BERKELEY, Calif. — Prosperity on the road proved to be almost too much for the Colorado Buffaloes to handle Thursday night.
The Buffs, searching for their first Pac-12 road win of the year, let an 18-point lead slip away in the second half before finally regaining their composure down the stretch to collect a 68-59 win over Cal.
Colorado improved to 11-7 overall and 2-4 in Pac-12 play while Cal fell to 5-14, 0-7. It was CU's first win at Cal since joining the conference in 2011-12.
Tyler Bey had 17 points and 14 rebounds for his eighth career double-double for the Buffs, Lucas Siewert added 18 points and three rebounds and Shane Gatling had 13 points and six boards.
But one of the biggest buckets of the game came from sophomore point guard McKinley Wright IV, who had eight points, four rebounds and four assists in his return to the lineup after missing last week's game at Utah with a shoulder injury. Wright scored all of his points in the second half, including a big 3-pointer with just 35 seconds remaining in the game that gave the Buffs 66-59 lead to salt away the win.
Paris Austin and Justice Sueing had 13 apiece for the Bears.
"Our resiliency was tested and our guys answered the bell, which I was really proud of," head coach Tad Boyle said. "It's much like November — it's a lot better to learn from a win than learn from a loss, and this would have been a crushing loss. I'm really proud of the way the guys reacted to the adversity."
HOW IT HAPPENED: After controlling the tempo for most of the first half and taking an 11-point lead at intermission, 34-23, the Buffs threatened to blow the game open with a 7-0 run to start the second half to bump their cushion to 18.
But the quick run spurred a Cal timeout, and the Bears returned to the floor as a different team. Cal abandoned its zone defense and switched to man-to-man, which seemed to befuddle the Buffs. CU began to turn the ball over — Colorado had 10 turnovers in the second half after just three in the first — and the Bears also found their shooting eye. Sparked by five 3-pointers — three from Darius McNeil — Cal slowly chipped away at CU's 18-point cushion. With just more than seven minutes to play, the Bear finally took a 54-43 lead on a pair of Matt Bradley free throws to complete a 31-12 run.
"We have to handle those runs better," Boyle said. "Tonight in the second half we got sped up offensively and we turned that thing over. … It's almost like we're trying to punch a square peg in a round hole rather than just keep playing."
But just when it looked as if the Buffs were ready to fade away for good, they answered with a 7-0 run and never trailed again. Bey scored inside, Siewert hit a 3-pointer and Wright hit a short jumper to put the Buffs back on top, 60-54, with 5:38 to go.
"I think we let our guard down a little bit," Wright said. "It's something we can't do. We have to be better at that. We were up by 18 and they came back and took the lead. That just can't happen. Luckily we got enough stops and made enough plays to steal this road win."
Cal then cut the lead back to two, 60-58, but the Buffs got a Daylen Kountz free throw and a Gatling bucket with three minutes to go before Wright's 3-pointer with 35 seconds on the clock sealed the win.
"What can you say about McKinley's big-time shot? He's a winner," Boyle said. "We all know that. Anybody that saw us play against Utah and saw us play tonight saw both those games, know how important he is to us. At halftime he had zero points and zero assists. But his presence on the floor is so calming for our guys. I can't say enough about him."
Indeed, the Buffs were a different team with Wright, even when he wasn't scoring in the first half.
"He's like Tom Brady," Bey said with a laugh. "Everybody just does their job. We know on the floor everything's much easier with him."
The Buffs had one of their better overall halves of the year in the first half, taking control midway through the period with an 11-1 run to take a 21-11 lead. Gatling started the run with his third 3-pointer of the half, Kountz added a pair of baskets and Siewert finished the surge with a 15-footer.
The Bears managed to cut CU's lead back to seven momentarily, but Colorado put together an 8-0 burst to push its lead to 15 before Cal managed to cut the gap to 11 by halftime, 34-23.
NAMON WRIGHT OUT FOR SEASON: Boyle announced after the game that senior guard Namon Wright will undergo foot surgery sometime next week and will be out for the season. Wright has been hampered by a foot injury for the last several weeks.
His loss leaves the Buffs with just nine available scholarship players. CU lost Dallas Walton to a season-ending knee injury before the season began and junior guard Deleon Brown is academically ineligible this semester. Freshman Jacob Doumbek, meanwhile, is redshirting.
TURNING POINT: After Cal had rallied to take a one-point lead with just more than seven minutes to go, the Buffs answered with a 7-0 run to regain the lead and never trailed again.
WHAT IT MEANS: With a win on the opening game of their road trip, the Buffs have a chance to pick up a rare road sweep with a win at Stanford on Saturday. The Cardinal lost to Utah on Thursday, 70-66.
KEY STATISTICS: Colorado shot 50 percent from the field (25-for-50), held Cal to 38.9 percent shooting (21-for-54) and held a commanding 37-24 rebounding edge.
QUOTEWORTHY:"Great win. … Now we've got a chance to get a road sweep and you can't get a road sweep unless you win that first one. It's a short turnaround and we have to dial in to Stanford and be ready to go. It's not going to be easy, but we've played well at Stanford. But every year's a new year, every team's a new team. At least we've put ourselves in position. Huge, huge, huge win tonight and a huge, huge game on Saturday." — CU head coach Tad Boyle
NEXT UP: The Buffs wrap up their Bay Area swing with a 6 p.m. game Saturday at Stanford.
