Story online here: https://buffs.me/3bZIU0O
Tad Boyle Postgame Presser: https://youtu.be/NWXo_Bo2dm4
Player Postgame Presser: https://youtu.be/fgKNHqgDhgA
Highlights: https://youtu.be/nlEdLtW0_6c
Buffs Rally, Top Montana State In OT
Story by Neill Woelk, Contributing Editor, CUBuffs.co
BOULDER — Colorado coach Tad Boyle knew his young Buffaloes would endure some growing pains this season.
But his Buffs barely escaped a very painful season opener Tuesday, overcoming a 13-point second-half deficit to force overtime, then outscoring Montana State 14-10 in the extra period for a 94-90 victory at the CU Events Center.
Keeshawn Barthelemy led five Buffs in double figures with 19 points. Elijah Parquet added 17 and Evan Battey, despite playing with foul trouble for much of the game, finished with 16 points. Jabari Walker chipped in 14 and Nique Clifford scored 11 off the bench. Clifford just missed a double-double, finishing with nine rebounds, and Walker had eight boards.
Abdul Mohamed and Jubile Belo each had 16 points for MSU.
Colorado built a seven-point lead early in the game, but foul trouble, turnovers and some defensive lapses allowed the Bobcats to take a 38-35 lead into intermission.
CU’s troubles continued early in the second half, as Montana State built a 13-point lead, 51-38. But CU slowly chipped away at the lead and went ahead with just under three minutes to play before Montana State regained a five-point advantage with less than a minute remaining in regulation.
But Battey hit two free throws, MSU missed the front end of a one-and-one and Parquet hit maybe the biggest shot of the game, a 3-pointer off an assist from Walker to tie the game at 80-80 and send it to overtime.
CU scored the first five points of the extra period, with Battey tallying the first bucket and Parquet adding a free throw and basket to put Colorado in control for good.
“Hard-fought win,” said a drained Boyle. “I knew it coming in, Montanta State is a good basketball team, a veteran team. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy. I’m really proud of our players and the fight they showed … We weren’t great, it was kind of an ugly win. But they showed a lot of grit down the stretch defensively. A great, hard-fought win against a really good team. I’ve got a lot of respect for their players and their coaching staff.”
HOW IT HAPPENED: The Buffs started strong, hitting their first six field goal tries, including four 3-pointers, to take a 20-13 lead nine minutes in.
But from that point on, things went south. Montana State slowly chipped away at the lead as the Buffs committed some critical turnovers and also ran into foul trouble inside. Battey played just six minutes in the first half after two early fouls, and freshman big man Lawson Lovering was whistled for his second soon thereafter.
That opened up the paint for the Bobcats and they took advantage. MSU finally tied the game at 33-33 late in the first half on a RaeQuan Battle dunk, then took the lead with 37 seconds left in the half on another dunk. CU momentarily tied the game at 35-35, but Battle hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer on an inbounds play and the Buffs trailed by three at intermission, 38-35.
CU’s woes continued in the opening minutes of the second half. Battey drew his third foul early in the period and Lovering was whistled for his fourth and fifth soon thereafter. That opened the door for an 11-1 MSU run and Colorado trailed by 13 points, 51-38, less than four minutes into the half.
But the Buffs’ defense finally started to kick in. Colorado managed to cut the deficit back to single digits at several junctures over the next eight minutes, then put together an 11-2 run to close the deficit to one, 70-69, with just more than five minutes to play.
“We had to lock in defensively,” said Parquet, who played 41 minutes. “We couldn’t keep trading baskets or this game was going to get out of hand so we had to get stops in the end so we just locked in.”
Tristan da Silva started the 11-2 run with a bucket inside before Walker scored on a drive. Clifford then hit two free throws and Barthelemy hit a layup to cut MSU’s lead to 68-66.
MSU temporarily stopped the run with a Belo bucket, but Walker added a three-point play with [5:05] to go to pull CU within one, 70-69.
The Bobcats then hit a 3-pointer to extend their lead to four, but Colorado came back again and finally took the lead.
Battey hit a jumper at the [4:25] mark to pull CU within two before Walker had a nice assist to Clifford, who cashed in a dunk to tie the game at 73-73. Parquet then hit two free throws with just under three to play and Colorado had a 75-73 lead.
But the Bobcats responded with five straight points to go up 78-75 with [1:44] to play, then pushed their lead to five with 53 seconds remaining, 80-75.
The Buffs, though, had one more rally in their pocket. Battey hit two free throws to cut the deficit to three before MSU’s Xavier Bishop missed the front end of a one-and-one free throw opportunity. Parquet then drained a 3-pointer off a great assist from Walker to tie the game at 80-80 with 18 seconds remaining.
