Buffs dominate second half, cruise to win over Stanford

BOULDER–Whatever Tad Boyle told his guys at halftime, it worked.

The Buffs came out of halftime on fire on Sunday evening, breaking a tied score with a 16-0 run, the biggest unanswered spurt of the season for CU, to open the second half. It was smooth sailing from there, as the Buffs never looked back in a comfortable 84-62 win over Stanford at the CU Events Center.

“It was a tale of two halves,” said Boyle postgame. “Our offense in the first half was really good, we scored 39 points, but our defense wasn’t great. And then, we just flipped that switch. I think we had 11 stops out of halftime and went on a 16-0 run that was absolutely huge.”

Tristan da Silva was cooking all night for the Buffs, knocking down tough jumpers when the Buffs’ offense was in the mud early on, and finishing with an efficient game-high 25 points in just 28 minutes. It was da Silva’s fifth straight 20-point game, as he has emerged as a go-to option on this Buffs team.

“He’s a special player,” said Boyle of da Silva. “We knew that when we recruited him, we knew that when we got him here, and it’s nice to see him kind of coming into (his own).”

KJ Simpson added 21 points for CU, and was a force attacking the paint all night, generating 11 free throw attempts for himself, and draining all of them to tie his career high. 

Simpson’s willingness to constantly be on the attack and not settle for jumpers, especially with an outside shot that has abandoned him lately, is a sign of maturation for the sophomore point guard.

“If (the shot) is not falling, then just attack,” said Simpson. “That’s my mindset… Just being more patient, not rushing anything, and letting the game come to me.”

It was a tight battle throughout the first half, with both teams racking up points in different ways. The Cardinal found some success attacking the lane, finishing at the rim and finding teammates for easy buckets on a multitude of cuts and lobs. 

Meanwhile, the Buffs came out scorching the nets from the outside, knocking down four of their first five threes to keep pace. The Buffs pulled ahead for a majority of the half, but a 10-2 Stanford run brought them back to even, capped off by a putback layup at the buzzer.

“That first half, it was a hell of a game, tit for tat,” said Boyle.

Coming out of the intermission, the Buffs completely shut Stanford’s water off on the offensive end. Crucial defensive adjustments kept the Cardinal out of the lane, forcing them into tough, contested jumpers. 

When they were able to get inside, Lawson Lovering was there to protect the rim, blocking two shots and altering many others. Stanford’s first bucket of the half came at the 12:46 mark, ending a scoring drought of over seven minutes.

By the time the Cardinal were finally on the board in the final frame, it was too late. The Buffs had already stretched their lead to 16, a number that was just too big to overcome. 

While Simpson and da Silva led the way for the Buffs offensively, it was a well-rounded effort from the entire CU squad. Luke O’Brien tied a career high with three triples off the bench, and Princeton transfer Ethan Wright gave the Buffs’ offense a spark in the first half with seven points.

“It’s a team effort,” said da Silva. “Everybody’s gotta step up, and I feel like that’s what we did tonight, especially off the bench.”

One of the questions for CU coming into tonight’s contest regarded how they would fare in their first full game without leading rebounder J’Vonne Hadley, who suffered a season-ending finger injury against Cal on Thursday night. 

However, the Buffs answered that question profoundly on Sunday against Stanford’s big front line, getting contributions on the glass from everywhere, and outrebounding the Cardinal 38-24.

“Basketball is more than scoring,” said Simpson, who finished the night with seven boards. “If I just focus on that aspect I’m not doing my team justice. So, I just want to be able to go down and rebound with Hadley being out, get a couple more guys some more touches, get some steals, just do other things, not always scoring.”

After Thursday night’s win, these two games serve as a great bounce-back for a Buffs team that came into the week as losers of five of their previous six games.

They’ll have a long rest before they get a chance to keep the momentum rolling next Saturday when they travel to Utah.