Buffaloes overcome a big halftime deficit to take down Stanford

The Colorado Buffaloes showed just how resilient this team is. After absolutely nothing was going their way in the first half of Saturday’s contest, the Buffs stormed back to defeat the Stanford Cardinal by the final score of 81-74.

Colorado made just six field goals in the first half — that’s not ideal, especially against a Stanford team that is solid on the defensive end. Every time they passed the ball into the post, Stanford would throw a hard hedge their way to mess up the rhythm and it paid off when Colorado ditched the post game and settled for jumpers. Colorado forward Tyler Bey failed to record a point in the first half.

Early on, the Cardinal were on fire from beyond the arc, shooting 5-of-10 as a team. Isaac White led the way off the bench making three of those three-pointers himself, adding nine points in the first half. Jaiden Delaire was fantastic off the bench as well for Stanford, scoring nine points of his own. Colorado, on the other hand, couldn’t say the same themselves. The Buffs were just 3-of-13 from downtown. McKinley Wright led the way for the Buffs with six points on just 1-of-4 shooting.

A questionable call happened with just 0.2 remaining in the first half. Stanford guard Tyrell Terry hoisted up a three with Eli Parquet closing out on him. Terry kicked his leg out and prompted the referee to call a shooting foul on Parquet, leading to three free throws for the Cardinal. Buffs head coach Tad Boyle didn’t like the call. With that being said, he earned himself a technical foul — leading to two more free throws. Terry made all five free throws to push the lead to 11 at half.

The second half was much better for the No. 24 ranked Colorado Buffaloes. The team was scorching hot in the second half from three. At one point, the Buffs went 7-of-7 from downtown.

However, a scary moment occurred early in the second as Buffs forward Evan Battey and Cardinal forward Oscar da Silva collided at the hoop. Da Silva eventually got up and walked off, but it was a scary sight nonetheless. Battey showed emotion for the rest of the game regarding the situation. Prayers go out to da Silva and hopefully a speedy recovery nonetheless.

Back to the game, Wright really buckled down and helped the Buffs move forward. The junior guard finished with 21 points and four assists. He dealt with foul trouble late in the game but Colorado prevailed in a comeback victory.

D’Shawn Schwartz added 20 points of his own, shooting 5-of-9 from the field while recording seven rebounds. After not scoring a single point in the first half, Bey was more aggressive in the second as he finished with 11 points and 12 rebounds.

Colorado improves to to 19-5 overall and 8-3 in conference play. They sit at the top spot in the Pac-12.

They next travel to Eugene on Thursday to take on the No. 14 Oregon Ducks. The Buffs beat Oregon 74-65 back in Boulder on Jan. 2 by the final score of 74-65.