Key road victory over ASU gets CU back on winning track

On Saturday, the CU Men’s Basketball team traveled to play against the Arizona State  Sun Devils and left victorious after a 75-57 win in a tight contest. CU came out in full force after  the second half with a barrage of 3-pointers and an amazing defense. After losing to Arizona on the road a few days ago, this became a critical road trip split for Colorado in Pac-12 play. “Our guys really responded to the whooping we took in Tucson (a 76-55 loss on Thursday),” Boyle said. “We took a big step forward, especially in the second half, on both offense and defense.”

Colorado started both halves on fire which is a true testament to head coach Tad Boyle’s effect on the younger squad. CU was unstoppable in the first holding a commanding 12 point lead just six minutes into the first half, however, the Sun Devils came back, and by half time they took the lead and were up 37-34. But after the half, the Buffs regained their lead with five three-pointers just in the first seven minutes. CU held Arizona State to a 31% shooting in the second half of the game, limiting the Sun Devil’s to only 12 points in the last 13 minutes of the game. The Buffs ended with 17 assists while ASU only had seven, all while CU dominated defensively with 46 total rebounds. Offensively, CU had 22 free throws, which is incredible for a game on the road.

Some of the key players for CU were Jabari Walker with 18 points and 13 rebounds for his 10th double-double of his career and his 8th double-double of the season. Sophomore, Keeshawn Barthelemy had 16 points and nine rebounds. Evan Battery and Tristan de Silva each scored 11 points. Sophomore, Nique Clifford, scored eight points and had seven reboundsoff the bench.

On Thursday, the Buffs will come back to Boulder to play at 5 pm M.T. against USC who is ranked No. 5 in the Pac-12 conference. The Buffs will then play against No. 3 UCLA at 7 pm M.T. at the CU Events Center. Both games will be televised by the Pac-12 Network.