Buffs Pull Away Down Stretch To Top Arizona State
Story by Neill Woelk, Contributing Editor, CUBuffs.com
BOULDER — Colorado’s McKinley Wright IV scored 24 points in his final game at the CU Events Center and the Buffaloes survived a shaky start Thursday to pull away down the stretch for a 75-61 win over Arizona State.
The victory, which put Colorado in position for the third seed in next week’s Pac-12 tournament, improved the Buffs to 20-7 overall and 14-6 in Pac-12 play. ASU fell to 10-12, 7-9. The only way CU could lose the No. 3 seed is if Saturday’s USC-UCLA game is canceled.
Jeriah Horne added a 12-point, 12-rebound double-double for the Buffs and D’Shawn Schwartz chipped in 11 points.
Holland Woods led the Sun Devils with 15 points but the Buffs held ASU’s Remy Martin, the Pac-12’s leading scorer, to just six points on 1-for-9 shooting.
The Buffs started slowly, committing 10 turnovers in the first half and scoring just eight points in the first 10 minutes as ASU led by six midway through the period. But Colorado recovered enough to take a 31-30 lead at intermission, then dominated the Sun Devils in the second half to pull away down the stretch for the win. CU used an 8-0 run five minutes into the half to take the lead for good, then put the game away with a 10-1 surge with six minutes to play.
Colorado finished with a commanding 44-28 lead on the boards, including a 27-12 edge in the second half. The Buffs also shot 48 percent from the floor after intermission while holding ASU to just 30 percent shooting in the period, and CU had just three turnovers in the second half.
“It was a special win on a special night,” CU coach Tad Boyle said. “I told the guys when they took the floor it was the last time this team’s ever going to play in this building together. You have to relish those moments … Our guys really responded in the second half. I’m really proud of them.”
Wright scored 17 of his 24 points in the second half, seemingly providing an impact moment every time the Buffs needed it.
“I’m going to miss that kid,” CU coach Tad Boyle said. “I just told him how much I loved him and how much I’m going to miss coaching him. I’m going to miss coaching all seven of those seniors. But McKinley Wright is going to go down as one of the greatest players in Colorado history. What he’s done, from where he’s come from and what he’s overcome is really, really special.”
HOW IT HAPPENED: Early on, it looked like the Buffs might have trouble hitting double digits in the first half, as they scored just two points in the first eight minutes while committing six turnovers.
But CU slowly found its rhythm to take a 31-30 lead at intermission as the Buffs’ defense kept them in the game.
“The first half was really sloppy,” Wright said. “That’s me and Evan’s leadership and us not bringing enough energy. We let them hang around for too long.”
But the Buffs found their energy in the second half, and it was Wright providing the spark.
The senior point guard started an 8-0 run with a driving layup at the [16:22] mark to give Colorado a 41-39 lead and the Buffs never trailed again. Evan Battey followed with an offensive rebound and bucket before Wright scored again on a transition layup. A Maddox Daniels jumper then gave CU a 47-39 lead, forcing an ASU timeout.
Wright pushed his school-record number of games in double figures to 104.
“They really just turned it up in the second half,” ASU coach Bobby Hurley said. “We kind of just folded defensively and McKinley Wright had his fingerprints all over that.”
Colorado’s defense also turned up the heat in that stretch, forcing eight straight ASU misses in the run. Martin, who entered the game averaging a league-leading 21.3 points per game, had scored at least 23 points in his last eight games but finished with just six.
“We made it tough on Remy Martin all night,” Boyle said. “I thought Eli Parquet did a terrific job on him. A good team effort.”
The Sun Devils did manage to close the gap to four, 54-50, on a Jalen House 3-pointer, but the Buffs responded again with a 10-1 run to take a 64-51 lead with just more than six minutes to play.
Jabari Walker started the decisive run with a dunk off a nice feed from Wright before Wright followed with a left-handed drive to the hoop. D’Shawn Schwartz then added a tip-in, Wright hit a teardrop from the lane and Battey finished with a layup.
