Jabari Walker (12) plays defense against the Colorado School of Mines’ basketball team at the game on Wednesday, Oct. 27th, 2021. (Io Hartman/CU Independent)
The season has finally arrived for the University of Colorado men’s basketball team as they took care of business against Colorado School of Mines on Oct. 27. The CU Events Center welcomed back fans for the first time in over a year as fans witnessed the Buffaloes hammer the Orediggers 78-48 in the first of two exhibition contests for CU.
“It was great to see the fans back out there,” said Colorado head coach Tad Boyle. “Nobody appreciated them more than our players. Hopefully, against Montana State, we can have this place rocking and rolling and close to being full and have a raucous student section.”
Although Colorado School of Mines is a Divison II school, they are one of the best in the country and gave the Buffs a run for their money the last time they matched up. The Buffaloes won, but it was not without ups and downs, as expected in the first game.
Wednesday’s game also marked the first college basketball experience for much of Colorado’s young roster. Their youthfulness showed especially early when the Buffs committed seven turnovers in the opening eleven minutes of the game. Still, the Buffs’ ability to correct the turnover problem was a key to the game.
“I remember looking up during the under eight media timeout, and we had seven turnovers at that time,” said Boyle. “We didn’t turn it over once for the rest of the half and only turned it over three times in the second half. Our players adjusted, and they can still play fast, which we want to do but be under control. We just got a little careless in that first half with the ball, but they did a great job at adjusting.”
Another slightly concerning note was sophomore forward Jabari Walker’s foul trouble. Walker, who fouled out, picked up three first-half fouls and all of them came before the six-minute mark in the first half. Foul trouble was Walker’s Achilles’ heel during his freshman season a year ago, and one game into the 2021-22 season, it looks like a fix still needs to take place. Colorado will need Walker to stay on the court as much as possible this season, and shoring up his fouling trouble would go a long way in making that happen.
“It’s an opportunity to learn,” said Boyle. “Last year Jabari had foul trouble, but it didn’t affect our team as much because we were so deep. This year we’re going to need him to play heavier minutes. I wanted to let Jabari play with the two fouls and learn to play with them. My message to Jabari is he needs to play with great energy but learn to be smarter playing with four fouls. If he learns, he’ll be fine.”
Some first-half positives for Colorado were their ability to get to the charity stripe 14 times and sophomore guard Keeshawn Barthelemy’s hot start shooting, including the team’s first five points to open the game. The ability to draw fouls combined with Barthelemy’s shotmaking was enough for the Buffs to take a 35-27 lead into the locker room despite only shooting 33% from the field.
The second half saw the Buffs pick up the intensity on the defensive end and find their groove offensively. Roughly midway through the second half, Colorado held the Orediggers to 28%, shooting from the field and shooting a respectable 7-14 for themselves. With 8:29 to play, the Buffs were on a 14-2 run, which saw the Buffaloes lock in defensively.
With two minutes to go in the game, freshman guard KJ Simpson stole the ball at midcourt and finished it with a thundering dunk at the other end. Simpson’s highlight dunk put the Buffs up 74-43, and Boyle put his walk-ons in the finish the final two minutes.
In his first college action, Simpson shined, shooting 4-9 from the field while adding a three to go along with five rebounds and two assists. Freshman center Lawson Lovering also had a solid debut that included some nifty post moves and nine rebounds to go along with 10 points.
The Buffaloes will now travel to Lincoln, Nebraska, to take on the Cornhuskers on Halloween in their final tune-up before the regular season begins Nov. 9 against Montana State in Boulder.
Contact CU Independent Assistant Sports Editor Charlie Strella at charles.strella@colorado.edu.