The Buffs, searching for their first Pac-12 road win of the year, let an 18-point lead slip away in the second half before finally regaining their composure down the stretch to collect a 68-59 win over Cal.
Colorado improved to 11-7 overall and 2-4 in Pac-12 play while Cal fell to 5-14, 0-7. It was CU's first win at Cal since joining the conference in 2011-12.
Tyler Bey had 17 points and 14 rebounds for his eighth career double-double for the Buffs, Lucas Siewert added 18 points and three rebounds and Shane Gatling had 13 points and six boards.
But one of the biggest buckets of the game came from sophomore point guard McKinley Wright IV, who had eight points, four rebounds and four assists in his return to the lineup after missing last week's game at Utah with a shoulder injury. Wright scored all of his points in the second half, including a big 3-pointer with just 35 seconds remaining in the game that gave the Buffs 66-59 lead to salt away the win.
Paris Austin and Justice Sueing had 13 apiece for the Bears.
"Our resiliency was tested and our guys answered the bell, which I was really proud of," head coach Tad Boyle said. "It's much like November — it's a lot better to learn from a win than learn from a loss, and this would have been a crushing loss. I'm really proud of the way the guys reacted to the adversity."
HOW IT HAPPENED: After controlling the tempo for most of the first half and taking an 11-point lead at intermission, 34-23, the Buffs threatened to blow the game open with a 7-0 run to start the second half to bump their cushion to 18.
But the quick run spurred a Cal timeout, and the Bears returned to the floor as a different team. Cal abandoned its zone defense and switched to man-to-man, which seemed to befuddle the Buffs. CU began to turn the ball over — Colorado had 10 turnovers in the second half after just three in the first — and the Bears also found their shooting eye. Sparked by five 3-pointers — three from Darius McNeil — Cal slowly chipped away at CU's 18-point cushion. With just more than seven minutes to play, the Bear finally took a 54-43 lead on a pair of Matt Bradley free throws to complete a 31-12 run.
"We have to handle those runs better," Boyle said. "Tonight in the second half we got sped up offensively and we turned that thing over. … It's almost like we're trying to punch a square peg in a round hole rather than just keep playing."
But just when it looked as if the Buffs were ready to fade away for good, they answered with a 7-0 run and never trailed again. Bey scored inside, Siewert hit a 3-pointer and Wright hit a short jumper to put the Buffs back on top, 60-54, with 5:38 to go.
"I think we let our guard down a little bit," Wright said. "It's something we can't do. We have to be better at that. We were up by 18 and they came back and took the lead. That just can't happen. Luckily we got enough stops and made enough plays to steal this road win."
Cal then cut the lead back to two, 60-58, but the Buffs got a Daylen Kountz free throw and a Gatling bucket with three minutes to go before Wright's 3-pointer with 35 seconds on the clock sealed the win.
"What can you say about McKinley's big-time shot? He's a winner," Boyle said. "We all know that. Anybody that saw us play against Utah and saw us play tonight saw both those games, know how important he is to us. At halftime he had zero points and zero assists. But his presence on the floor is so calming for our guys. I can't say enough about him."
Indeed, the Buffs were a different team with Wright, even when he wasn't scoring in the first half.
"He's like Tom Brady," Bey said with a laugh. "Everybody just does their job. We know on the floor everything's much easier with him."
The Buffs had one of their better overall halves of the year in the first half, taking control midway through the period with an 11-1 run to take a 21-11 lead. Gatling started the run with his third 3-pointer of the half, Kountz added a pair of baskets and Siewert finished the surge with a 15-footer.
The Bears managed to cut CU's lead back to seven momentarily, but Colorado put together an 8-0 burst to push its lead to 15 before Cal managed to cut the gap to 11 by halftime, 34-23.
NAMON WRIGHT OUT FOR SEASON: Boyle announced after the game that senior guard Namon Wright will undergo foot surgery sometime next week and will be out for the season. Wright has been hampered by a foot injury for the last several weeks.
His loss leaves the Buffs with just nine available scholarship players. CU lost Dallas Walton to a season-ending knee injury before the season began and junior guard Deleon Brown is academically ineligible this semester. Freshman Jacob Doumbek, meanwhile, is redshirting.
TURNING POINT: After Cal had rallied to take a one-point lead with just more than seven minutes to go, the Buffs answered with a 7-0 run to regain the lead and never trailed again.
WHAT IT MEANS: With a win on the opening game of their road trip, the Buffs have a chance to pick up a rare road sweep with a win at Stanford on Saturday. The Cardinal lost to Utah on Thursday, 70-66.
KEY STATISTICS: Colorado shot 50 percent from the field (25-for-50), held Cal to 38.9 percent shooting (21-for-54) and held a commanding 37-24 rebounding edge.
QUOTEWORTHY:"Great win. … Now we've got a chance to get a road sweep and you can't get a road sweep unless you win that first one. It's a short turnaround and we have to dial in to Stanford and be ready to go. It's not going to be easy, but we've played well at Stanford. But every year's a new year, every team's a new team. At least we've put ourselves in position. Huge, huge, huge win tonight and a huge, huge game on Saturday." — CU head coach Tad Boyle
NEXT UP: The Buffs wrap up their Bay Area swing with a 6 p.m. game Saturday at Stanford.
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