Walker’s drive and dish to Parquet wasn’t planned. Boyle had instructed his team to get a good look early, but said he would have settled for a 2-pointer.
“We just needed to get a great shot,” Boyle said. “That possession was kind of like a broken play if you will. Jabari made a really heads-up play on the drive kicking it out. At that point there wasn’t a lot of time and that was a really astute play on his part. I say this all the time, players make plays at the end of the games. Jabari made a great penetrating kick. Obviously, Eli relocated, was shot ready and knocked the shot down.”
MSU called a timeout with 10 seconds remaining on the ensuing possession, but turned the ball over under the basket to send the game into overtime.
Battey finally gave the Buffs the lead for good early in the overtime period, scoring inside after an offensive rebound by Barthelemy. Parquet hit one of two free throws before he grabbed an offensive rebound and scored after an MSU miss, giving CU an 85-80 lead with [2:30] to play.
Battey played just six minutes in the first half because of foul trouble, and played much of the second half with four fouls. He was also coming off an 0-for-10 effort from the field in last week’s exhibition loss to Nebraska.
But the fifth-year veteran put his experience to use Tuesday.
“I’ve seen a lot happen, I’ve seen a lot of games,” he said. “So for me it’s about keeping my head and composure. Never get too high or too low and just get ready to make an impact.”
Colorado then pushed its lead to 91-82 in the final minute of overtime before MSU made a late push with five straight points. But Barthelemy hit two free throws with 13 seconds remaining to give CU a 93-87 lead and Parquet hit one more free throw after an MSU 3-pointer to wrap up the 94-90 win.
TURNING POINT: CU’s 11-1 run midway through the second half helped the Buffs regain the lead and make it anyone’s ballgame. While MSU did come back and take a five-point edge, Colorado’s five-point surge in the final minute of regulation turned the game in the Buffs’ favor for good. CU then scored the first five points of overtime and remained in control the rest of the way.
WHAT IT MEANS: As Boyle said, the Buffs displayed plenty of grit and resiliency. It was a nice win for a young team in its opening game, and should no doubt give them a shot of confidence the next time adversity hits.
KEY STATISTICS: CU shot just eight free throws in the first half, but shot 29 after intermission and finished 27-for-37 from the line … The Buffs had five players in double figures … CU had 16 turnovers and MSU just 14, but the Buffs converted those 14 Bobcat turnovers into 23 points … CU had a 38-29 rebounding edge.
NEXT UP: The Buffs play host to New Mexico on Saturday in a 4:30 p.m. game at the CU Events Center (Pac-12 Networks).
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
Colorado Head Coach Tad Boyle
Opening Statement
“Hard fought win. I knew it coming in that Montana State is a good basketball team, a veteran team and I knew it wasn’t going to be easy. Really proud of our players and the fight that they showed. It’s funny, a lot of our guys don’t even know the fight song and so we sang in the locker room. Evan (Battey) kind of taught them. The fight part of this team obviously was on display tonight. We weren’t great. It was kind of an ugly win, but they showed a lot of grit down the stretch defensively. I don’t know where that defense was the first 30 minutes that I saw the last 10 minutes or eight minutes maybe. We started switching their ball screens, I probably should have done that a little earlier. Great hard-fought win against a really good team. I got a lot of respect for Montana State and their players and their coaching staff. Danny Sprinkles did a heck of a job putting together a nice team.”
On Coming Back in the Second Half
“Our backs were against the wall and I saw a little bit of that in Nebraska when we got punched in the face. Our guys didn’t quit. They didn’t go away, but we just got to understand it’s a 40-minute game and there’s going to be ebbs and flows. RaeQuan Battle hit a big time tough three at the end of the halftime. There’s good defense, and the little kid (Xavier Bishop) hits the deep three. It reminded me of Texas A&M my first year, flashbacks. Those shots I’m not worried about. That doesn’t bother me. It’s the ones where we’re not guarding the ball or we’re hand checking and they penetrate and kick to a three-point shooter and we don’t switch. Our switching is got to get better. We gave up a minimum of 15 points tonight just in ball screen switches and you’re supposed to switch to take away threes. You’re supposed to switch from taking away the role. We didn’t do a good job of that tonight. So, there’s a lot of things we have to get better at. Guarding the ball post defense. There’s a lot of things that Colorado needs to get better at and our guys understand that, but that’s what the film room is for and now the game starts coming and the balance between making sure we’re improving. Cleaning up what we learned tonight and getting ready for New Mexico is kind of a little bit of a delicate balance because we have to take days off. We’re off tomorrow and should be because it’s late. I don’t want to get up at [7:30] in the morning and wear these guys out so they’ll get rested tomorrow. Well get two days of practice for New Mexico and get after it.”
