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Colorado played arguably its worst first half of the season and didn't play fare much better in the second half, yet were still able to take down Colorado St. in Fort Collins 67-62 tonight. Great teams find ways to win despite how poorly they are playing and that is exactly what the Buffs did. They went into a hostile environment on the road against one of their biggest rivals and their best player took over when they needed it most. Spencer Dinwiddie was incredible for the Buffs and followed up last year's 29-point performance against Colorado St. with 28 points tonight. With the win, the Buffs move to 8-1 on the season.
Things the Buffaloes did well:
Spencer Dinwiddie showed his all-around ability going 8-of-14 from the field and was also 11-of-11 from the free throw line. Jaron Hopkins had 10 points, and hit two crucial threes near the end of the game to keep Colorado in it. All of the other freshmen certainly looked lost, but Hopkins stood out. He was 4-of-5 from the field and added two steals and four rebounds. The box score says that Askia Booker had 12 points on 4-of-12 shooting and was 0-of-6 from three, which typically doesn't resemble a great performance. However, he actually had a decent game. He helped the Buffs get back into the game early in the second half and although he had a high number of missed shots, he had a lot of open looks that just didn't fall.
Things the Buffaloes struggled with:
That was as poor as Colorado has played in a while and I don't know how they actually won that game. The Buffs went 1-of-10 in the first half and 3-of-19 for the game from three. They shot 36 percent in the first half and only raised that to 40 percent by the end of the game. They turned the ball over 14 times and every player got into foul trouble early on. Xavier Johnson was awful. He had more turnovers and fouls than points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks combined. Wesley Gordon and Dustin Thomas weren't much better. Gordon had his problems offensively only scoring one point and committing three turnovers. He struggled defensively as well as Colorado State got to the rim easily throughout the game. Dustin Thomas had his problems on defense too and looked out of sync on offense. Moreover, it was just an overall bad defensive performance. The Buffs couldn't get back in transition and were slow in the half-court helping and rotating.
Up Next:
The most anticipated home game of the season. Colorado will play Kansas this Saturday at the Coors Event Center at 1:15. The Buffs have had their lapses this season, but aside from their loss to Baylor have managed to win every other game. Coors Event Center will be packed and it'd be shocking to see the Buffs play the way they did tonight against the Jayhawks. After getting embarrassed against Kansas last year, Colorado will be ready to play. They'll have to deal with Kansas' superior athleticism, size, and depth, but have proved this year that if they play up to their potential, they'll have a chance to pull off the upset.
