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CU Buffs complete nonconference play by routing Utah Tech

pat rooney, daily times-call, longmont, colo.
·6 min read

Dec. 21—Fast break

Why the Buffs won: CU shot .574 from the field and outrebounded Utah Tech 44-20.

Three stars:

1. KJ Simpson: CU's point guard continued his torrid shooting, going 8-for-14 overall and 5-for-8 on 3-pointers with 23 points, six rebounds and six assists.

2. Eddie Lampkin Jr.: Lampkin nearly posted his second consecutive double-double, finishing with 16 points and nine rebounds.

3. Luke O'Brien: Reached double-figure points for the third game in a row for the first time in his career, going 8-for-10 with a career-high 18 points.

Up next: The Buffs will be off for three full days before beginning preparations for the Pac-12 Conference opener at home on Dec. 29 against Washington (7 p.m., ESPNU).

The final exams are over for the Colorado men's basketball team, off and on the floor.

The Buffaloes completed the nonconference portion of the schedule with another resounding home win on Thursday night, defeating Utah Tech 98-71 at the CU Events Center.

The victory wraps up the first semester for the Buffs, who improved to 7-0 at home going into a short holiday break before the start of Pac-12 Conference play next week.

"Good, hard-fought win," CU head coach Tad Boyle said. "These games are tough mentally, I think, on our team coming out of finals. Hard to get a great week of practice in during finals. Our guys did a pretty good job of it. I thought we were dialed-in from the beginning, which was nice to see."

It was the sort of performance that has become common at the Events Center this season, as the Buffs topped 90 points for the fourth consecutive game and the sixth time this season. It is the first time in program history CU has scored at least 90 points in four straight games.

The Buffs also shot .574, their eighth game hitting at least 50% from the floor, and reached 20 assists for the fourth consecutive game and the seventh time in 11 games. It is the most 20-assist games for the Buffs since they had seven in 38 games in 2010-11, which was Boyle's first season at CU.

The Buffs also went 9-for-18 on 3-pointers and have shot .459 (62-for-135) from the arc in seven home games.

CU missed its first four shots of the game but quickly caught fire from there, making 13 of the next 14 while racing to a 32-9 lead. The lone miss during that span was turned into an offensive rebound put-back by Luke O'Brien.

O'Brien enjoyed a career-high scoring effort for the second consecutive game, finishing with 18 points, and went 8-for-10 from the field to post a career-high total in made field goals. The senior from Columbine High has gone 9-for-15 on 3-pointers in the past three games.

Five players scored in double figures for the Buffs, led by another impressive all-around performance by KJ Simpson. CU's junior point guard recorded his third 20-point game in a row and his seventh this season, hitting a career-high-tying five 3-pointers before finishing with 23 points, six rebounds and six assists. Simpson did record a season-high four turnovers, which marked just his second game with more than two turnovers this year.

"He's playing at a high, high level as a point guard and a leader," Boyle said. "Offensively, he's taking good shots. I thought he had a few forced turnovers tonight that he normally hasn't had. But he had six assists. He's playing confident, he's playing loose. But he's not loose in the sense that he's cavalier and loose with the ball. He's got a lot of confidence and I've got a lot of confidence in him."

CU held the Trailblazers to a 6-for-20 mark from the 3-point arc (0-for-6 in the first half) and outrebounded Utah Tech 44-20, marking the largest rebounding margin for the Buffs this year. Utah Tech's 20 rebounds was an opponent low for CU so far this season.

The Buffs will enjoy a chance to travel home for the holidays and indulge in three full days off before reconvening on Monday night to begin preparing for the Dec. 29 Pac-12 opener at home against Washington.

"It was great. I thought we guarded really well in the first half," O'Brien said. "When you have a point guard like KJ, who shares the rock a lot and spaces the floor, it's pretty easy to get points like that. I'm excited, but we've got a long road ahead. We've got 20 games (in conference) and we're just excited to play Washington."

CU Buffs men's basketball 98, Utah Tech 71

UTAH TECH (5-7)

Olayinka 1-5 1-2 3, Christensen 3-4 0-2 6, riley 5-9 0-0 10, Demings 6-13 1-2 14, Gonsalves 5-11 2-2 14, Searles 0-3 2-2 2, Elliott 2-6 0-0 6, Strearman 0-1 0-0 0, Rainwater 1-3 1-1 3, Turay 3-5 0-0 6, Kambala 2-3 2-3 7, Hutchings 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 28-63 9-14 71.

COLORADO (9-2)

da Silva 5-10 4-6 15, Lampkin 4-7 8-10 16, O'Brien 8-10 0-0 18, Hadley 4-9 3-4 11, Simpson 8-14 2-3 23, Hammond 3-5 0-0 7, Diop 1-2 0-0 2, Dak 1-2 0-0 2, Carrington 1-2 2-2 4, Hurlburt 0-0 0-0 0, Gerhardt 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 35-61 19-25 98.

Halftime — Colorado 46-25. 3-point field goals — Utah Tech 6-20 (Christensen 0-1, Riley 0-2, Demings 1-3, Gonsalves 2-5, Searles 0-3, Elliott 2-3, Rainwater 0-1, Turay 0-1, Kambala 1-1). Colorado 9-18 (da Silva 1-4, O'Brien 2-3, Simpson 5-8, Hammond 1-2, Carrington 0-1). Rebounds — Utah Tech 20 (Gonsalves 4); Colorado 44 (Lampkin 9). Assists — Utah Tech 9 (Demings 3); Colorado 20 (Simpson 6). Turnovers — Utah Tech 12 (Olayinka 3); Colorado 15 (Lampkin 5). Total fouls — Utah Tech 22, Colorado 12. Technical fouls — Utah Tech coach Jon Judkins (2). A — 6,426.