Colorado then held the Sun Devils at bay down the stretch, never allowing ASU to come closer than 10 again.
“The game is pretty simple when you defend,” Boyle said. “Hold’em to 30%, you rebound, you out-rebound by 15 in the second half, and you take care of the ball. We only had three turnovers in the second half rather than 10. The game kind of takes care of itself when you do those things.”
TURNING POINT: Colorado broke away from a 39-39 tie early in the second half with an 8-0 run and never trailed again.
WHAT IT MEANS: Barring a USC-UCLA cancelation on Saturday, the Buffs will have the third seed in the conference tournament, their highest seeding in the Pac-12 era … Boyle now has eight of Colorado’s 12 seasons with at least 20 wins … The win guarantees that CU cannot finish with double-digit losses — the first time since the 1968-69 Buffs went 21-7.
KEY STATISTICS: Colorado held ASU to 30 percent shooting in the second half (9-for-30) while also holding a 27-12 edge on the boards after intermission … CU committed just three turnovers in the second half after 10 in the first … The Buffs shot 17-for-18 from the free throw line.
QUOTEWORTHY: “There’s four seasons in college basketball. You have the preseason, or non-conference portion of your schedule, and you have your conference portion. Now, we go into season number three, which is always the Pac-12 tournament, and then beyond that is season number four, which is the NCAA Tournament for this group. So, it’s win or go home in both of these next two seasons. There’s no tomorrows.” — CU head coach Tad Boyle
NEXT UP: The Buffs will open play in the Pac-12 tournament with a quarterfinal game Thursday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. If they are the third seed, they will play the winner of Wednesday’s No. 11 vs. No. 6 game at 9:30 p.m. (MT). If they are the fourth seed, they will play the No. 5 seed at 3:30 p.m.
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
Colorado Head Coach Tad Boyle
Opening Statement
“It was a special win on a special night. I told the guys when they took the floor, obviously it didn’t inspire them very much the way we played in the first half, but it was the last time this team’s ever going to play in this building together, for the rest of their lives, forever. That’s a long, long time. You have to relish those moments. We were not very good in the first half. We were soft with the ball, we were soft passing the ball, we were soft finishing. We were lucky to be up one at halftime. Our guys really responded in the second half. I’m really proud of them. We got all 27 games in which is an
accomplishment. A lot of teams didn’t do that. I’m really proud of what these guys have accomplished this year and the way they’ve done it. There’s more basketball to be played.”
On Embracing McKinley Wright As He Checked Out
“I am going to miss that kid. I told him how much I love him and how much I am going to miss coaching him. I’m going to miss coaching all seven of those seniors, but McKinley Wright is going to go down as one of the greatest players in Colorado basketball history. What he’s done, from where he’s come from and what he’s overcome is really,
really special.”
On what the game plan was defensively
“Well, we made it tough on Remy Martin all night. I thought Eli Parquet did a terrific job on him. Early in the second half, or midway through, we moved. McKinley on him– McKinley had zero fouls and Eli had two, so we wanted to make sure Eli didn’t pick any more up, we needed him down the stretch. Then, McKinley goes on him and he picks
up two quick ones and we flip Eli back on him and he kind of finished the game on him. It was a good team effort because Remy Martin is a really, really prolific scorer and sometimes it’s hard to guard him with one guy– we did a good job in our ball screen coverages with him and then made it tough for him when he did drive the ball. So, a
really good effort by Eli and McKinley, and the whole team on him. So yes, our defense kept us in the game in the first half, we were lucky to be down one. In the second half, the game is pretty simple when you defend– hold’em to 30%, you rebound, you out rebound by 15 in the second half, and you take care of the ball, we only had three
turnovers in the second half rather than 10. The game kind of takes care of itself when you do those things.”
