3 takeaways from Colorado's overtime win over Montana State

BOULDER — Basketball is back!

The Colorado Buffaloes opened their season with a home win over Montana State in an overtime thriller. The Buffs came back in the final minutes of regulation and ultimately beat the Bobcats 94-90.

Here’s what we learned:

The Buffs are resilient

Colorado shouldn’t have fallen behind Montana State by 13 points. They should be a significantly better team than the Bobcats, and if they aren’t then they have no chance at an NCAA Tournament appearance.

But everything that happened after that point was incredibly encouraging.

Colorado was able to rally. The Buffs won the last eight minutes of regulation by 11 points, forcing overtime. And the Buffs kept up the momentum in overtime, before letting the mistakes creep back in and ultimately let the Cats get back within 4.

With 43 seconds left in regulation, Evan Battey hit two clutch free throws and Eli Parquet knocked down a 3-pointer that tied the game up. These were clutch plays from the two seniors on the roster.

Then, the Buffs got the stop they needed.

A blowout win is great. It would have been an awesome sign of what’s to come.

But there’s plenty of value grinding out a win after clawing back when it feels like you aren’t getting any breaks.

Colorado is scrappy. And that’s a great quality to have.

The bigs can’t stay out of trouble

Colorado is talented in the front court but it isn’t all that deep.

Evan Battey, Jabari Walker and Lawson Lovering share the duties at power forward and center, with Tristan da Silva sliding in from small forward in a pinch.

On Tuesday, there was a pinch.

Evan Battey picked up his second foul just six minutes into the game. He sat out the rest of the first half. Ninety seconds into the second half, he notched a third foul.

Battey wasn’t alone.

It only took seven minutes on the floor for Lovering to earn his second. Da Silva had two in less than 10 minutes, thanks in part to needing to slide down into the post. They both had their third less than three minutes into the second half. A minute later, Lovering picked up his fourth and fouled out with 10 minutes to go.

Despite the foul trouble, Battey was arguably the best player on the court. He put up 16 points in 21 minutes and he didn’t miss a shot.

Colorado needs Battey on the court. If he’s spending significant time on the bench, the Buffs won’t have many favorable matchups this season.

Don’t worry about the point guards

McKinley Wright IV left massive shoes to fill in Boulder.

The early results are positive.

Keeshawn Barthelemy served as Colorado’s starting point guard and he did just about everything asked of him. He knocked in six of his 11 shots—including all three of his 3-point attempts—and he provided four boards and five assists while only turning the ball over twice.

Barthelemy’s 19 points led the Buffs and provided a scoring punch that helped open up the passing lanes.

For the most part, he was in control.

K.J. Simpson served as the backup point guard and he gave solid minutes off the bench, with a couple of rookie mistakes. Still, there was plenty to like and Tad Boyle said after the game that the Buffs need to get him on the court more than the 13 minutes he played on Saturday.

He also mentioned that he’s confident in Julian Hammond III, too. But there just wasn’t room for him in the rotation.

Too many point guards is a good problem to have.