Two takeaways from the Buffs' 71-65 victory over Cal

BOULDER — The No. 24 Colorado Buffaloes escaped Thursday night’s matchup against the California Golden Bears 71-65 behind a strong defensive effort.

It’s not that the shots were not falling, but that the Buffaloes were carried by their core. The trio of Wright, Schwartz, and Bey combined to produce over 73% of CU’s scoring, as well as 19 of their 24 makes.

Although the margin of victory was slimmer than projected, Colorado still picked up its 18th win of the season and continues its pace towards a first-round bye in the conference tournament, which is just one short month away.

Here’s what went down Thursday night:

Colorado’s stars came out to play

A trio of Buffaloes dominated the boxscore Thursday and carried CU to a home victory.

Tyler Bey dropped 21 points, showing off a variety of moves from the post as well as hitting a shot from deep. His confidence in his jump shot has improved tremendously as he continues to make his open mid-range shots.

On top of that, D’Shawn Schwartz finally saw his shot return as he came away with 14 points and a strong 2/3 from deep. Schwartz again displayed his versatility, nailing shots from deep while also having two highlight-reel dunks: one alley-oop as well as an and-one finish.

McKinley Wright also jumped in on the fun, hitting six shots for 17 points, as well as leading the team in rebounds with nine. Wright embodied head coach Tad Boyle’s message of selfish rebounding tonight as he fought in the paint on both ends of the floor, even grabbing an offensive board for a put-back late in the second half. His 3-point bomb was ultimately the dagger through Cal’s comeback hopes.

Overall, these three helped lead Colorado through a tough night. Coming into the game favored by 16, Cal jumped ahead early and managed to keep the game tight. Although they shot much worse, the Buffs kept their turnovers in check and did just enough to win the game.

Tonight’s matchup is not anything to write home about but helped bump Colorado to 18-5 while they avoid another potential home loss.

The Buffs’ bench struggled all night

Five points.

The Colorado bench managed a mere five points Thursday, hitting just one shot from the field. The drought was largely led by Lucas Siewert, who posted a disappointing 0-7 shooting line and single make from the charity stripe. His hot streak abruptly came to a halt, as he saw double-digit scoring in five of the last six games, making a strong case for the Pac-12 Sixth Man of the Year Award.

With that being said, Siewert is still a valuable part of this rotation and by no means should his great season be discounted because of a single off night.

All season long, it has been the depth of the Buffaloes that has given them an advantage over some younger teams, as their experience throughout the roster is something a team only earns with time. Tonight, they showed that they can win games with just their starting lineup.

It is great to know Wright and Bey can will this team to victory over lesser competition, but moving forward the bench needs to bounce back, as the next Saturday-to-Saturday stretch will be incredibly tough.

Looking ahead

Colorado will return to the CU Events Center on Saturday to take on the Stanford Cardinals (16-5). Stanford began January play hot, and although they cooled off a bit of late, are still fourth in the conference and present a tough matchup.

Tip-off is scheduled for 4 p.m. and the game will be televised on Pac-12 Network.