Five takeaways from Colorado’s 60-46 win over CSU Bakersfield

The Colorado Buffaloes men’s basketball team improved to 9-3 with a Saturday afternoon win over the Cal State Bakersfield Roadrunners at the CU Events Center.

While it wasn’t the cleanest game played by either team, the Buffs never trailed and won with a final score of 60-46 in one of their more consistent efforts, especially on defense, this season. The Buffs have now won three in a row, but face one of the best teams in the country next.

Before we turn our attention to Colorado’s biggest nonconference game of the season so far against No. 7 Kansas on Tuesday, here are our five takeaways from the Buffs’ win over Cal State Bakersfield.

Offense starting to click

One point of difficulty for the Buffs this season has been their offensive ball movement and passing. They looked significantly better overall against the Roadrunners, especially passing the ball around the perimeter and creating good scoring chances. The Buffs just need to keep working on finishing their shots in the paint.

Three-point shots starting to fall

The Buffs have struggled from behind the arc all season long but they finally got some shots to fall against the Roadrunners. With Jabari Walker out for most of the game following an early injury, the rest of the team was able to step up with some solid point production. As a group, they went 7-for-17 from three with Nique Clifford and Keesahwn Barthelemy each netting two.

Defense is still rock solid

With Colorado’s offense slowly coming to life over the last few games, their defense has continued to be the pulse of the team. They held the Roadrunners to just 27% from the field and 14% from behind the arc. The Buffs also had 33 defensive rebounds as a group.

Bounce back performance from Barthelemy

After a strong start to the season, sophomore guard Keeshawn Barthelemy had struggled with scoring production in his last several games. After four straight single-digit scoring efforts, Barthelemy put up 12 points and also managed to snag six rebounds against the Roadrunners on Saturday.

Bigger Than Basketball tribute honored UC Health cancer patients

For Saturday’s game, the Buffs partnered with UC Health to honor 17 cancer patients. Each player wore the name of a cancer patient on the back of their jersey for the duration of the game. Several patients were in attendance at the CU Events Center, bringing the crowd to their feet when they were honored during the game. It was a touching tribute to a cause that is truly “bigger than basketball.”

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