3 takeaways from Colorado's 60-57 win over Eastern Washington

BOULDER — Déjà vu.

The Colorado Buffaloes pulled out a last-minute win over the Eastern Washington Eagles by a score of 60-57 Wednesday night. The win was Colorado’s seventh in 10 games this season, and sixth win that came down to the final minute.

The Buffs jumped out to a 15-point lead in the first half, but saw that lead vanish with seven minutes to play in the game. Eastern Washington jumped in front but the Buffs regained the lead with two minutes left. The Eagles shot a three at the buzzer, which would have sent the game to overtime, but it missed.

Here’s what we learned:

Colorado continues to play down to its opponents

The major storyline in this one was the Buffs’ implosion.

As noted above, this isn’t the first time we’ve seen a game play out like Wednesday’s.

Colorado was favored by 16 points, but few expected to see the Buffs cover that spread. In fact, 63% of bettors sided with the Eagles, probably because we’ve seen how these Buffaloes have handled serving as a heavy favorite throughout the season.

Colorado is young, yes, but the Buffs are yet to show signs of growing up.

So far, that hasn’t happened.

The talent is enough to keep Colorado winning games against slow-level opponents, but Pac-12 play is just around the corner and a date with No. 8 Kansas will arrive even sooner.

The Buffs need to click soon.

The bench struggled

Head coach Tad Boyle planned to give the bench more time on Wednesday. The goal was to give the younger players a chance to get significant meaningful minutes, something that hasn’t happened often in recent weeks. With Eastern Washington in town, the plan felt safe.

Obviously, the circumstances changed.

In the first half, Colorado brought five players into the game off the bench. They played a total of 38 minutes, shot 6-of-8 from the field and scored 15 points.

In the second half, that same group played 24 minutes and didn’t score a point.

Again, the team is young and much of that youth is on the bench. Struggles are to be expected and every rollercoaster night is fairly unsurprising.

But if nothing changes, Colorado can’t expect to finish in the top half of the Pac-12.

Boyle said after the game that he plans on giving heavy minutes to the bench again on Friday, when CU takes on Milwaukee.

Jabari Walker notches another double-double

Let’s get the bad out of the way first…

Jabari Walker went to the line for two free throws with 13 seconds on the clock, as the Buffs led by two. Walker made the first but missed the second. Tristan da Silva tipped the round to Walker and then he was fouled again. This time Walker missed both, giving the Eagles a chance to send the game to overtime.

Also, Walker missed all five of his 3-point shots.

But, at least for the most part, Walker was very valuable for the Buffaloes. He hit 6-of-8 two-point shots, scoring 17 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. His six double-doubles are the most in the Pac-12.

It wasn’t a dominant performance for Walker, but 17 and 10 is never something to turn your nose up at, and nobody else on the team scored in double-digits.