Quick break
Why the Buffs received: CU shot .608, its second-highest share of the season and its prime mark in Massive 12 play, whereas forcing Utah into 9 first-half turnovers.
Three stars
1. Bangot Dak. Posted his fifth double-double, scoring a career-high 22 factors together with 10 rebounds and 4 blocked photographs.
2. Isaiah Johnson. The freshman guard turned in one other stable all-around effort, going 8-for-8 on the free throw line with 22 factors, 4 assists and three steals.
3. Barrington Hargress. Went 7-for-11 total and an ideal 3-for-3 on 3-pointers, recording 19 factors, and three assists.
Up next: CU completes the common season at residence on Saturday in opposition to No. 2 Arizona (9 p.m., ESPN2).
SALT LAKE CITY — Colorado followers are painfully conscious of a number of the ugly outcomes the Buffaloes have posted on the highway over the previous 5 weeks.
But on a group that leans closely on freshmen, the CU males’s basketball group has managed to reply after each a type of lopsided losses. And the Buffaloes did it once more at Utah.
Simply three days after getting routed at Houston by 40 factors, the Buffs dominated the Utes within the first half earlier than holding off Utah’s second-half comeback bid in a 92-78 Massive 12 victory on Tuesday on the Huntsman Heart.
The Buffs entered the sport 1-18 in true highway video games for the reason that begin of final season and had misplaced their three earlier video games at Utah. Bangot Dak posted his fifth double-double of the season with a career-high 22 factors together with 10 rebounds, whereas the Buffs obtained massive video games from the backcourt tandem of Isaiah Johnson and Barrington Hargress.
CU picked up the highway win regardless of taking part in with out beginning ahead Sebastian Rancik, who was sidelined by an damage sustained at observe this week.
“Video games like (Houston), we don’t need that to be our sort of identification. That we’re the group that’s going to get blown out by that many factors,” Dak mentioned. “Any time we have now a sport like that, we all know it’s necessary to have a bounce-back efficiency, and I really feel like we’ve been doing that.”
CU by no means trailed, making the most of a sloppy first half from Utah to construct a 26-point lead at halftime. The Utes dedicated 9 turnovers within the first half, giving the Buffs a 13-2 edge in factors off turnovers on the break, and went 0-for-9 on 3-pointers earlier than halftime. After an early 13-13 tie, the Buffs outscored Utah 38-12 over the rest of the primary half to take a 51-25 halftime lead.
After the break, nonetheless, Utah began defending the ball, recording only one turnover within the second half. And immediately the Buffs’ protection wasn’t so formidable. Utah shot .739 within the second half (17-for-23), hitting their first six 3-point makes an attempt and changing all three free throws after a CU foul on one other long-range try. The Utes used a 19-4 run to chop CU’s result in 11 factors and Utah whittled the deficit right down to 9 on three separate events, however every time the Buffs responded with key baskets.
After struggling these days on the free throw line, CU knocked down its free throws at crunch time, ending 21-for-23.
“Our guys, I assumed, have been actually dialed-in defensively, and we created some offense with our protection,” CU head coach Tad Boyle mentioned. “The second half was simply the other. 9 of the primary 10 possessions they scored, and the tenth one they acquired an offensive rebound.
“Credit score Utah for coming again, however I additionally acquired to credit score our guys for sort of stemming the tide. It was a type of video games, I instructed the bench, I instructed our employees, ‘We higher maintain scoring, as a result of we are able to’t cease these dudes within the second half.’”
The Buffs have struggled from 3-point vary away from residence, posting a .293 mark (51-for-174) of their first eight Massive 12 highway video games. However CU rediscovered its taking pictures contact at Utah, going 9-for-17 from the arc. Hargress went 3-for-3, protecting him in vary of Levi Knutson’s single-season 3-point share file. Johnson went 2-for-5 and fellow freshman Jalin Holland was 3-for-4, pulling down three 3-pointers in a sport for the primary time in his profession.
“It says lots about this group. We’re keen to battle it doesn’t matter what the circumstance is,” Johnson mentioned. “We’re in a position to come again from powerful conditions and we’re in a position to push by means of adversity.”
Colorado 92, Utah 78
COLORADO (17-13, 7-10 Massive 12)
Dak 6-9 9-10 22, Hargress 7-11 2-3 19, Holland 3-7 2-2 11, Johnson 6-10 8-8 22, J.Sanders 4-4 0-0 8, Inman 1-5 0-0 2, Michaeli 1-2 0-0 2, Malone 3-3 0-0 6. Totals 31-51 21-23 92.
UTAH (10-20, 2-15)
Dawes 2-7 0-0 4, Okonkwo 2-2 2-2 6, S.Traore 2-4 3-4 9, Brown 10-17 5-8 26, McHenry 5-9 8-8 19, Hayes 1-2 0-1 2, Okay.Sanders 3-5 0-0 8, Langarita 0-1 0-0 0, Abbey 2-5 0-0 4. Totals 27-52 18-23 78.
Halftime: Colorado 51-25. 3-point discipline objectives: Colorado 9-17 (Hargress 3-3, Holland 3-4, Johnson 2-5, Dak 1-2, Inman 0-3); Utah 6-16 (S.Traore 2-2, Okay.Sanders 2-3, Brown 1-1, McHenry 1-4, Langarita 0-1, Abbey 0-2, Dawes 0-3). Rebounds: Colorado 27 (Dak 10); Utah 23 (Okay.Sanders 5). Assists: Colorado 17 (J.Sanders 5); Utah 15 (Dawes, Brown, McHenry 4). Turnovers: Colorado 7 (Johnson, Hargress Inman 2); Utah 10 (Dawes 3). Complete fouls: Colorado 17, Utah 18. A: 6,975.