Buffs fans swarmed into Coors Event Center for the Men’s Basketball season opener Friday evening as the Buffs went on to beat Fort Lewis College, 85-57.
Even though the Buffs won easily, the game wasn’t a complete blow out — there were still a lot places for improvement on this year’s relatively young team, but for now, Coach Tad Boyle said he is satisfied.
“First game, first time in front of the fans, as a coach you never know what to expect from your team,” Boyle said. “But defensively I thought we played really well tonight, it’s the one thing we challenged our guys to do. To guard for 40 minutes, but we did have a few lapses.”
Early in the first half, Colorado took advantage of their size, going in to the paint with every possession with the ball, putting Fort Lewis into early foul trouble and dominating off the glass.
As the game progressed, the Buffs went on a quick scoring run midway through the first half beginning the separation between the two teams that would last and grow for the rest of the game. Most of the run came from senior Carlon Brown, a transfer from Utah, and sophomore Andre Roberson.
“I’ve worked a lot on my shot over the summer,” Roberson said. “And I’m now trying to carry it over to the game.”
The game went into halftime with CU ahead by 12. The Buffs shot a stellar 50 percent from the field, 33.3 percent from three and 75 percent from the free throw line. The biggest statistical difference between the teams was CU’s huge advantage off the boards with 24 rebounds to the Skyhawks’ 10.
“Most of the time we’ve got four guys boxing out,” said senior Austin Dufault. “We‘ve got to have all five guys boxing out, because if one man slips we may give the other guys an advantage.”
Going into the second half, the Buffs came out playing unstoppable offense and impenetrable defense going on an 17-3 scoring run in the first five minutes of play, with everyone contributing off the bench with great performances. According to Boyle, there are still a lot of places where the Buffs need to improve as they progress with this new season.
“Overall I was pleased with how we played, especially given how many new guys played,” he said. “And the good thing is you can win by this kind of margin and still have a lot room for improvement, which we obviously do.”
The Buffs still continued to roll throughout the rest of the game shooting 48.5 percent from the field and 66.7 percent from three point range. The game ended in a complete blowout as the Buffs came close to sustaining their 30 point throughout the second half, but finished with a 28 point lead, the final score being 85-57.
Dufault and Roberson both ended the game with double-doubles, and Roberson finished with a team-high 18 points.
Even with the nice introduction performance for the season opener, the Buffs turned the ball over 17 times, showing a need to emphasize possession protection, especially as they go to the Caribbean to take on a lot of difficult teams in the next couple weeks as they travel to Puerto Rico for the 5-Hour Energy Puerto Rico Tipoff tournament.
For the experienced players on CU, an international tournament like 5-Hour Energy is almost a routine procedure, and the expectations set by the players is high.
“I’m excited,” Dufault said. “There’s [sic] some great teams down there, it’s the third island trip I’ve taken in the past four years. I’m just looking forward to taking on the tough competition down there and try to show the nation that our team is a competitor this year.”
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Joseph Wirth at joseph.wirth@colorado.edu.
