Well....wow. After straight up getting outmuscled and overall outperformed by a mediocre UCLA team which CU has had good success against in the recent past, the Buffaloes marched into the Galen Center and absolutely thumped Southern California, 78-57 last night.
Colorado went down, 6-0 early, in eerily similar fashion to how the start of Thursday's game in Westwood commenced, but within five minutes of play, the Buffs had taken a slim lead, and the first half battle for dominance had began.
With 8:01 to go before halftime, Evan Battey hit a basket that put CU up, 23-17. 30 seconds later, two straight made shots from D'Shawn Schwartz had Colorado up by nine, 26-17. The Buffs would keep u the pressure from then on out until halftime, taking double digit leads while the Trojans struggled from the floor.
By the time the second half rolled around, the Trojans had no chance. CBS basketball writer Jon Rothstein summed it up:
If you know Tad Boyle's history with Andy Enfield, if you know McKinley Wright IV's past encounters with Trojans forward Nick Rakocevic — on a broader scale, noting the definite bubbling animosity these two teams have had in recent years — knowing that two years straight the Buffs have beaten USC in L.A. is quite sweet.
All in all, another split road trip for Colorado. But I'd argue that on this current swing, Colorado earned a resume builder of a win by taking down USC in such a fashion. In the eyes of the AP, I don't think CU will move too drastically.
In the NET the Buffs sit at 16. Solid. Losing at UCLA was disappointing no doubt, but in the end, when Colorado returns to Boulder this week, the Buffs will have gotten a valuable conference win over a Trojans team fighting for a top spot in the league.
Stats: https://cubuffs.com/sports/mens-basketball/stats/2019-20/usc/boxscore/13226
McKinley Wright IV's stat line of 14 points, 8 assists and 6 boards I like a lot, with emphasis on the extreme latter. There were a good number of times where shots went up in the offensive zone and two or three Trojans crashed the glass trying to get a rebound. Enter the 6-foot-flat Wright IV, who multiple times appeared to have springs in his shoes, beating out USC big men under the rim to snag boards. Absolutely love it.
Boyle challenged Wright IV recently to get back to his rebounding roots, and now, with 5-plus boards in three of his last four games, the latter is damn well proving that he takes his coach's challenge seriously and has worked very hard and very efficiently to answer the call.
I think it's underrated how much of a boost for the team Wright IV provides when he's rebounding regularly.
Lucas Siewert continues to shine in his bench role. He's scored in the double digits in five of his last six games, including four straight, and is having a great senior campaign. At USC last night, he contributed 12. He does exactly what Boyle and this Buffaloes team need him to do — knock down threes, work near the rim and make every single minute he's on the floor count. Really have been impressed with his game as of late.
Tyler Bey: Two blocks and two steals were among my favorite parts of his stat line, of course team-highs with 16 points and seven boards are also attractive. Bey flexed his three-point prowess last night, scored a sufficient amount, and came down with 21% of CU's total rebounds (33) on the night.
This consistent happening was my favorite thing to watch about Bey last night: he'll get fed the ball, anywhere from 10-16 feet away from the rim. He'll drive with his back to the net, sometimes he fakes, sometimes he pivots, but many times he does this 180 turn without warning and without hesitation and launches a short to mid range shot that more often than not is going down. That's an NBA move right there. Love watching it.
Eli Parquet and Dallas Walton made their minutes count last night, bit time. Parquet turned in a defensively impressive performance and scored five points. Parquet likely is never going to crack the double digits in scoring, but when he defends at a high level and chips in a basket here and there I can rationalize 27 minutes on the court.
Walton on the other hand played eight minutes and scored five points. Steadily, I think he's continuing to earn the trust of Boyle and inch closer and closer to returning to his redshirt freshman season. Three rebounds as well in that eight minutes on the court. Sounds good to me.
Evan Battey was good, not great against the Trojans. He was playing in front of over three dozen family members in his native L.A. last night, and although he didn't put on the clinic that he did in Westwood, but 4-of-9 shooting with nine points on the night isn't complaint worthy. There were four Buffaloes who scored in the double digits last night; Battey could afford a leaner scoring performance.
Overall, the Buffs made 88% of their free throws, outrebounded USC 33-27, and took down a top-of-the-league team on its home court. Colorado is as good as it wants to be on any given night. A down-the-stretch battle for a Pac-12 title with Oregon is very much on the line. CU is right in the thick of it.
Now, it's time to come back home, dismantle Cal, weather a good Stanford team, and prepare for a daunting road trip two weeks from now at the Oregon schools. After that clip of the schedule, we'll really be able to evaluate Colorado's chances at winning a Pac-12 regular season title.