On veteran players during the game
“Eli (Parquet) and Evan (Battey) are two seniors, we’re going to lean on them a lot. KJ (Simpson), we got to get him on the floor more. We didn’t get Julian (Hammond) out there tonight. Luke O’Brien, I thought gave us great minutes. I thought the end of the first half probably the last six to eight minutes our bench did a great job. We didn’t finish the half very well. We got to a four- or five-point lead. It dwindled away because we didn’t finish the half well but for the most part I thought the bench played pretty good there in that first half. We had Tristan with two, Lawson with two, Evan with two. Just getting ready to put you know Will Loughlin in our big walk on who’s a good player, but Luke O’Brien gave us good minutes in that first half.”
On Eli’s Shot For Overtime
“Yeah, coming out of that timeout I said Okay. It was a play drawn up to a ball screen to get our guard downhill, get Evan roll into the rim and fill up with a shooter behind the ball screen. I said we’ll take a quick two but if we get a wide open three, we’ll take that too. We just need to get a great shot. That position and that possession was kind of like a broken play if you will. Jabari (Walker) I thought made a really heads up play on the drive kicking it out. Because at that point there wasn’t a lot of time and that was a really astute play on his part. I say this all the time, players make plays at the end of the games. Jabari made a great penetrating kick. Obviously, Eli relocated, was shot ready and knocked the shot down. Those two guys did a heck of a job but I had nothing to do with that. But the play originally was designed to get a quick two or three whatever came quick but we wanted to get it quick because if we didn’t score, we got to get the clock stopped and go to the other end so I got it over in time.”
On Nique Clifford and His Game Improvement
Look, last year wasn’t his fault because he didn’t get the chance last year. He didn’t get the minutes last year. He got the minutes tonight. And yeah, when he gets a defensive rebound, we want him to push it, and we want KJ or Keyshawn or whoever else, on the wing is in there with them, to run and I want our guards and wings to get rebounds and push it. Nick is a makes a good ball handler and he’s good passer; he’s a willing passer. I thought turnovers were a little issue for us tonight. You know in the first half, I really challenged Jabari and Tristan because they had all of them for us in the first half, but the second half their teammates helped them out. But 16 turnovers is too much against a high quality team like this.
On Keeshawn Barthelemy and A Post-Mckinley Wright Era
Keeshawn is going to be great. KJ Simpson is going to be great. Julian Hammond is going to be coming. Our point guard position is in good shape. It’s just a matter of who can be consistent and it might be a different guy in a different night. The only thing I get frustrated with Keeshawn is on the defensive end and rebounding the basketball, the two things that I bleed, and he needs to help, and he tracked down an offensive rebound in the second half a big one, and we we’ve got to have five guys rebound the ball defensively. Keyshawn has got to be a big because that’s what McKinley did. McKinley was a great rebounding guard. So again, room for improvement, but Keyshawn. I got I had confidence in Keeshawn, I got confidence in KJ, and I have confidence in Julian Hammond even though he didn’t play tonight. It’s just hard to have a 10 minute rotation sometimes.”
On Mental Toughness, Keeshawn and Jabari
It’s not letting that turnover affect the next play. I thought they both did a good job of that. Now obviously, Jabari is going to do a better job taking care of the ball, and a lot of his [mistakes] were driving and being off balance not playing off two feet. But you know, that’s an adjustment to Jabari’s game that he’s going to make this year and it’s going to take time. It’s not it’s like you just gonna snap your fingers and now he’s penetrating like a point guard, but I think he learned it and learned within the game because that last play he made a really good kickout. So yeah, mental toughness is being able to not be at your best but not let the last play affect the next play. I thought we did a good job of that tonight.”
On Improvements for Saturday
I’ll meet with our staff in the morning and we’ll start figuring out finding the balance between learning from tonight in the film room and preparing for New Mexico. That’s what we’ll do on Thursday and Friday.
Colorado Players
Elijah Parquet, Sr., G
On team locking in down the stretch
“Oh, yeah, they were shooting like 11 for 16 in the first half. So we had to lock in for sure. We couldn’t keep trading baskets or this game was going to get out of hand so we had to get stops in the end so we just locked in.”
On final play of regulation
“It wasn’t designed but Jabari (Walker) made a great pass and then I was just creating space on the outside. I was open so I just took the shot. I didn’t let my past threes get in my head and my teammates just told me to keep shooting.”
