Advertisement

CU Buffs men's basketball makes quick work of Northern Colorado

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

Dec. 15—Fast break

Why the Buffs won: CU shot .556 in the first half, outrebounded Northern Colorado by 11, and held the Bears to a 3-for-21 mark on 3-pointers.

Three stars

KJ Simpson: CU's point guard went 9-for-21 with 21 points, five rebounds, five steals and four assists.

J'Vonne Hadley: Quietly put together another impressive all-around performance, going 6-for-9 with 15 points, five rebounds and a career-high six assists.

Eddie Lampkin Jr.: CU's center recorded a career-high six assists and posted his second double-double with the Buffs with 10 points and 10 rebounds.

Up next: The Buffs complete nonconference play on Thursday at home against Utah Tech (5 p.m., Pac-12 Network).

If the goal was to stay sharp during a slight competitive lull ahead of conference play, the Colorado men's basketball team put together the sort of performance that is becoming routine.

The Buffaloes didn't succumb to a letdown after returning home in the wake of the biggest win of the nonconference schedule, running away from Northern Colorado for a 90-68 win on Friday night at the CU Events Center.

Despite playing without standout freshman Cody Williams (left wrist) for a second consecutive game, CU maintained the momentum it gained with its previous win against nationally-ranked Miami while posting the 12th consecutive victory against the Bears.

"I think our mentality was just not being complacent and not getting too comfortable," CU point guard KJ Simpson said. "Miami was a really, really good win for us, we beat a really good team. But after beating a team like that, the next game can kind of be a trap game. It doesn't matter who we play next just coming off that win. And that's not what we really wanted. We wanted to play the same way and keep the same mindset that we had going into the Miami game."

The Buffs missed their first two shots of the night but immediately caught fire from there, making their next 11 while gradually building a 48-27 halftime lead. CU's lead reached 36 points six minutes into the second half.

CU once again did a brilliant job of sharing the ball, finishing with 23 assists while six different players recorded double-figure points. The Buffs have posted at least 20 assists in three consecutive games and in six of 10 so far this season. CU had only one 20-assist game all of last season (22 against Texas A&M in the fifth game of the year) and haven't had six 20-assist games in a season since recording seven in 38 games in 2010-11, which was head coach Tad Boyle's first year at CU.

After forward Tristan da Silva led the way with 10 assists in the win at Miami, forwards Eddie Lampkin and J'Vonne Hadley shared top honors with six assists apiece against Northern Colorado. It was a career-high for both players.

"Offensively, we're playing real well together. Another 23 assists tonight," Boyle said. "A lot of good things offensively. Defensively, we keep getting better."

For the second consecutive game, six CU players scored in double-figures, led by 21 points on a 9-for-12 night from the field by Simpson. Luke O'Brien hit a career-high four 3-pointers and matched a career-high with 14 points, while Lampkin flirted with triple-double territory, finishing with 10 points and 10 rebounds to go with his six assists.

CU outrebounded Northern Colorado 43-32 and held the Bears to a 3-for-21 mark on 3-pointers.

"It was a good win. I think UNC is going to have a good year in the Big Sky," Boyle said. "Midway through the first half our guys were a little frustrated because I think they think it's going to be easy every time you step out. You got to grind it out a little bit, because teams come in here with a game plan, they play hard just like we play hard. At the end of the half we strung together some stops to broke that thing open."

N. COLORADO (4-6)

Abercrombie 1-5 0-0 3, Thomas 10-23 5-5 27, Wisne 2-5 2-2 6, Reaves 2-8 2-2 6, Rillie 2-4 0-0 4, Hughes 5-6 4-5 14, Reynolds 3-7 2-5 8, Bloch 0-3 0-0 0, Creech 0-0 0-0 0, Cameron 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 25-61 15-19 68.

COLORADO (8-2)

da Silva 4-10 2-2 12, Lampkin 5-8 0-1 10, Hadley 6-9 3-4 15, O'Brien 5-13 0-0 14, Simpson 9-12 2-2 21, Hammond 3-9 2-2 10, Dak 0-1 0-0 0, Diop 2-6 2-2 6, Carrington 1-1 0-0 2, Hurlburt 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 35-70 11-13 90.

Halftime — Colorado 48-27. 3-point field goals — N. Colorado 3-21 (Thomas 2-8, Abercrombie 1-5, Reynolds 0-1, Rillie 0-1, Wisne 0-1, Reaves 0-2, Bloch 0-3), Colorado 9-26 (O'Brien 4-8, Hammond 2-4, da Silva 2-5, Simpson 1-3, Dak 0-1, Hadley 0-1, Hurlburt 0-1, Diop 0-3). Rebounds — N. Colorado 32 (Thomas 9), Colorado 43 (Lampkin 10). Assists — N. Colorado 10 (Rillie 6), Colorado 23 (Lampkin, Hadley 6). Turnovers — N. Colorado 15 (Thomas, Reaves 3); Colorado 12 (Hammond 4). Total fouls — N. Colorado 14, Colorado 14. A — 7,177.