Three takeaways from the Buffs' 56-41 victory over Wyoming

As University of Colorado students packed up for fall break, the Buffs’ basketball team packed up for a trip to Las Vegas to play in the MGM Resorts Main Event.

The tournament, which takes place Sunday and Tuesday, is a four-team affair held at the T-Mobile Arena, the site of the  Pac-12 tournament.

Colorado won its opening game against Wyoming 56-41 Sunday night. After a woeful first half that saw each team put just 15 points on the board, CU stepped it up in the second, coming out aggressive and playing to its strengths.

Heres what we saw on Sunday night:

Colorado may have found a solution to the road struggles

The Buffs are as strong as they have ever been but throughout head coach Tad Boyle’s 10-year tenure at CU, his teams have struggled to perform on the road.

Saturday night, Colorado went into the locker room at halftime with a mere 15 points to their name and they’d only hit one 3-pointer. This performance was more than concerning, as the Buffs came in as 19-point favorites over the Cowboys.

However, the slow start shouldn’t be the headline, but rather Colorado’s halftime adjustments. D’Shawn Schwartz opened the second half with a 17-fooert that set the tempo for the remainder of the game. CU  bumped up its field-goal percentage to 38%, and its field goal percentage to 28%. These are not strong numbers but they were an exponential improvement over the first 20 minutes.

The Buffaloes showed one thing tonight that we had yet to see in 2019: an ability to respond to adversity. Even against the Sun Devils on opening night, Colorado had not yet fought a game like this. Fans were able to see how this team responds to underperformance somewhere other than Boulder and turned what could have been a blemish on the resume into a solid victory that should have a limited impact come Selection Sunday.

The bigs got boards

Rebounding isn’t as flashy as a smooth transition three but it’s almost as effective, and Colorado can board with the best of them.

Tyler Bey and Evan Battey pulled in 31 of the team’s 50 rebounds, with Bey snagging a career-high 19. Coming into the night, CU was No. 89 in total rebounds per game in the country, and No. 88 in offensive rebounding. The team smashed these numbers on Sunday night, with their 21 offensive rebounds, as well as total rebounds that would rank in the top-2 of each category.

This game does not suggest that we can expect these types of numbers every night, but it does show just what CU is capable of. Every time a ceiling might be put on these players, they go out and put the country on notice with what they can do.

Tyler Bey continued his impressive start to the season, as his 19 rebounds went along with 11 points, six assists, two steals and a block. Bey’s three double-doubles in just four games are enough to start turning heads nationally, something Colorado players have struggled with in the past.

It’s time to be concerned about the free throws

There are simply no more excuses to be made for the misses; a 9-for-20 performance from the charity stripe shouldn’t be on the table for Colorado four games into the season.

Free throws are another aspect that won’t jump out in victories, but Colorado is consistently leaving almost 10 points per game on the table just by missing these shots. Every team will have off-nights and will have to win in a variety of ways, but free throws are one thing that should not depend on the environment, altitude, or opponent; these should be automatic points and the percentage should be up well into the 70s.

It will be interesting to see if Boyle addresses the free throw woes going forward. Colorado struggled with turnovers early in the season but has finally gotten those numbers back under control. Now it might be time to move the focus to the free throw line.

Looking ahead

With their victory on Sunday night, Colorado will advance to the Championship of the MGM Main Event, playing Clemson on Tuesday at 9:30 p.m. MST.