Buffs get back on track in Rocky Mountain beatdown
BOULDER–This edition of the Rocky Mountain Showdown looked a lot more like the ones that have taken place on the gridiron in recent years, not the hardwood.
The CU Buffs got their season back on track on Thursday night with a dominant 93-65 win over in-state rival Colorado State, their biggest win over the Rams in basketball in over 70 years.
“We showed tonight how good this team can be,” said head coach Tad Boyle after the game.
The Buffs did a lot of great things, things that they had been struggling with during their recent stretch of inconsistent play. But this game came down to one thing: physicality.
CU pressured every dribble. They contested every shot. They trapped every screen. They battled for every rebound. They got the ball inside, and consistently scored in the paint.They played with a level of intensity, an unrelenting pressure, that they have not shown all season up until this point.
“It’s big, I felt like we were playing for the state of Colorado,” said point guard KJ Simpson after the game. “That was my first time playing a rival in college, and the atmosphere, the fans, the experience was crazy. It was really big and really important, almost like a Super Bowl.”
Sometimes, that’s what a rivalry game brings out of you.
Simpson was the star of the show for the Buffs, scoring a game-high 27 points and lighting up the Events Center with a three-point barrage in the second half.
The Buffs came out firing early, creating turnovers and making life tough for the Rams on the offensive end, even if it didn’t result in an early lead. Despite losing guard John Tonje to three early fouls in the first half, CSU knocked down six of their first eight threes to hang around, despite being overwhelmed by the Buffs’ size and strength.
“We realized how big this matchup was,” said Nique Clifford, who snapped out of a shooting slump tonight with a 13-point performance. “We knew we had to set the tone from the start.”
A 10-2 Buffs run over the last four minutes of the first half gave them some breathing room over CSU, and gave CU a 38-30 lead at the break in a game that they controlled most of the way.
However, over the first part of the season, the Buffs have lost plenty of games in the second half. It was just a week ago that they blew a 15-point halftime lead against Arizona State. The Buffs knew that they had to keep their foot on the pedal coming out of halftime.
“We’ve been talking about it every game, because that’s really been the deciding factor in a lot of our games,” said Simpson. “We’ve been losing close games, and it’s usually because of the run that the other team goes on at the start of the second half.”
The Buffs made sure that would not be the case tonight, as they stretched the lead to nineteen within the first seven minutes of the second half.
The run was fueled by none other than Simpson, who scored 12 points over the course of the run, and came into the game with a chip on his shoulder, ready to win his matchup with Rams star Isaiah Stevens.
“(I took it) real personally, I watched film, I came into this game with a focus, a mindset because I knew he’s one hell of a player,” said Simpson of Stevens. “And he has the record to prove it. I have nothing but respect for him, but for me, I just wanted to come in and show that I’m a top player as well.”
Stevens led the Rams with 15 points, but the Buffs made it tough on him all night. They constantly blitzed and trapped one of the best ball screen guards in the country, making him take difficult, contested shots, and forcing him into five uncharacteristic turnovers.
During the second half, new head football coach Deion Sanders strolled out of the tunnel to a roaring ovation, as loud of an ovation as I’ve ever heard at The Keg. Sanders’ appearance only riled up the packed house at the Events Center, one that was buzzing with energy all night long.
The biggest story of the night for the Buffs offensively was how well they took care of the ball. After committing 38 turnovers in their two losses to open conference play last week, the Buffs coughed it up just eight times tonight, tying their best mark of the young season.
CU also dominated on the interior, finishing with a plus-19 margin on the boards, and a plus-30 margin in points in the paint.
“We knew our advantage on Colorado State was inside,” said Boyle. “They play four guards. We opened up the game trying to post Tristian (da Silva) and it didn’t go too well, But as the game went on, we got the ball in the paint, and we talked to our players about it, and they went out and executed.”
No matter how the year has gone thus far, this version of the Buffs can be a dangerous squad that can be a threat to anybody on any given day.
Their next chance to keep the momentum rolling comes next Thursday night in Boulder when they take on North Alabama.
