Junior guard Namon Wright drives the ball hard toward the basket during the first half of play at Cintas Center. Dec. 9, 2017 (Nigel Amstock/CU Independent)
The Colorado Buffaloes men’s basketball team lost 96-69 to the No. 13 Xavier Musketeers in Cincinnati, Ohio, Saturday evening.
Dominant early play from the Musketeers’ J.P. Macura helped propel the home team to a strong start. Macura scored seven of Xavier’s first nine points. Colorado also had three turnovers in the opening three minutes. This signaled a painful pattern for the rest of the matchup.
A layup by Xavier’s Quentin Goodwin at the 16:31 mark put Colorado in a 13-5 hole. The Musketeers kept shoveling. Four minutes later, Xavier had a 31-10 advantage, with more than 12 minutes before halftime.
“[Xavier] whipped us in every phase of the game,” head coach said Tad Boyle after the loss. “I can’t think of one thing that we did better than Xavier today.”
Xavier was lights out from nearly all parts of the court in Saturday’s blowout.
The Musketeers made 60 percent of their shots from the floor on the night and for a long time, didn’t miss from long range. They ended the first half with 6-of-9 shots converted from downtown.
“They started fast and they got their momentum,” senior guard George King said. “It was a snowball effect after that.”
King finished with 15 points on 5-of-15 shooting. He was quiet in the second half, only scoring two points in the final 20 minutes. King also led Colorado with eight rebounds.
Down 42-16 with 6:44 left before halftime, an offensive rebound by King sparked the Buffs’ offense.
For the rest of the half, Colorado outscored Xavier 17-7. The Buffs still trailed 49-33 at halftime.
Turnovers came back to haunt the Buffs. The Musketeers scored 17 points off of Colorado turnovers. The Buffs’ first possession of the game featured a turnover, and unfortunately for CU, the second half began the same way.
Xavier’s Trevon Bluiett stole the ball from freshman guard Lazar Nikolic, leading to the Musketeers making a couple of free throws to start the half.
Bluiett nailed a three-pointer a few seconds later, putting the Musketeers up 54-35 after a minute and nine seconds into the final half.
He was Xavier’s main Buffalo hunter in the game, leading all scorers with 25 points. Macura contributed 17 and joined three other Musketeers who scored in the double digits.
”These guys are so efficient offensively right now,” Boyle said. “J.P. Macura is part of it, Trevon Bluiett is part of it, but their post guys present a real problem for a lot of people … The thing that makes Xavier so tough to prepare for is that they’ve got those outside guys.”
The Musketeers domination near the net was easy to see. The team scored 48 points in the paint to Colorado’s 28.
“I guess they just wanted it more,” King said. “That’s one thing about Xavier that we can learn from them going forward.”
The Buffs went on another successful run about midway through the second half, coming to within 13 with just over 11 minutes to play following a 16-9 run. But CU’s momentum faded quickly. Xavier did not relent, despite being outplayed for a few minutes.
After the Buffs lowered their deficit to 13, they were held scoreless for three minutes. At that point, with 7:44 to go, Colorado trailed, 77-58.
That 18-point deficit would be the most favorable one that CU would see for the rest of the game. The Buffs managed just four points over five minutes near the end of the game.
A layup from Bluiett with 3:33 to go gave Xavier its biggest lead of the night, coming in the form of a 91-62 advantage.
“They just come at you like a freight train,” Boyle said. “We weren’t very good … [This is ] an opportunity for our young guys to learn and our veterans to learn, as well.”
Junior guard Namon Wright led Colorado with 20 points, going 7-of-13 from the floor. Freshman guard McKinley Wright IV was next with 16.
Xavier’s offensive brilliance acted as a stark contrast to CU’s offensive ineptitude. The Buffs were again cold from long range, going 8-of-28. From the floor, Colorado managed just a 39 percent make rate.
”We had no answer for them today,” Boyle said. “We had no answer for their post, we had no answer for their perimeter players [and] we broke down on their three-point coverage.”
Up next for the Buffs is a matchup with San Diego on Tuesday, Dec. 12, at the Coors Events Center. Tipoff is at 6 p.m.
Contact CU Independent Head Sports Editor Justin Guerriero at justin.guerriero@colorado.edu and follow him on Twitter @TheHungry_Hippo.
