Balanced Buffs handle Miami
Offensive production, second-half defense key statement in win
BROOKLYN, N.Y. >> The offense finally was tucked into the road trip luggage for the Colorado men’s basketball team.
Yet it was defense, particularly after halftime, which paved the way for the best overall performance of the season for the Buffaloes.
Although playing short-handed, the Buffs complemented their defense with a balanced attack offensively and dominated the second half while running away from No. 15 Miami for a 90-63 win on Sunday in the NABC Brooklyn Showcase at the Barclays Center.
CU played without standout freshman Cody Williams, who is dealing with a left wrist issue. Yet it didn’t matter, as the Buffs put the clamps on Miami after halftime.
Miami entered the game shooting .513 overall and .425 on 3-pointers. Although the Hurricanes’ final numbers weren’t dramatically off that pace (.449 overall, .400 3-pointers), they shot just .409 in the second half with a 2-for-9 mark from the arc. The Hurricanes also finished with 20 turnovers, the most by any CU foe this season, with 14 of those occurring after halftime.
The Buffs led by one point at the break before outscoring Miami 53-27 in the second half.
“We had a week long to prepare, and we knew this (Miami) team is a good team,” CU point guard KJ Simpson said. “We wanted to take away their strengths, which is their 3-point shot. We looked at their film against Kentucky, and we noticed when you take away their threes, they don’t kind of have the same rhythm. Our mindset was just straight defense. We didn’t even talk about offense. It was just straight defense.”
Still, there was plenty of offense as well.
For the third time this season, six Buffaloes players scored in double figures, with Tristan da Silva leading the way with what nearly was a historic performance. While da Silva still struggled to find the range from 3-point land — his 0-for-5 start on Sunday left him with an 0-for17 mark on 3-pointers away from home before he finally ended the drought — the senior forward found other ways to impact the game.
Da Silva went 8-for-11 on 2-pointers and made all three of his free throws, finishing with a game-high 22 points. He grabbed 10 rebounds for the third double-double of his career and very nearly posted just the second points-rebounds-assists triple-double in program history, recording a career-high nine assists.
Chauncey Billups recorded 24 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists against George Mason on Dec. 2, 1995. Former CU center David Harrison also posted two triple doubles in points-rebounds-blocks, but those are the only tripledoubles in program history.
The Buffs shot .700 overall (21-for-30) and 4-for-8 on 3-pointers after the break. CU matched a season-high with 28 assists, marking the fifth time this year the Buffs have recorded at least 20 assists.
“I told myself before the game I can’t rely on my shot too much,” da Silva said. “It’s a mentality thing, really. Even when I wasn’t making shots, I shot a couple air balls, but so what? I just kept to it. Started rebounding, started sharing the ball, taking care of the ball, and I feel like that’s another way I can give my team energy.”
Miami took a three-point lead early in the second half before the Buffs scored nine consecutive points in what turned into a gamebreaking 19-4 run. CU led by 11 when standout Miami forward Norchad Omier fouled out with 6 minutes, 51 seconds remaining. Once Omier exited, the Buffs promptly put the game away with a 12-2 run.
“It’s a hell of a win against a really good, good basketball team,” CU head coach Tad Boyle said. “We knew it was going to be a dog fight. But man, our guys answered the bell in the second half. To shoot 70% and share the ball and move the ball the way we did. They have good offensive players, and we knew that. They made some tough shots. They’re capable of doing that. But our guys, they gutted it out.”