On what it took to tighten up defensively after the first 10 minutes
“Well, to be honest with you, I didn’t yell and scream at halftime. I yelled and screamed in a couple of our huddles– I acted like a fool, but I didn’t feel like I had any other choice with the way we were playing. Again, I have no other adjective other than soft defensively. We just weren’t strong with the ball. We didn’t make crisp, sharp passes. We didn’t finish– we were getting our shots blocked. You have to play this game with energy and– Arizona State is a team that really gambles. They deflect balls, they have really active hands and we talked about that beforehand and we tried to prepare for it in
practice. We’re probably more of a solid, non-gambling defensive team, so we don’t see that in practice every day, but when you play Arizona State you have to be ready to handle it. We did a much better job of that in the second half.”
On riding the momentum into the postseason
“Look, there’s four seasons in college basketball. You have the preseason, or non-conference portion of your schedule, you have your conference portion– which this year was 20 games for the first time. I thought that our guys handled that, for the most part, pretty well. I really believe we had an opportunity to win this league and we didn’t take care of business in the games we should have won, but you can’t do anything about that now. Now, we go into season number three, which is always the PAC-12 tournament, and then beyond that is season number four which is the NCAA Tournament for this group. So, it’s win or go home in both of these next two seasons. There’s no tomorrow’s,
there’s no “oh, we didn’t play well, tonight. We’ll bounce back next Thursday, or Saturday’– there’s no bounce backs, it’s win or go home. This group wants to win, they’re interested in winning, they care about each other and we have the ability to do that but it doesn’t come easy in March.”
On having a week off to prepare for the pac-12 tournament
“To be honest with you, I don’t know the answer to that. It’s the first time we’ve done it, usually we’re playing on a Saturday and then playing on either a Wednesday or Thursday. This time, we won’t play on a Saturday, so I don’t know the answer to that question. All I know is, we’re going to use the time as wisely as we can. There are some
guys on our team that need to get rested up and take care of some of the banged-up injuries they’ve been fighting down the stretch here. There are other guys on our team that need to get in the gym, get workouts in, get shots up, stay crisp and sharp. Our team, at the appropriate time, needs to get together and work on what we need to
work on as we prepare for our game on Thursday, whoever it might be against. So, I don’t know the answer to your question, but I just know we’re going to use this time wisely, as wisely as we can, and go from there.”
On defensive execution and rebounding
“Yeah, I feel good about where our defense is. I think we’ve executed our defensive game plans the last five or six games extremely well. Our rebounding sometimes comes and goes, you know, Jabari (Walker), it’s good to have him back. Jeriah Horne had 12 rebounds tonight. So that’s a heck of an effort. So, rebounding the ball is something that
if you want to play minutes, that’s a hell of a way to do it. When a guy gets 12 rebounds in 23 minutes, because I don’t always look at the total rebounds. I look at the rebounds per minute. And Jeriah, if he’s not leading our team he’s certainly in the top two.”
On out rebounding ASU down the stretch
“They got a little tired. When you’re an opponent, they always say altitude’s a bitch and it was tonight for them I thought down the stretch. But our guys really battled. McKinley (Wright) was cramping up there. I didn’t call a timeout down the stretch because I wanted to tire Arizona State out and our point guard goes down with cramps. So
that was a heck of an effort.”
Colorado Players
McKinley Wright, Sr, G
Overall thoughts
“The first half was really sloppy. I think that was me and Evan’s leadership and us not bringing enough energy. We know we let them hang around for too long, I believe we turned the ball over so many times. Our goal is 11 turnovers or less for the whole game we had 10 in the first half. So, I think a lot of that started with me, and I just got to be better out the gate, get my guys going out the gate, how we were the last three games and that’s really about. I’m happy with the second half, that where we got it in the second half. We rebalanced at halftime and ended plus 15 so we really got it and rebounded the ball in the second half.”
On feelings of walking off the floor tonight
“I don’t have a lot right now but I know later on tonight, it’s going to be hard man. This gym is so much to me, this arena. The fans, my coaching staff, my teammates, and I’m on that floor. I’d sit on that floor every day. That is my last game here but you know I left everything I had here.”
On going into the coming weeks
“I feel really good about where we are. Besides that first half, I think we played a really good ball game today and we’ve been playing really well the last four games.”
