Contact CU Independent Men’s Basketball Writer Alissa Noe at alissa.noe@colorado.edu and follow her on Twitter @crazysportgirl1.
In the ugliest fashion imaginable, the University of Colorado men’s basketball team, now 14-5, dropped its third game of conference play at Washington on Wednesday. The Buffs were unable to bounce back from a 22-point deficit despite a late-game surge, falling 95-83.
One of the sole highlights from the night game came courtesy of senior forward Josh Scott, who recorded his 34th career double-double with 18 points and 12 rebounds, putting him at seventh place all-time in that category at CU.
Sophomore guard Dominique Collier improved his own mark by scoring a career-high 21 points, 18 coming from beyond the arch.
Throughout the game, the Huskies outplayed the Buffs on the offensive end. Pac-12 leading scorer Andrew Andrews recorded 33 points, followed by Dejounte Murray (17), Marquese Chriss (17) and Malik Dime (10). Washington shot 49.2 percent from the field (31-63) and 47.1 percent from the three-point range (8-17).
The Buffs, however, struggled to get much going on offense despite some momentary spurts. They were led by Collier, sophomore guard George King (18 points) and Scott. They shot 41.8 percent on the night (28-67) and 39.1 percent from beyond the arc (9-23).
The Buffaloes and Huskies got off to a quick start, with both teams scoring early and often. For the first 10 minutes of the game, the two teams kept it interesting with three lead changes and five ties, but a series of messy turnovers, poor defense and spotty offense on CU’s part gave Washington the fuel it needed to mount a significant lead.
From there on out, the Huskies put on a clinic against the Buffaloes. With just under two minutes left in the first, they went up by as much as 15 points, 45-30, before finishing the half with a 47-33 lead.
Throughout the opening 20 minutes of play, the Buffs shot 38.7 percent from the field (12-31) and 40 percent from the three, whereas the Huskies impressed with 60 percent shooting from the field (18-30) and 3-7 from long range (42.9 percent).
The worst part of the stat line, though, was UW’s 16 points off of Colorado’s 12 turnovers in the first half. To put that number into perspective, the Buffs had 14 turnovers total in their last game against Oregon. They also had zero blocks to Washington’s seven.
King and Collier led the Buffs early on with nine points apiece, but the Huskies’ Dejounte Murray led them all with 12.
But it would get worse. Much worse.
With 14 minutes left in the game, the Huskies improved their lead to 22 points, 64-42. But the Buffs continued to fight back, and with 1:33 left they made the game interesting again, 87-80, if only for a little while.
When the clock showed zeroes, the Buffs fell for the third time in conference play, 95-83. They head to Washington State on Saturday, Jan. 23, with the hopes of redemption at 7 p.m. The game will be broadcast on the Pac-12 Networks.
