Two takeaways from the Buffs' 76-62 win over Washington

BOULDER — It’s official. The Colorado Buffaloes beat a zone defense.

In a strong performance that gives the Buffs’ a weekend sweep over the Washington schools, the home fans were treated to a physical game that displayed the full depth and potential of Colorado’s lineup.

Just one week ago, Arizona’s athleticism and size dismantled CU’s frontcourt in a way that left some wondering if the ceiling of this team revolved around the lack of true size below. After tonight, it is clear that Tad Boyle had a plan and it is coming together wonderfully.

Here’s what went down on Saturday night:

Dallas Walton can break the Buffs’ ceiling

After missing all of last season because of his third torn ACL, Dallas Walton has not been much of a factor throughout the early part of the 2019-2020 campaign. His minutes have been limited, and his impact has been even smaller. Yet in the last two games, No. 35 has played with a renewed sense of confidence in his abilities, translating to more action and more highlights.

The last two games have been Walton’s most minutes all year, and he has turned in a solid seven points per game with three rebounds per game on 60% shooting. Not astronomical numbers, but they are far more than we have seen from him since his freshman season and enough as a rotational player to give Colorado a boost.

With Tad Boyle trusting Walton in the lineup, the frontcourt rotation has been given a tremendous boost. Saturday night, against Washington, Evan Battey struggled to break down the zone because he lacked the height to match up against Isaiah Stewart. Instead, Walton came in to anchor the defense while playing strong on the offensive block.

Lucas Siewert has been a strong role player coming off the bench, but his ability as a forward is limited because his offensive strengths lie with his shot. To have a true center be able to assist the Buffs when Battey gets into foul trouble (which, by the way, is a separate storyline to monitor moving deeper into conference play) is just another piece to propel Colorado into new territory.

Colorado’s peak offense can compete nationally

The first half showed something new to the students and fans packed into the Keg Saturday night: Colorado has lights-out shooting capabilities.

When the buzzer closed out the first 20 minutes, the Buffs’ were shooting 7-of-11 from behind the arc and had put up 51 points. Almost every player in the game had seen his shot swish through the net as head coach Tad Boyle had put together the perfect gameplan to dismantle the Huskies’ zone defense.

While they did not manage to hit another shot from deep as their intensity dropped after halftime, CU was able to display a variety of ways of attacking the basket and finished the night with a strong 45% from the floor.

Leading the charge was none other than McKinley Wright IV, who dropped 15 points along with eight rebounds and three assists. Wright had emphasized his lack of rebounding in the Arizona trip, and capitalized by grabbing 14 between the last two games. His consistent play on offense has been the catalyst of this recharged Buffaloes attack, as he has been managed double-digit scoring in all of conference play while distributing the ball well.

Another Buff who played exceptionally strong offensive basketball was Tyler Bey, as he consistently found the pockets within the zone and dropped 16 points. While his percentage was not as high as normal, he was taking very good looks and forcing the Washington defense to adjust and focus more on the baseline, which opened up more holes for the Colorado guards to strike from deep.

Overall, the Buffs can finally end the narrative that they cannot beat a zone defense. This is incredibly important moving towards the tournament, as it does not give opposing coaches an easy out for beating Colorado. Instead, teams will stick to the defense they know and allow CU to beat them with their speed and creativity. This weekend was a huge test and could prove pivotal beyond the conference standings, but Tad Boyle’s team came away with two top-notch performances.

Looking ahead

Colorado completed the sweep at home but now needs to do it on the road as they travel to Los Angelas. First up for the Buffaloes is a trip to Pauley Pavilion in a battle against UCLA, a now bottom-tier Pac-12 team. As is the storyline this season in college basketball, the Top 25 has taken some hits and there should be tremendous turmoil within the ranked teams.

Luckily for the Buffs, they currently sit at No. 23 and are 8-2 in their last 10 games, giving them the potential to climb into the mid-teens.

While national rankings are important, the Buffs still need to take care of business within the conference, starting on Jan. 3o with a 9 p.m. MST tip-off on ESPN2.