Colorado used a solid first half and an improved killer instinct to close out the Arkansas St. Red Wolves 93-70 and move to 4-1 on the season. A lackluster and frustrating crowd saw the Buffaloes, minus Xavier Johnson for the second game in a row, get a rather comfortable victory thanks to big efforts from Spencer Dinwiddie and Josh Scott to go along with career games from George King and Tre'Shuan Fletcher.
Things the Buffaloes did well:
Spencer Dinwiddie came around in the second half to help break the Buffs out of a slump and put the dagger in the Red Wolves. He finished with 13 points and 5 assists. Josh Scott finished up with 20 points and another strong game. Freshman George King came out of nowhere to have a really solid start to the night and the best performance of his young career. King finished with 11 points and was 2-2 from three-point land. Tre'Shuan Fletcher also set a career high with nine points and Askia Booker continued the improved play we had seen over the previous two games.
Finally, the defense had a fantastic start to the game, but we'll cover that further in the next section.
Things the Buffaloes struggled with:
After playing extremely solid defense in the first half, forcing the Red Wolves to shoot 28.6% and holding them to 28 points, the Buffs let up out of the break and allowed Arkansas State to match their first half total in the first ten minutes of the second half. The Buffs completely shut out the Red Wolves bench but couldn't slow down the tandem of Melvin Johnson III and Brandon Reed, who scored all the points for Arkansas State in the first half.
Turnovers once again hurt the Buffaloes and must be cleaned up if this team is to escape the next month without a few more dents in their record.
Up Next:
The Buffs will play UC-Santa Barbara on Thursday in their final tune-up before starting a tough four-game stretch that includes Harvard and Kansas at home and CSU and Air Force on the road. Thursday's game tips at 6:00 p.m. at the Coors Event Center. UCSB comes in at 2-1 with a win on the road at UNLV and a loss at home to Utah State.