Buffs Stymie Huskies To Complete Weekend Pac-12 Sweep

 

BOULDER —Colorado's Tyler Bey scored 16 points and McKinley Wright added 15 points and eight rebounds Saturday to lead the Buffaloes to a 76-62 win over Washington at the CU Events Center.

The 23rd-ranked Buffs, who ended a five-game losing streak to the Huskies, improved to 16-4 overall — the best 20-game start in the Tad Boyle era — and 5-2 in Pac-12 play while UW fell to 12-9, 2-6. Paired with Thursday's win over Washington State, the victory in front of 9,521 — the second-largest Events Center crowd of the season — gave CU a Pac-12 weekend sweep, the Buffs' first in three tries this year.

Joining Bey and Wright in double-figures was senior Lucas Siewert, who had 12 points and five rebounds. Shane Gatling added nine points and a team-high five assists and D'Shawn Schwartz had seven points and six rebounds for Colorado.

Isaiah Stewart led Washington with 23 points.

The Buffs led 51-33 at intermission, then relied on defense and rebounding down the stretch to collect the victory. CU forced 20 Washington turnovers that led to 22 points, and also had a 40-31 edge on the boards, including 12 offensive rebounds that led to 13 second-chance points.

Wright's eight rebounds tied him for game-high honors with UW's Stewart.

"Great win against a really, really talented Washington team that is obviously young," Boyle said. "I told our team we get to feel good about where we are right now but certainly in no way can we feel satisfied. We want to compete for a Pac-12 championship and the only way to do that is to go in and win games on the road and we're going to have that opportunity ahead of us."

HOW IT HAPPENED: After a ragged first couple of minutes to open the game, the Buffs caught fire with a 20-4 run that produced a 22-9 lead less than eight minutes in. Gatling, Wright, Siewert and Maddox Daniels all hit 3-pointers in the surge while CU's defense was forcing five UW turnovers that led to nine Colorado points.

"Colorado came out ready to swing first," UW coach Mike Hopkins said. "They came at us. They were prepared and they made shots."

The Buffs built the lead to 16 midway through the half before Washington momentarily cut the cushion back to eight, 39-31. But Colorado finished with a 12-2 run to take a 51-33 lead into intermission and UW never cut the margin into single digits again.

"One of the keys for us offensively tonight coming into this game was to make sound, decisive decisions against that zone," Boyle said. "We did a really good job of that in the first half."

The Buffs pushed their cushion to 20 early in the second half when a Siewert free throw after a technical foul — UW was whistled for three technicals in the game — gave CU a 57-37 edge.

But the Huskies had one more comeback in their pocket, as they got hot from 3-point range and cut the margin to 10 with more than six minutes still to play, 66-56. 

The Buffs, meanwhile, went cold in the second half. After a 7-for-11 effort from 3-point range in the first 20 minutes, Colorado was 0-for-8 from long range after intermission. 

But just when the Huskies had hopes of a comeback, CU responded with back-to-back buckets from Schwartz and Bey to push the margin back to 14 with 5:48 remaining, 70-56.  Washington never came closer than 12 again. Colorado held the Huskies scoreless over the last 3:22 and Bey added an exclamation point with a ferocious dunk with 2:35 to play that proved to be the final points of the game.

"When you get down 18 points to a top 25 team with a great coach and a veteran team, it's hard to come back," Hopkins said.

Bey, who missed Thursday's game with an injury — his only "did not play" in 88 games as a Buff —  also had four rebounds, three steals and two assists while battling with UW's 6-9, 250-pound Stewart for much of the evening. 

"It felt great," Bey said. "It was great to go out there and compete with my teammates and get a 'W,' especially against a team we haven't beaten since we've been here."

While CU's big men — Evan Battey, Dallas Walton, Bey and Siewert — combined for just 15 rebounds, Colorado's guards pooled their resources to come up with 22, led by Wright's eight and Schwartz's six.

FAMILY AFFAIR: Tyler Bey's cousin, Jamal Bey, started at point guard for Washington and finished with five points and one rebound. There was a large contingent of the Bey family in attendance.

"I thought it was 15, but it ended up being like 30," Tyler Bey said with a laugh. "It was a lot."

QUALITY MINUTES FROM WALTON: Buffs 7-footer Dallas Walton, who missed all of last season with the third ACL tear of his career, continues to regain his confidence and game. He played 14 minutes Saturday — a season high — and finished with seven points, two rebounds, a blocked shot and a steal.

"I had the Deandre Ayton flashbacks," said Wright, referencing a game two seasons ago when Walton had an outstanding effort against the then-Arizona star. "Coach kept telling us he was a weapon and we had to get him the ball. He got a little angry. Stewart was talking to him and he went to work. It felt good to have Dallas starting to get his groove back."

Walton had a solid night working on both ends against Stewart and was particularly effective with a jump hook. 

Along with Siewert and Walton, the Buffs also got good minutes off the bench from Maddox Daniels (six points, two assists).

"Our depth is critical," Boyle said. "It's awesome, especially when you're at home and at altitude. The strength of this team we said before the season started was our depth, and it plays out. Tonight, it certainly did, and I thought it did against Washington State as well."

TURNING POINT: Washington managed to cut a 16-point deficit in half late in the first half, but CU answered with a 12-2 run to close the half and Washington never cut the margin into single digits again.

WHAT IT MEANS: The Buffs remain just one game back of Pac-12 leader Stanford in the loss column, but now finish the regular season with seven of their last 11 games on the road.

KEY STATISTICS: CU held a 40-31 edge in rebounding and forced 20 Washington turnovers that produced 22 points … The Buffs also held UW to just 41.8 percent shooting while hitting 45.3 percent of their shots (29-64).

BUFFS BITS: CU's 51 first-half points were the most in the opening 20 minutes for Colorado since scoring 57 vs. Northern Arizona in 2012 … Colorado has won 34 straight games when holding opponents to 62 points or less … CU is 26-0 under Boyle when recording at least 20 assists. 

QUOTEWORTHY:  "There's still room for improvement and that's what we have to focus ourselves on. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Colorado has to get better in different areas of the game. If we will concentrate on that as a team and do that, good things are going to happen. It's going to be a fun year." — CU head coach Tad Boyle 

NEXT UP: The Buffs hit the road next week for a pair of late games in Los Angeles, beginning with a Thursday contest at UCLA (9 p.m.), followed by a Saturday tilt at USC (8:30 p.m.).

Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu