BOULDER – Oh, the weather outside was frightful but the play on the court was delightful. While Boulder let it snow, the Colorado Buffaloes made it rain. Winning 89-70, they pounded the Lousiana-Monroe Warhawks into a powder.
Despite being 2-0, the Buffaloes had not really hit their stride yet this season. That changed Thursday night as the Buffs put the rout on LMU. CU was lights out behind Derrick White early as he nabbed ten points in the first six minutes of the contest and the Buffs went ahead big right off the top. He and George King combined to boost the Buffaloes on a 16-3 run to start the contest.
“I just wanted to be aggressive and do what my team ended to help us get off to a good start,” White said. “We didn’t react get off to a good start last game. George King came out and hit two threes for us, which was huge. We just played well from the start.”
It wasn’t quite over as the Warhawks cut it to eight. Yet the Buffaloes weren’t phased unlike the last two games as they went on another big run. This run, however, would never end as the Buffs just poured it on for the rest of the game.
“I thought we did a good job tonight defensively, for the most part. We kind of slacked off in the second half We just have to get better at playing 40 minutes of great defense.”
Powered by another ridiculous effort getting to the free throw line, Colorado was able to take advantage of ULM’s inability to stay in front of the Buffaloes. Once at the line, Colorado actually punished LMU, unlike Monday night, finishing at an 80 percent clip.
“One of our goals every game is that we want to make more free throws than the opponents shoot,” Tad Boyle said. “And the way that you do that is getting to the free throw line more, playing defense without fouling then making shots when you get to the line. We’re trying to get the ball inside; it’s a concerted effort on our part… We put a lot of pressure on the defense the we of that, it’s by design getting to the free throw line. Some nights you’re going to get the call and other nights you’re not so you’ve got to be able to put the ball in the basket.”
Not only did the Buffs better themselves from the stripe they looked better on the boards, snatching 18 on the offensive glass and a plus 12 margin.
“Rebounding wise, I think we just go out there,” Miller, who snatched five on the offensive side said. “That’s what we do whether it’s defensive rebounds or anything else.”
“I thought we got better in that area,” told Boyle about the offensive rebounding. “We had 18 tonight which is a great number. We missed a lot of shots so you can look at that in two different ways. Our whole thing is what we want to be relentless on the boards.”
Speak of relentless, Bryce Peters in his debut brought relentless energy. Playing 17 minutes after missing the first two games on a suspension (violation of team rules), the young guard had nine points, one assist, three steals and six rebounds four of which were offensive.
“Energy is the key word with Bryce,” Boyle said of his debut which included two powerful one-handed dunks. “He brings it on offense and defense, and he had three steals tonight so he gets his hands on a lot of balls. He’s got a good feel for the game as well. He made some calls when playing the point guard position without me having toast him to do that. We haven’t had a freshman guard do that since I’ve been here. He made a nice Penetration kick to Deleon Brown in the corner. Bryce is a guy who’s going to be a terrific player here. And tonight was the first night. It’s something to grow on and develop. He’s still a freshman so he’s going to have good days and bad says with some ups and downs.”
As the weather turned to poor outside, the Buffaloes also made a turn, but for the better. Overall, the Buffs improved in many areas of their game, which was essential as they face tougher competition starting this Monday against Notre Dame in Brooklyn.