On finally having his skills showcased
“I’m just happy with the win, year in, year out. I feel like I’ve been overlooked but it’s not new to me. I’ve grown up this way, happened in middle school, happened to high school happened in college. For me, it’s not new. I’ve always held a chip on my shoulder. They’ve always picked other guys over me and Remy was one of them and I mean tonight just speaks for itself.”
On momentum headed into the postseason
“I feel like we’re on the horizon, at the right time. And this is March. It is the best teams we are going to be playing later on this month. And we’re one of those better teams. Now we keep going and rebounding the way we are and the offense takes care of itself.”
On Jabari Walker finding his legs
“That he did, yeah he re-found himself. He got his legs back under him. Every time I looked up it was Jabari coming down with the board offensive rebounds, defensive rebounds. And he didn’t score a lot of points tonight, but it’s the little things that show up, it’s outside of defense. There’s a lot of things that don’t show up on the stat sheet that he brings to the table. Real basketball fans and basketball players that don’t just look at the numbers and how many points he scored but yeah, Jabari was terrific tonight.”
On plans between now and Pac-12 Tournament
“Limited time seeing family, wearing our mask, standing out the way just, just trying to stay safe. We got the next two days off. So it’d be important for us to get in the gym by ourselves or with a teammate, get some shots up, maybe get a little extra conditioning, cold tub, hot tub just take care of our bodies at this time of the year.”
On cramps and shoes
“It was just both my calves cramped. Just roll out, stretch, all that good stuff, and those shoes went with the uniforms really well so I had to pull them out with that. I’ve worn them a couple of times that’s probably about the third time this year.”
D’Shawn Schwartz, Sr. G
Overall thoughts
“Good team win. We didn’t have the best start, obviously, but you know we doing what we needed to do and we won.”
On buckling down and turning things around
“We took it upon ourselves to pick each other up. Coach got on us a little bit in the first half but there were some times I was struggling to get going and we all picked each other up kind of tell each other, look alive smile a little bit. Our last game at the crib. It might have been a subconsciously sad thing that it was our last game and we kind of felt some type of way about it but obviously, we got over that hump and we got to win and it was a good time.”
Message from Coach at halftime
“Basically, we’re not playing how we need to be playing, and we need to stop turning the ball over, we need to rebound and that’s exactly what we did in the second half. And we got it down we picked each other up. Like I said it was a very enthusiastic second half and we played together and it just is a good way to go out.”
Reflecting on career
“It feels surreal, l honestly, I’ve been looking back on it. Just a lot of the experiences with all the teammates I’ve had over the years and it’s crazy that it’s my last go around. I didn’t think this day would come. When I was an 18 year old on campus, 19 year old whatever it was. And I’m just grateful and thankful to be in the position that I’m in with the guys that I’m around and the season that we’re having, it’s been amazing.”
On keeping the momentum going
“We just have got to stay together, stay in the gym, stay in shape. It’s not the first time we’ve had a couple of days off so I think we’ll handle it well and we’re all mature guys, mature team and I think we’ll be ready to go when our time comes.”
Arizona State Head Coach Bobby Hurley
OPENING STATEMENT
“I thought we defended fairly well to start the game and I haven’t even looked at a stat sheet yet so I don’t know what the numbers are exactly, so forgive me on that you guys have been I’m sure. So yeah, you know just defending well even though our offense wasn’t playing great we still were doing the necessary things on defense of that on the floor. But we were a little bit loose with the basketball, we had too many turnovers in the first half. I think we had nine. So, that hurt us because we’re not a high turnover team and on the road you can’t afford to do that. So I felt we were in pretty good shape. Considering just juggling Remy with two fouls he usually doesn’t get two fouls. It’s very rare that I have those issues with him in the first half, and then Graham also. So, I thought we were in decent shape down one and came out okay to start the half, you know, they just really turned it up a notch, you know defensively. You can see why statistically they are what they are defensively. And you know when they got us to nine we did respond and then cut it back to four. But then they had another burst and we didn’t like how we finished the game at all. I just didn’t think that we, you know, they had too many layups they scored numerous times we kind of, you know, just folded. Some defensively, and McKinley Wright had his fingerprints all over the game so that’s basically my perspective on what happened.”
