3 takeaways from Colorado's 83-78 win over Washington State

BOULDER — The Buffs are back!

After 18 days without a game because of COVID-19, Colorado took the floor against Washington State on Thursday. The Buffs came out with an 83-78 home win and improved their record to 2-1 in conference play and 10-3 overall.

Here’s what went down:

Jabari Walker bounces back

Colorado’s star forward, Jabari Walker, got off to a slow start on Thursday; he missed all four of his shots in the first half and he turned the ball over twice.

In the second half, though, Walker provided (including first six

and-one converted to go up seven with 2:08 left

For the Buffs to be successful, Walker needs to perform. He’s the most talented player on the team and CU is done playing mid- and low-major schools. The Buffs want to make noise in the Pac-12 and they aren’t going to be able to do it without at least a dozen points from Walker every night. More often than not, they’ll need more than that.

We can’t just forget about how Walker disappeared in the first half. Sure, it was his first game back after a long break without meaningful basketball, but he’s had a tendency to disappear over the past two seasons. His second half more than made up for it, but digging himself into a hole in the first half isn’t a plan for success longterm.

The seniors provide the steady hand

Colorado’s two scholarship seniors sealed the game.

As the clock wound down and the Buffs held a three-point lead, Eli Parquet held the ball. With a few seconds left on the shot clock, Evan Battey set a screen and Parquet used the leverage to scoop in a layup. The lead expanded to five with 34 seconds to play, essentially sealing the outcome.

A couple minutes earlier, Parquet scored his first field goal of the game. Washington State had shifted to a zone defense for the first time, which has typically been good for at least a couple of stops against the Buffs in recent years. Instead, Parquet caught the ball on the wing, took a step in, crossed over a defender and knocked down a step-back two-point jumper. The CU lead jumped to six with less than three minutes to go.

Battey pushed the lead to six a minute earlier, when he drew a foul on a post hook and earned converted the three-point play.

Colorado was fairly sloppy throughout the game—again, that was to be expected—but the seniors came in clutch down the stretch.

Battey, in particular, was the steady hand on Thursday. He led CU in scoring with 20 points on eight field goal attempts. That’s incredible efficiency. Plus, he added three boards and two assists. (It’s worth noting that he finished with four fouls. The narrative could have been much different if he’d committed one more.)

Keeshawn Barthelemy provides volume scoring

Colorado’s starting point guard had a rollercoaster start to his sophomore season.

Keeshawn Barthelemy averaged more than 20 points per game in the first three games of the season, shooting better than 50% from the field in each of them. He struggled the rest of the way through the early stretch of the season, including a six-game run where he only made on 3-pointer in 21 attempts.

After starting out as CU’s best offensive option, he turned into a black hole.

On Thursday, we got what we should expect from Barthelemy: a high-volume scorer with middling efficiency.

Barthelemy scored 17 points on 5-of-12 shooting. He grabbed four boards, dished out for assists and turned the ball over twice. It was a solid night.

Colorado is light on the offensive end of the floor. They have players who can score but don’t have much for a dominant first-option or players who score in double-digits every night. They can afford to have a Russell Westbrook-like volume scorer. If Barthelemy can fill that role consistently—even on 40% shooting—it could go a long way.