. Senior forward Josh Scott was the Buffaloes’ top scorer with 18 points in a game where CU’s defense kept them alive.
“Great win for Colorado, we don’t make it easy on ourselves,” said head coach Tad Boyle. “We did what we had to do, Cal’s a good team, we knew they weren’t gonna go away.”
A key aspect in the Buffs’ win was their stout defense, as Colorado held Cal to only 35.1 percent shooting in the game. That defense, which has struggled at times this season to manifest itself in the way Boyle has wanted it to, kept Cal from blowing the game open, holding the Golden Bears to 8-of-26 shooting in the first half. Since entering conference, the team’s defensive identity has changed, and senior Josh Scott attributes it to a change in mentality.
“I think the mentality of this team has changed a lot since conference,” said Scott. “I think the start of the year we were shooting so well that we got away without, maybe not having to play solid defense, here it’s keeping us in games, it’s winning us games, and we need to continue this in the second part of conference play.”
The Buffs got off to a painfully slow start, going nearly four and a half minutes without scoring. The Buffs were 0-of-7 on field goal attempts before calling their first timeout of the game. Scott scored Colorado’s first points immediately after the timeout to bring the score to 8-2 in favor of Cal.
Akyazili got the ball rolling for CU midway through the first after his three-point play. The Buffs were shooting a miniscule 10 percent from the field at the time, with Akyazili leading the team with his three points.
Colorado took its first lead of the game with just under seven minutes to go in the first half, when Scott hit two free throws to put CU up 16-15. The Buffs continued to add to their lead on a 12-point run that included a dunk from sophomore forward Tory Miller.
In addition to another trademark Josh Scott silent-but-deadly performance, George King and Dom Collier also shined, scoring 13 and 14 points respectively. Collier, in particular, has cemented his spot as top point guard since struggling at the start of conference play. The sophomore has looked a lot more comfortable in the offense as of late, being a facilitator as well as a shooter.
“That was the biggest thing for me coming into this year was confidence and maintaining confidence,” said Collier. “The last couple games I’ve been trying to lead the team to win and get us in the offense and defense.”
It looked as though it would be smooth sailing for the Buffs after pulling off a significant comeback in the first half. Colorado was consistent in their scoring for the first five minutes of play, recording a 17-point lead, the largest lead of the match.
Redshirt junior forward Wes Gordon added to the Buffs’ total by recording five points in just over 30 seconds with fifteen minutes left in the game.
The Buffs’ run began to diminish with eight minutes remaining in the half after a three-minute scoring drought, during which Cal scored seven unanswered points. Colorado’s double-digit lead was shaved down to six points with six minutes left in the game.
For the last three minutes of play, it was all about the fouls. The Buffs came up big at the line with Josh Scott going 4-of-4 on free throws in the last few minutes of the game.
The Buffs closed out the nail-biter with a major steal by senior guard Xavier Talton. This sealed the deal for Colorado in the 70-62 win.
“Coach always wants something to go better, he wants perfection, so I would say he’s a little bit disappointed we lost a seventeen point lead, but that’s fair, we’re disappointed too,” said Scott after the game.
CU finished out their night with a 37.9 shooting percentage, just barely edging out Cal’s 35.1 percent from the field. Colorado was 5-of-9 from three point range. The Buffs were tied for third place in the Pac-12 with Utah and USC entering Sunday’s game. CU has improved to 17-5 overall and 6-3 in conference play.
While the home sweep of Cal and Stanford is a big positive for this team, the road doesn’t get any easier for the Buffaloes. It starts in Eugene against the Oregon Ducks, with first place in the conference on the line. After the trip to Oregon, Colorado hosts the Washington schools in Boulder on the 11th and 13th of February.
“Nine games under the belt and we’re 6-3 so it’s a good time to reflect,” Tad Boyle mentioned. “But not for very long since we have nine more games left. And we have to consider the tall task at hand of going to Eugene and playing Oregon.”
Colorado’s next game will be on Thursday, February 4th and broadcast on Fox Sports 1. Tip-off is slated for 7:00 pm MST.