On what changed for the team late in the game
“Well, they were getting to the line on their end of the court and we weren’t getting to the line on ours so they were attacking us we weren’t attacking them. We started attacking more and then again on defense, we had to just lock in. If we didn’t do that we weren’t going to win the game.”
Keeshawn Barthelemy, So., G
On his aggressiveness during the game
“Yeah, I was looking to be aggressive because they were playing the ball screens and I just had to make plays for my teammates and then they pulled through for us.”
Evan Battey, Sr., F
On team’s slow start
“To be honest, I don’t know. We just didn’t have it defensively. They are not an easy team to guard, they’re a hard team to guard. They put together their experience. They were returning eight or nine guys from last year so they’re really good offensively and we just had to lock in”
On how he stayed composed throughout the game
“I’m in my fifth year here in Colorado. I’ve seen a lot happen, I’ve seen a lot of games. So for me it’s about keeping my head and composure. Never get too high or too low and just get ready to make an impact.”
On game’s importance for young players
“I know how important it is for game one, just to set the tone for the requirement of energy, the attitude and effort that’s required to win games. That’s the cost of entry almost, that’s the price. I think now we dive into what it really takes to come out and win games.”
On defensive adjustments in the paint
“We started switching stuff and did not give them any of the advantages of our switches. You have to really make it hard on their guys to see in the post. So I mean, it’s all around effort actually.”
Montana State Head Coach Danny Sprinkle
On Evan Battey’s Impact on Colorado’s Win
“So I thought his energy was the whole key. You know, he’s the one who got the whole crowd into it. He’s the one that got their team away. But that’s what senior leaders do, and that’s why he’s an all PAC12 player. You know, he didn’t miss a shot. He’s 6-6 from the field, you know, and he had some jump shots to be on and we made him on the three. But I thought his energy, you could really feel his passion for the last ten minutes just you know, and he carried that team.”
On Abdul Mohamed’s Performance for Montana St
“He made some huge threes in the first half, two, and he was really close. They made a heck of a play. When we ran the play, they scored at the end, he cut from the angle, and he would have had a layup but their guy made a tremendous play.”
On tonight’s contest
“Yeah, you know they’re going to come on a run, you know, they’re too good of a team. They got veteran guys to walk with everybody but they got good players like we knew their run was going to come. Yeah, I’m proud of our guys for building that lead especially when they came out and kind of punched us a little bit and we came back and really fought and I thought our guys did a great job sharing the basketball. We talked about playing the backside and they did as good of a job as since I’ve had the job here in two years of playing the backside and guys knocking down shots. But it just came down to they made some plays and we had a couple mess ups there at the end. We’re up by three and we talk all the time you cannot give that up. We’ll give up a layup. I don’t care, but you can’t give up three in that situation.”
On veterans playing well
“Yeah, you know, they did. And I’m proud of our boys, I;m proud of the way the guys were talking to others. Even before we got in, everybody’s head was up, you know, X (Xavier Bishop), Amin (Adamu), Abdul (Mohamed), Jubrile (Belo), they did a really good job of talking during some of the stretches.”
Postgame Notes
Colorado improves to 84-35 in all-time season openers and has won the last six. The Buffaloes are 10-2 under head coach Tad Boyle and 37-5 in overall season openers since 1980-81.
The Buffaloes are 95-24 all-time in-home openers and have won their last 14 making Tad Boyle a perfect 12-0 in home openers.
This was the first overtime in a season opener since 1996 when the Buffaloes defeated Drake 82-80 on Nov. 24 1996 at the CU Events Center.
Colorado narrows Montana State’s series lead to 6-2. It was Colorado’s first win over Montana State in 97 years (Feb. 13, 1924).
Colorado has won 40 of its last 46 games at the CU Events Center.
Colorado improved to 32-23 at home in overtime and has won the last five. It was the first home overtime since the Buffaloes defeated No. 4 Arizona State 90-81 on Jan. 4, 2018.
Colorado is 103-32 in nonconference regular season games under Boyle including a 56-15 mark since the beginning of 2014-15. CU is 77-5 in nonconference home games under Boyle.
Elijah Parquet (17 points, 5-11 FG, 6-9 FT) career highs in points, field goals made and attempted and free throws made and attempted. His previous high scoring was 10 points, done five times last season.
Nique Clifford (11 points, 9 rebounds, 2 steals) career highs in points and rebounds, leading the Buffaloes in boards for the first time. He had 14 points, four rebounds total in 14 games as a freshman.
Evan Battey (16 points, 6-6 FG, 5 rebounds) recorded the 41st double-figure scoring outing, moving his career points total to 915 points. His six field goals without a miss was the best in his career.
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