For the first time in a while, Cory Higgins has company at the top of the stat sheet.
Freshman Alec Burks joined the junior Higgins atop the box score as they both poured in a team-high 23 points to lead Colorado to an 88-77 victory over the Texas Southern Tigers in front of 4,678 Wednesday at the Coors Events Center.
For the Buffaloes, the one-two punch of Higgins and Burks was too much to overcome.
The freshman scored 15 of his career-high 23 in the second half, including eight down the stretch to help CU boost a lead that had slipped to two points with under five minutes to go. Burks’ aggressiveness in taking the ball to the rim sent him to the foul line often, where he went 10-of-13.
“Cory told me midway through the second half just to be aggressive,” Burks said. “So that’s what I was trying to do to help my team win.”
The reigning Gatorade Player of the Year in the state of Missouri has showed Buffs fans his potential with his play this season. But other Big 12 Conference programs, such as Kansas State and Missouri, passed on Burks with concerns over his work ethic. Burks took the criticisms to heart.
“I felt like I got recruited a lot but the big names didn’t come after me,” Burks said. “I’m just showing them what they missed.”
The Tigers’ Travele Jones had a monster game, leading his team with 31 points in the losing effort. Texas Southern played without leading scorer Whitworth “Junior” Treasure, who’s averaging 24.0 points per game this season, because paperwork for his transfer was not in order. Even though the Tigers were shorthanded, they gave CU all they could handle.
CU led by as many as 16 in the second half, but a 26-12 run by Texas Southern tightened the game before Burks and Higgins took over, combining for 13 of Colorado’s final 17 points.
The Buffs improve to 3-0 and gave head men’s basketball coach Jeff Bzdelik his 99th collegiate win. Bzdelik voiced his concerns and praises over his team’s performance, but his biggest shout-out went to the fans, particularly the student section.
“I want to thank our students,” Bzdelik said. “We need them and they are a big part of our basketball team. We really appreciate our students and our fans.”
Another freshman, forward Keegan Hornbuckle, played some solid minutes off the bench for the Buffaloes and hit a nice fadeaway jumper before the buzzer to give Colorado a 43-36 lead going into halftime.
The Buffaloes shot over 60 percent from the field, the first time they have done so since Jan. 12, 2008 against Texas A&M. Higgins, who also grabbed a team-high six rebounds, felt the game was a great lead-in to the challenges the team will face in the upcoming Maui Invitational.
“It was good for us because we are going to be battling every minute of every game in Maui and we needed something like this to get us a little taste of what it feels like to be tested,” Higgins said.
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer David Starcer at David.starcer@colorado.edu.
