Fast break
What went right: CU shot a solid .508 from the field and committed just eight turnovers, the Buffs’ second-lowest mark of the season.
What went wrong: Depth was an issue for the first time this season, with Xavier Johnson and Wesley Gordon serving the second and final game of a suspension due to a violation of team rules. Deleon Brown also was sidelined due to a concussion and senior Josh Fortune left the game midway through the second half after a hard fall.
Star of the game: George King. The junior guard posted his sixth double-double of the season and the seventh of his career, finishing with 21 points and 12 rebounds.
What’s next: The Buffs continue their homestand Sunday night against Washington State (6:30 p.m., ESPNU).
Fast break
What went right: CU shot a solid .508 from the field and committed just eight turnovers, the Buffs’ second-lowest mark of the season.
What went wrong: Depth was an issue for the first time this season, with Xavier Johnson and Wesley Gordon serving the second and final game of a suspension due to a violation of team rules. Deleon Brown also was sidelined due to a concussion and senior Josh Fortune left the game midway through the second half after a hard fall.
Star of the game: George King. The junior guard posted his sixth double-double of the season and the seventh of his career, finishing with 21 points and 12 rebounds.
What’s next: The Buffs continue their homestand Sunday night against Washington State (6:30 p.m., ESPNU).
A good portion of a solid starting five could have been put together among the players relegated to the sideline Thursday night at the Coors Events Center.
For the Colorado Buffaloes suspended seniors Wesley Johnson and Xavier Johnson once again were out of action, missing their second game due to a violation of undisclosed team rules. Also out for the Buffs was freshman reserve guard Deleon Brown, who suffered a concussion at practice earlier this week.
For Washington the missing link was even more debilitating as all-everything freshman Markelle Fultz, the leading scorer in the Pac-12 Conference and a possible top overall pick in this year’s NBA draft, did not play due to a knee issue.
In a game lacking some of its luster talent-wise, CU was able to take care of business, using a 10-0 run in the first half to build a lead before cruising to an 81-66 victory. It was the fourth win in five games for Buffs, and it also was the 200th win as a Division I head coach for CU leader Tad Boyle.
Without Fultz, who burned the Buffs for a season-best 37 points in the Huskies’ win against CU three weeks ago, Washington didn’t pack enough scoring punch to keep pace with the Buffs.
“Obviously it was a good hop for us. A bad hop for Washington,” Boyle said. “You hate to see a good player like that not play because he’s special. It’s unfortunate our fans didn’t get to see him. However, it didn’t break my heart.
“But we did talk about these other guys that had been deferring to Fultz — because the ball is in hands a lot and they run a lot of things through him — these other guys now, the scouting report on them might change. We can’t think ‘Fultz isn’t playing, we’re going to win.’ I tried to guard against that natural mental letdown that maybe our players would have.”
CU pushed its lead to 16 points midway through the second half but Washington was able to rally to within seven points with 5 minutes, 37 seconds remaining. But a 3-pointer from freshman Lucas Siewert began an 11-0 run by the Buffs that put the game away.
Six players reached double-figure points in CU’s shortened rotation with George King leading the way. The junior scored a team-leading 21 points while adding 12 rebounds for his sixth double-double of the season and the seventh of his career. King collected seven of those rebounds off the offensive glass.
Derrick White added 16 points for the Buffs while Siewert, making just his third start of the season, finished with 12 points and six rebounds. Junior guard Dom Collier enjoyed perhaps his finest all-around game of the season, recording 10 points with a season-best five assists, a career-best four steals, and no turnovers in 27 minutes.
“I knew X and Wes were out, and I’m a versatile player so I tried to take advantage of my advantages down low,” King said.
Boyle said Johnson and Gordon would be reinstated for Sunday’s home game against Washington State.
Pat Rooney: rooneyp@dailycamera.com or twitter.com/prooney07
COLORADO 81, WASHINGTON 66
WASHINGTON (9-15, 2-10)
Timmins 1-3 0-0 2, Thybulle 3-9 3-4 11, Dickerson 5-8 4-6 14, Green 1-6 0-0 2, Crisp 7-17 0-0 17, Bowman 0-1 0-0 0, Duruisseau 0-0 0-0 0, C.Johnson 4-7 1-1 9, Kingma 2-3 0-0 6, Baruti 1-2 3-3 5. Totals 24-56 11-14 66.
COLORADO (14-11, 4-8)
Siewert 5-10 0-0 12, Miller 4-8 3-4 11, White 6-10 4-5 16, Collier 4-8 2-3 10, King 8-13 3-3 21, Fortune 0-4 0-0 0, Peters 5-8 0-0 10, Akyazili 0-2 1-2 1, Lombard 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 32-63 13-17 81.
Halftime — Colorado 42-31. 3-point goals — Washington 7-22 (Crisp 3-10, Kingma 2-2, Thybulle 2-4, C.Johnson 0-2, Green 0-4), Colorado 4-12 (King 2-2, Siewert 2-3, Collier 0-1, White 0-2, Fortune 0-2, Peters 0-2). Fouled out — None. Rebounds — Washington 32 (Timmins 11), Colorado 34 (King 12). Assists — Washington 10 (Thybulle, Crisp 3), Colorado 15 (Peters 6). Total fouls — Washington 21, Colorado 15. A — 7,387 (11,064).
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