Numbers will set new CU standards
It ended abruptly, things always do.
One moment the Colorado men’s basketball team was attempting to make history, coming off a stirring win in the first round of the NCAA Tournament with an opportunity to reach the Sweet 16 for the first time in the modern history of the tournament.
Then, suddenly, done.
The team was left to walk off the floor in Indianapolis on Monday after a second-round loss against Florida State — awash in tears because of the end of a season, but also perhaps by the enormity of the tragedy unfolding in Boulder.
“Every year, it ends so abruptly,” CU head coach Tad Boyle said. “Last year it ended super abruptly, because we lose to Washington State in the Pac-12 tournament and then everything is canceled. This year, you get back to the hotel, and the plane is going home 10 o’clock the next morning.”
It was a season that won’t soon be lost to memory. From McKinley Wright IV putting together a standout senior season to cap a historic career, to Jeriah Horne’s 3-point assault, to the Buffs’ bid to topple the NCAA’s all-time free throw record, the numbers put together by the Buffs will leave a lasting impression in the program’s history book. it as these was all
Team marks. At 23-9, the Buffs matched the second-most wins in program history in a season in which they played four fewer regular season games. The 201314 and 2018-19 teams also won 23 games, with Boyle’s first two CU teams (2010-11, 2011-12) sharing the record with 24 wins.
The Buffs’ winning percentage of .719 ranks ninth all-time. Not only is that the top mark of Boyle’s 11 seasons at CU, but it marked the first winning percentage above .700 since the 1968-69 season.
CU spent much of the season taking a shot at the all-time NCAA free-throw percentage record of 82.2% held by the Harvard team of 1983-84. The Buffs fell just short of that at 81.9%, but that mark still shattered the former team record of 77.8% (2010-11) and topped the former Pac-12 record of .786 (Arizona in 2003-04).
Wright’s year. CU’s star point guard became the program’s alltime assist leader against Cal on Jan. 14, toppling the record in his 112th game — the same number of games former all-time leader Jay Humphries played for the Buffs.
Wright finished with a total of 683 assists that easily could stand longer than Humphries’ 37-year-old mark. Wright also finished in the top-10 all-time in scoring (1,857, sixth), made field goals (668, sixth), made 3-pointers (401, 10th), made free throws (388, ninth), career free-throw percentage (80.3%, T-ninth), steals (140, T-10th), games played (131, T-fifth), starts (130, T-second), and minutes played (4,338, second).
Senior standouts. Despite a late slump, transfer Horne still was a 3-point machine for much of the season for CU, finishing 39.7% from 3. That figure is the No. 7 single-season 3-point mark in team history.
Colorado Springs native D’Shawn Schwartz also enjoyed a solid senior season, surpassing the 1,000-point mark during CU’s NCAA Tournament win against Georgetown.