Alford, all Bruins in Boulder

DOWNTOWN BOULDER – A barrage of triples buried the Buffaloes in Boulder as the Bruins hit 19 from deep and downed Colorado 104-89.

Bryce Alford, son of UCLA’s head coach Steve, went off for 37, including nine three-pointers. While the Buffaloes remained close in the first half it was the exceptional play of Alford along with freshman Lonzo Ball the propelled UCLA to a blowout win.

The Bruins may have carried the No. 4 ranking into Boulder but according to Tad Boyle, they were the best team in the country, at least on the offensive end as the seventh year headman said postgame.

“Let me tip my hat to UCLA first off,” Boyle explained. “They’re a terrific offensive basketball team and are one of best offensive teams that I’ve coached against in my 23 years. I tip my hat to UCLA head coach Steve Alford and his son Bryce who had a great night. They just move and share the ball well making them difficult to guard. I thought that we did a pretty good job in transition defense tonight. Our defense wasn’t good enough tonight, but there’s a lot of people who play UCLA whose defense isn’t good enough wet you have the firepower that the have. I thought our guys battled hard and fought but we didn’t have an answer for Bryce Alford. Our offense was enough, scoring 89 points, we didn’t shoot the ball well enough. We took care of the ball but we didn’t defend and a lot of that credit goes to them.”

Ball was expected to ball, he did not disappoint, finishing with 11 points and eight dimes. He sparked the UCLA offense in the second half on some sweet passing with Isaac Hamilton. Hamilton was able to connect on four-of-five from the arc.

“In the second half Ball really got them going a few times,” Boyle remarked. “He made a play midway through the half where he sliced and hit Hamilton for a three and that was kind of the one that I thought stuck the dagger in us… He might be the best freshman I’ve seen since I’ve been here. Kansas’ Andrew Wiggins came in here but didn’t play well against us. Ball is as good as it gets. If there’s a better point guard in the country, I’d like to see him play.”

Thursday wasn’t about a lack of effort on Colorado’s side as has been the case in the past this season. UCLA was just the superior team.

“I do believe that our team is getting better,” Boyle told. ” But it’s a hard road, playing Arizona on the road and then playing the No. 4 team in the country at home. This si the best offensive team in the country and when they make 19 threes it’s hard to overcome that. Some of them were tough threes that were deep and some of them were well defended. Some of them were not defended and that’s what we need to work on, is giving up these open three-pointers… You can’t trade baskets with UCLA, if you can’t get stops then you can’t come back in these games. I’ve been here for seven years and after a loss, I’m usually in here pointing the finger at myself but tonight it was more about what UCLA did do then what we didn’t do.”

Derrick White continued to be Colorado crutch as they relied on him just to be able to stand toe-to-toe with UCLA. The transfer finished with 20 and shelved out most of the Buffaloes ball movement.

“We didn’t do a great job of moving, moving the ball,” White said. “When they got hot and e let them get going there is no one in the country that can really guard them. They move the ball really well, they use screens really well so we can learn from that and put it into our offense.”

Xavier Johnson added 21 points and six boards as he looked superior, but Colorado 1-2-punch was not nearly enough.

Colorado takes on another ranked opponent Sunday, USC.

“We just have to keep believing. We cannot get our heads down. In addition, we cannot look at the past and try to relive that. We have to think about what we have next. Our next game is on Sunday. So, we got to prepare and try our best to get that W.”

NOTES:

• Deleon Brown made his first start. He started in the place of Josh Fortune, who was limited to three minutes as a coaches decision.
• It’s the first time Colorado has let up 100 points in a game in the Tad Boyle era, the last time was 2009 against Texas. It’s the first time since 2007 that they’ve given up 100, which also came against Texas.