ON WHAT THE GAME’S TURNING POINT WAS-
“I think a team with Colorado, they’re very well coached. They have great experience, they’re very good on defense, and when the game is, it’s time to decide the game, you know, they got stops, they relied on their defense, our guards couldn’t effectively get by their guards, I really, you know, McKinley Wright, Parquet, those guys did a nice job, Parquet especially with Remy limiting his touches. So their defense impacted the offensive end of the floor for us. And then they ran good offense they got good shots, and and they scored the basketball.”
ON THE RETURN OF MARCUS BAGLEY-
“It’s more of an eye test with Marcus, getting him coming off the bench tonight was a way to limit his minutes some because I did not want to get a scenario where he’s playing 25 or 30 minutes. I was hoping to get him around 18 or 20 and I’m not sure where he’s finished exactly as I said and look at the stat sheet. After the game yeah I mean he’s got to get his conditioning, right, you know game reps and, you know, there’s no replacing that. I’m sure he’ll get a lot out of this game and I think the goal is to get him, you know, get them as good as we could get them by next week when when the seasons on the line.”
ON REMY MARTIN’S EARLY FOUL TROUBLE-
“Yeah, I mean those guys weren’t matched up a ton. You know it wasn’t a true head to head battle but certainly with House and help I just thought he got into a good rhythm and he, you know, didn’t really look like himself, or how to guide he scored eight 20-plus games. You tribute that definitely to Colorado and and say that like they had a lot to do with it.”
ON THE PROBLEM WITH FIRST HALF TURNOVERS-
“Yeah, you could look at the game and say we were close and you know we were down one at the half but I thought there were opportunities to maybe get ahead a little more and just didn’t take advantage of that and I think the turnovers had something to do with it. There were some on passes ahead that weren’t successful and then we had, we sprinkled in a couple of zero pass possessions, where you know we outlet the ball to someone and whoever that someone is, if they just go off set defense and shoot some type of contested off balance shot. We’ll call that a turn over too. So, you know, even though we had nine we had probably three or four other offensive possessions that that were the equivalent of a turnover.”
ON WHAT WAS DISCUSSED WITH ALONZO VERGE ON THE BENCH-
“Yeah, we just, you know, we had a little bit of a disagreement. And so we talked it through, you know, like adults do and then he came in had a nice stretch, we came back and he made some shots. So, that was good.”
ON HOW HIS GUYS RESPONDED TO MARTIN’S OFF-NIGHT-
“I mean it was Holland Woods, it was House, I mean those two guys you know they really did some things offensively especially first Saturday, they were a combined seven for eight from the field. So in the first half we were shooting I think 39% in the first half. So, if it wasn’t for those two we’d been really in a bad spot, but it’s good to see you know how to play in that way and House again you’ll provide a spark and, you know, he didn’t play the scoreboard at all, even though things didn’t go his way McKinley Wright’s a veteran guard he made some shots on them and made some plays but he was really competitive so I liked how he just kept battling against that guy and you know he put his head down in that game. He just kept competing, again I know Kimani Lawrence missed some shots in the first half, but he’s another guy that was, you know, went all in for this game, he’s played very good for 11 games and you don’t really talk about someone positively to score well, like he wasn’t, you know, a big scorer for us tonight but he really competed at the best level he could tonight.”
ON IF EARLY OFFENSIVE FOULS THREW OFF THE RHYTHM-
“I mean it was just poor judgment on a couple of those drives and we just, you know, against a very good defensive team, you might have to go inside ten, which we did and some positive things happen when we were a little more patient. When we went too soon and left our feet, against a good defensive team like Colorado they’re going to make you pay. And they did and that was a part of the turnover package early, but this game was probably the most stepped we’ve had in a long time so it’s hard to really, you know, blame any of the issues on the outcome of the game. We’re getting healthier, we’re getting bigger, getting Marcus back is going to be a plus. He got some rebounds done for us tonight I think he’ll help us more next week.”
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