Second unit shines in Colorado's 78-49 victory over Oregon State

BOULDER — That was the most complete, dominant victory of the season for Colorado.

And it came at just the right time.

On Monday evening, the Buffs took on the Oregon State Beavers in the second of their four games in seven days. Coming off of an emotional late-game victory over Arizona just two days ago, there was no telling how much energy Colorado would have for the Monday evening tipoff.

However, it did not take a superhuman performance from McKinley Wright or Evan Battey to propel the Buffs to victory. Instead, the leaders came from some unfamiliar places.

Here are a few key takeaways from Colorado’s 78-49 victory over Oregon State.

The depth paid off in a new way

Let’s start with the stat line: 15 points on 6-6 from the floor, 3-4 from the line, four rebounds, and one assist in 20 minutes of play.

Knowing only the stats, who could have been this spark?

Evan Battey? Dallas Walton? Maybe even Maddox Daniels?

Nope.

It was Tristan da Silva.

Da Silva wasn’t a spark as much as he was simply one of the best players on the floor tonight. He is seeing a spike in minutes due to injuries across the roster and especially when the starters get into foul trouble, like Monday night.

No. 23 looked the most comfortable he had all season, scoring in ways that would have made Lucas Siewert proud to share the number.

It was also Jeriah Horne making another huge impact off the bench, scoring 16 points on 6-8 from the floor with seven rebounds. Again, Horne looks to be the clear-cut leader for the Pac-12 Sixth Man of the Year Award.

Jabari Walker is still one of the most talented players on this roster, and his injury is sure to impact the Buffs as they move into their toughest stretch of games in 2021.

Still, with Horne’s consistency and da Silva’s rise, Colorado is proving they still have the pieces available to compete.

Finally, it would be irresponsible to not mention Eli Parquet’s impact again tonight. While he is a consistent starter and does not fall into the “depth” category, his name is not one that usually jumps off the page. Tonight, his perimeter defense helped hold the Beavers’ Jarod Lucas to just four points on 2-10 shooting. Lucas entered the night as OSU’s second-leading scorer.

Additionally, Parquet notched eight points, three rebounds, four assists, a steal, and a block.

On a night where Colorado’s usual stars were a bit quiet, Eli Parquet deserves plenty of recognition.

The usual suspects were suspiciously quiet

When you win by 29 points, it’s tough to find many flaws.

However, it is worth noting that Colorado saw just seven points combined from the dynamic duo of McKinley Wright and Evan Battey.

For Battey, he was plagued by early fouls that took away any major minutes.

For Wright, he was just simply not needed when it came to putting the ball through the basket.

Luckily for the Buffs, they ran through their opponent tonight and the outcome was never in question. Coming off of back-to-back games where CU saw a large lead disappear, it had to be fun for fans to breathe easy tonight.

And with so many games in a short span, perhaps it’s a blessing in disguise that Colorado’s stars were able to have an off night.

They cannot afford another one moving forward.

What’s next?

Colorado will now begin their four-game road trip with a flight to northern California, beginning with the Stanford Cardinal on Thursday night.

Tip-off is scheduled for 5 p.m. MST on ESPN.