Freshman Tyler Bey after a dunk. Oct. 30, 2017 (Kirra Cobb McGowin/CUI Independent)
The Colorado Buffaloes basketball team started their 2017-18 campaign with a 78-52 win in an exhibition game against the Colorado School of Mines Orediggers Monday night.
It was a fast start to the game for the Buffs, as Colorado got off to a 9-2 run in the first three minutes of the game. The Orediggers fought back , going on a 20-13 run to level the score with roughly three minutes left in the first half.
Colorado didn’t shoot particularly well in the first half, only making 14-of-30 from the field and an abysmal 22 percent from beyond the arc. Despite the poor shooting, CU led 32-29 at the break.
Senior guard George King led the scoring for CU at the halfway mark with eight points, shooting 4-of-6 from the field. King, along with freshman forward Tyler Bey, snatched three rebounds in the first half.
Colorado as a team however, was outperformed on the glass in the first half, 20-15. This is an alarming stat, given the level of competition.
“We didn’t do enough,” King said after the game. “We didn’t do a good enough job rebounding at all. As a team and everyone collectively.”
Colorado came out of the half looking like a different team. The team went on to shoot significantly better, making 53 percent from the field. The Buffs also won the rebound battle, grabbing 35 boards to Mines’ 34. Boyle however still wasn’t pleased with the effort on the glass.
“We outrebounded them by one,” Boyle said. “I felt like that was a team we should’ve dominated on the boards. That can’t happen against a team that’s not as long, not as athletic and not as big.”
Boyle also wasn’t satisfied with the way he managed his rotations.
“There was no flow, and that was my fault,” Boyle said. “I wanted to give everybody a chance to kind of show what they can do.”
The young core for Colorado got some good minutes. Freshmen like Bey and guard McKinley Wright IV didn’t play to their potential, but King points out that their confidence didn’t wane during the game.
“I thought it was good for us to give everybody a feel, King said. “It was good to get a lot of guys in so they could get acclimated for the season.”
King was Colorado’s leading scorer on the night with 13 points on 6-of-9 shooting. The senior from Fayetteville, North Carolina, also had four rebounds, matching senior forward Tory Miller-Stewart, sophomore forward Lucas Siewert and Bey, who all tied for most on the team. Wright and senior guard Dominique Collier led Colorado in the assist department with four a piece.
Ben Clare was the main scorer for the Orediggers, with 12 points on 6-of-8 shooting and seven rebounds. Michael Glen had seven boards for Mines as well.
After the exhibition victory, the Buffaloes will play their first regular season game on Nov. 10 against the Northern Colorado Bears at Coors Events Center. Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m. and will be aired on Pac-12 Mountain.
Contact CU Independent Sports Staff Writer Drew Sharek at andrew.sharek@colorado.edu.
