Junior forward Josh Scott elevates toward the basket over Husky forward Jernard Jarreau midway through the first half of play at the Alaska Airlines Arena. Scott recorded a game high twenty-one points against the Huskies. (Nigel Amstock/CU Independent)
The University of Colorado men’s basketball team needed a victory, badly.
Although they defeated Arizona State University 87-81 last Sunday, they still were only 13-15 and held a 6-10 record in Pac-12 play. With the conference tournament looming, victories were at a premium for head coach Tad Boyle and his Buffaloes. Thursday night in Seattle, Colorado answered the call by delivering one of their better performances of the year, defeating the University of Washington Huskies 64-47.
Both teams started off slow in the first five minutes, but Colorado eventually found their groove, going on an 18-4 run that lasted eight minutes and gave the Buffs a 20-6 lead. Washington eventually climbed back, but CU continued to score and built a 30-17 lead by halftime.
Without Shawn Kemp Jr. and Robert Upshaw, the Huskies struggled to get anything going. Whether it was inside or from beyond the arc, Washington shot 18-60 and 7-24 from three, while being out-rebounded by Colorado 43-39. The lone bright spot was Andrew Andrews, who poured in 20 points and six rebounds.
Three thoughts on the Buffs before their March 7 matchup against Washington State:
Colorado is starting to look like itself again: Despite a slow start, the Buffaloes played very well against an admittedly depleted Washington team. CU only had eight turnovers while turning in 14 assists on the night, led by Josh Scott who registered 21 points and 9 rebounds. Even without the scoring form that senior guard Askia Booker has been in (he only scored 10 points), the Buffs got a solid all around performance. Colorado has won their last two games, and is looking like the team that people thought they would be at the beginning of the season. The upswing in form is positive after a season of sub-par performances, and could pay dividends in the coming weeks.
Josh Scott can play through the pain: What can you say about Josh Scott? The junior forward has been playing with back problems all year, and certainly hasn’t been 100 percent since he’s returned. But he has been solid since he stepped back on the court, averaging 11.5 points and 8.25 rebounds per game. Tonight, he had 21 points and 9 rebounds on 9-for-12 shooting. His minutes have steadily increased since his return, the highest of which came tonight (33 minutes), but his play has been very good aside from the Buffs road loss to Oregon State. Expect Scott to continue to perform well against a struggling Washington State team on Saturday.
There is still some fight to be had: A 14-15 season is not what CU fans had pictured at the beginning of the year, but with one game left in the season, there is some pride left to play for. Next week, the Pac-12 men’s basketball tournament begins. CU currently sits in the 9th spot, which, if they beat 8-seed Cal, would play first seeded Arizona. But there is a very tight race around that area of the bracket. The Golden Bears and Buffaloes are both 7-10 in conference play, Arizona State is 8-9 and Oregon State is 8-10. That leaves a lot of room for CU to steal a higher seed if they defeat the Cougars and the rest of the chips fall into their favor. The Buffs are starting to show signs of improvement, fight and effort. If they enter the tournament with the same edge they did against Washington, they might take a game or two in Las Vegas.
Contact CU Independent Sports Editor Andrew Haubner at andrew.haubner@colorado.edu.