Onward, CU, onward!
What'd you all think of the game?
Colorado went down, 6-0 early, in eerily similar fashion to how the start of Thursday's game in Westwood commenced, but within five minutes of play, the Buffs had taken a slim lead, and the first half battle for dominance had began.
With 8:01 to go before halftime, Evan Battey hit a basket that put CU up, 23-17. 30 seconds later, two straight made shots from D'Shawn Schwartz had Colorado up by nine, 26-17. The Buffs would keep u the pressure from then on out until halftime, taking double digit leads while the Trojans struggled from the floor.
By the time the second half rolled around, the Trojans had no chance. CBS basketball writer Jon Rothstein summed it up:
If you know Tad Boyle's history with Andy Enfield, if you know McKinley Wright IV's past encounters with Trojans forward Nick Rakocevic — on a broader scale, noting the definite bubbling animosity these two teams have had in recent years — knowing that two years straight the Buffs have beaten USC in L.A. is quite sweet.
All in all, another split road trip for Colorado. But I'd argue that on this current swing, Colorado earned a resume builder of a win by taking down USC in such a fashion. In the eyes of the AP, I don't think CU will move too drastically.
In the NET the Buffs sit at 16. Solid. Losing at UCLA was disappointing no doubt, but in the end, when Colorado returns to Boulder this week, the Buffs will have gotten a valuable conference win over a Trojans team fighting for a top spot in the league.
Stats: https://cubuffs.com/sports/mens-basketball/stats/2019-20/usc/boxscore/13226
McKinley Wright IV's stat line of 14 points, 8 assists and 6 boards I like a lot, with emphasis on the extreme latter. There were a good number of times where shots went up in the offensive zone and two or three Trojans crashed the glass trying to get a rebound. Enter the 6-foot-flat Wright IV, who multiple times appeared to have springs in his shoes, beating out USC big men under the rim to snag boards. Absolutely love it.
Boyle challenged Wright IV recently to get back to his rebounding roots, and now, with 5-plus boards in three of his last four games, the latter is damn well proving that he takes his coach's challenge seriously and has worked very hard and very efficiently to answer the call.
I think it's underrated how much of a boost for the team Wright IV provides when he's rebounding regularly.
Lucas Siewert continues to shine in his bench role. He's scored in the double digits in five of his last six games, including four straight, and is having a great senior campaign. At USC last night, he contributed 12. He does exactly what Boyle and this Buffaloes team need him to do — knock down threes, work near the rim and make every single minute he's on the floor count. Really have been impressed with his game as of late.
Tyler Bey: Two blocks and two steals were among my favorite parts of his stat line, of course team-highs with 16 points and seven boards are also attractive. Bey flexed his three-point prowess last night, scored a sufficient amount, and came down with 21% of CU's total rebounds (33) on the night.
This consistent happening was my favorite thing to watch about Bey last night: he'll get fed the ball, anywhere from 10-16 feet away from the rim. He'll drive with his back to the net, sometimes he fakes, sometimes he pivots, but many times he does this 180 turn without warning and without hesitation and launches a short to mid range shot that more often than not is going down. That's an NBA move right there. Love watching it.
Eli Parquet and Dallas Walton made their minutes count last night, bit time. Parquet turned in a defensively impressive performance and scored five points. Parquet likely is never going to crack the double digits in scoring, but when he defends at a high level and chips in a basket here and there I can rationalize 27 minutes on the court.
Walton on the other hand played eight minutes and scored five points. Steadily, I think he's continuing to earn the trust of Boyle and inch closer and closer to returning to his redshirt freshman season. Three rebounds as well in that eight minutes on the court. Sounds good to me.
Evan Battey was good, not great against the Trojans. He was playing in front of over three dozen family members in his native L.A. last night, and although he didn't put on the clinic that he did in Westwood, but 4-of-9 shooting with nine points on the night isn't complaint worthy. There were four Buffaloes who scored in the double digits last night; Battey could afford a leaner scoring performance.
Overall, the Buffs made 88% of their free throws, outrebounded USC 33-27, and took down a top-of-the-league team on its home court. Colorado is as good as it wants to be on any given night. A down-the-stretch battle for a Pac-12 title with Oregon is very much on the line. CU is right in the thick of it.
Now, it's time to come back home, dismantle Cal, weather a good Stanford team, and prepare for a daunting road trip two weeks from now at the Oregon schools. After that clip of the schedule, we'll really be able to evaluate Colorado's chances at winning a Pac-12 regular season title.
Onward, CU, onward!
What'd you all think of the game?
