Colorado caps off regular season with beatdown of Utah

BOULDER — The Buffs are cooking.

Colorado knocked off Utah 84-71 on the road in the final game of the regular season on Saturday. The win improves the Buffs’ Pac-12 record to 12-8 and overall record to 20-10. Utah will finish second-to-last in the conference with a 4-16 record.

Before the Buffs took the floor, they already knew they were locked into the No. 4 seed in the Pac-12 Tournament, which starts on Wednesday in Las Vegas. Colorado needed either an Oregon loss to Washington State or a win over Utah. They got both and they also got bye through the first round of the tournament for the second time since joining the Pac-12 over a decade ago. They’ll take on the winner of 5th-seeded Oregon and 12th-seeded Oregon State in the quarterfinals Thursday afternoon. Colorado’s other bye came last season, when the Buffs finished the regular season in third place.

Despite playing for nothing but the computer rankings, Colorado smoked the Utes from start to finish on Saturday. CU’s lead hit double-digits less than six minutes into the game. At the 10-minute mark, the Buffs led by 18. Colorado led by 20+ points for the majority of the second half—the lead peaked at 29—but Utah made a run in the final minutes to pull as close as 13.

Colorado’s early success was powered by sharp 3-point shooting. The Buffs’ first four field goals of the game came from deep; one from Jabari Walker and three from Evan Battey. The hot shooting continued through the game, as the Buffs shot 14-23 from deep. Battey led the way, making six of his nine 3-point attempts.

Saturday, in the final regular-season game of his career, Battey put together one of his greatest performances. His 27 points set a new career high and he also added 6 rebounds, a couple of assists and a steal while only turning the ball over once.

The story, though, was Battey’ performance from behind the 3-point line. Not only was he making threes, he was shooting them from well behind the arc. The development of his jumpshot has helped him grow from one of the best pick-and-roll bigs in the conference to an elite pick-and-pop threat too. Now, defenders don’t know how to guard him. He put that to use consistently on Saturday, dropping into open space behind the arc or charging forward and forcing a switch with a smaller defender in the post.

While Battey stole the show in Salt Lake City, Jabari Walker provided another strong performance. He scored 22 points with 12 rebounds and five assists. Since these types of performances have been normalized for Walker, it’s important to put his impact into context. Walker recorded his 16th double-double of the season, which is more than double anybody else in the Pac-12. He also improved his league-best rebounding average.

In general, the Buffs seemed to have brought the same energy they had against #2 Arizona last time out, when Colorado pulled off one of the top upsets of the season. The intensity was there from start to finish, especially on the defensive end. The Buffs locked in offensively and only turned the ball over nine times, one of their best marks of the season.

Also, like last Saturday, Julian Hammond III got the start at point guard. This decision wasn’t a surprise considering the success CU saw when the true freshman earned his first start against Arizona. While Hammond was fairly quiet—three points, three assists, two rebounds—he provided a steady hand and was crucial in the Buffs’ ability to avoid the turnover bug.

Keeshawn Barthelemy and KJ Simpson both played more minutes than Hammond, despite coming off the bench. Barthelemy put up 8 points in 22 minutes while shooting 60% from the field. Simpson finished 1-for-4 with 5 points in 21 minutes.

Tristan da Silva only played 16 minutes before fouling out of the game. He put up five points on perfect shooting with three rebounds and three assists before his early departure.

Overall, it was a very solid effort from a group of Buffaloes who are very clearly playing the best ball of the season at the right time. Colorado has won seven of its last eight games and only one of those wins has come down to the final minutes. With a trip to Vegas right around the corner, the Buffs will absolutely be a team worth keeping an eye on.