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Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports
Colorado was historically good against the Ducks
There’s winning, there’s dominating your opponent, and then there’s what the Colorado Buffaloes did to the Oregon Ducks in Las Vegas on Wednesday. The Buffs absolutely dismantled the Ducks to open Pac-12 tournament play, winning by a final score of 79-30.
As you can probably infer by the score, this game wasn’t close for even a second. The Buffs zoomed out to a 13-2 lead and never looked back, leading wire-to-wire against the Ducks. Colorado straight-up demolished Oregon in pretty much all aspects of the game, all game long.
The Buffs finished the game shooting 47.8% (33-69) from the field and 50% (9-18) from deep, scoring 79+ points for the first time since Feb. 4 (coincidentally, also against Oregon). They also racked up 54 rebounds and 24 assists, just for good measure. After some streaky shooting during the month of February and early March, the Buffs just reminded the nation that they’re capable of putting on a show on the offensive floor.
The Buffs’ offense was firing on all cylinders on Wednesday, but their defense was somehow even better. Colorado allowed only 30 points in 40 minutes of basketball, setting a new record for the least amount of points allowed in a Pac-12 tournament game. That wasn’t the only record they’d set either, as they also are the new owners of the lowest opposing FG% in Pac-12 tournament history (18.9%).
The Ducks only scored double-digits points in one quarter of Wednesday’s game, only putting the ball through the net 19 times all day. Colorado’s elite defense had Kelly Graves’ team completely locked down and unable to do legitimately anything offensively, in what was undoubtedly their best defensive showing of the 2023-24 campaign.
Colorado’s win over the Ducks was the definition of a team effort too, as no one player stole the show. Frida Forman led the way with 17 points, shooting five of six from deep. Four other Buffs scored 8+ points and an additional three scored 5+. Jaylyn Sherrod finished a near triple-double (9, 5, 8), making a tremendous impact off the ball against Oregon. Sherrod only played 18 minutes against Oregon, allowing her to get some extra rest before Colorado’s next game.
With the Buffs’ resounding 49 point win over the Ducks, they’ll now have to face #13 Oregon State in the second round of the Pac-12 tournament on Thursday. Colorado is 0-2 this season against the Beavers and looking to exact revenge for those two narrow defeats. If CU can beat OSU, they'll likely lock up home games at the NCAA Tournament two weekends from now. Thursday’s game is high stakes for the Buffs, in true Vegas fashion. Fans can tune in to watch the Buffs and Beavs duke it out tomorrow at 1:00 pm local on the Pac-12 Network.
by RylandScholes
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