It seemed like the Buffs had put the Arizona game behind them. They started the first half against Arizona State on a 17-4 run and were controlling the tempo and playing well on defense. However, it all unraveled from there. Colorado couldn't hold off Arizona State and went into halftime with a 33-30 lead and then completely fell apart in the second half getting outplayed and outworked and as a result, lost to the Sun Devils 65-56. For the Buffaloes, Spencer Dinwiddie led the way with 19 points while Askia Booker added 13. Colorado is now 0-2 in conference play and it seems like their road struggles of last year are still with them as they start off this year in conference play.
Things the Buffaloes did well:
Spencer Dinwiddie played well for Colorado hitting some big shots when the Buffaloes were trying to stay in the game in the second half. He continues to be Colorado's best player and seems to be the only one who doesn't shy away from contact in the lane. Sabatino Chen also had some nice drives and looks to be more confident after his strong performance against Arizona. Defensively, in the first half, the Buffs had some stretches where they were good forcing Arizona State to take bad shots and limited the Sun Devils to shooting 29 percent from three on the night.
Things the Buffaloes struggled with:
Colorado had loads of trouble trying to score inside against Jordan Bachynski evident by Bachynski's 9 blocked shots. They couldn't get into any rhythm offensively in the second half and struggled tremendously shooting from three as they went 2-19 from beyond the arc. The Buffaloes routinely couldn't box out allowing Arizona State 10 offensive rebounds and had questionable shot selection throughout the game. Askia Booker had another inefficient night scoring 13 points on 14 shots. Andre Roberson allowed himself to get outworked on the glass by Carrick Felix at times and struggled shooting on the night as he went 2-13. More importantly, is the fact that the bench just isn't doing anything. When Arizona State's starters couldn't score, Herb Sendek was able to go to his bench and get back into the game. Tad Boyle doesn't have that luxury. When the starters struggle like they did tonight, more often than, Colorado is going to end up losing.
Up Next:
Colorado goes back home to the Coors Event Center to take on USC on Thursday night. After that, they have their biggest home game of the year thus far with UCLA on Saturday. In order for Colorado to stay near the top of the conference, Colorado needs to sweep next week's slate of games and end up at 2-2. It's by no means a sure thing, however, when this team plays at home, they are very hard to beat.