BOULDER — Colorado woke up Monday morning to the news that they had climbed to No. 23 in the AP Poll, and followed it up with a strong showing later that night.
The Buffs came in as 10.5-point favorites, but UC-Irvine came in with a 3-1 record of their own. For a team that made the NCAA Tournament just one year ago, the Anteaters presented another strong early-season matchup for CU. Ultimately, fans saw what more game action can do to help iron out wrinkles.
Heres what we saw Monday night:
Tyler Bey is a dominating force in the conference
I am running out of adjectives to describe exactly what Tyler Bey is and what he brings to the Buffs on a nightly basis. Although he was three rebounds short of his third-straight double-double, Bey stuffed the stat sheet with three assists, six steals, and a block to pair with his seven boards and 16 points.
Although only standing 6-foot-7, Bey’s length and athleticism give him a unique presence on the team. Bey has worked toward becoming a stretch-four, as his deep ball is not perfect but is still enough of a threat to force the defense to play honestly.
The one aspect of Bey’s game he desperately needs to improve upon is his ball security, as his three turnovers on Monday put his season total to 10, the most of any Buff.
While Colorado is not a team designed to let one player take over statistical standings, Bey is still finding his way onto the leaderboards. Currently, he sits at tied for 15th in scoring with 15 points per game and third in rebounds with 9.7 per game.
More minutes reduces mental mistakes
The biggest knock on the Buffs so far has been their sloppiness with the ball and the missed free throws, and Monday night gave the team a chance to shut that narrative down, at least for now.
The Buffs had only seven turnovers throughout the game, with three of them coming from Bey. They were able to control the pace of the game by maintaining most of their possessions, and in turn, had a much more efficient night offensively.
Colorado also bumped up their free-throw percentage to 71% on 12-17 shooting, a solid improvement from the previous games. Fans hope this number continues to rise to a constant level in the 70s, as leaving free points on the table will come back to haunt this team when the level of competition rises.
The team is finding their stroke from deep
While their percentage from the floor dropped a bit lower than you would like (39%), the Buffs shot 47% from deep. The percentage is less impressive than who did it, because it came from a variety of sources.
The guards felt it on Monday. McKinley Wright IV finally found his rhythm shooting the ball, hitting on 2-4 from deep and 6-11 on the floor. Furthermore, D’Shawn Schwartz, Daylen Kountz, Shane Gatling, Maddox Daniels, and Eli Parquet all cashed at least one in from deep.
While Bey took over on the block, the rotation of backcourt players consistently found success. No one player took over because eight players saw more than 15 minutes of game action, with much of the rotation coming from Gatling and Daniels.
Colorado now sees three of its guards in the top-10 of 3-point shooting within the Pac-12, as Schwartz (58.3%), Daniels (57.1%), and Gatling (50.0%) sit at fifth, sixth, and ninth, respectively.
Looking ahead
The Buffs take to the road this week as they travel to Wyoming on Sunday, Nov. 24, with tip-off coming at 6 p.m. MST.
