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Tad Boyle is still Tad Boyle
WOOHOO! What’s more fun than a disgusting game where no one can make shots!?
Tad Boyle and the Colorado Buffaloes have evolved a lot over his 15 years, but CU’s 67-60 win over WVU at the Big 12 Tourney was a classic rock fight. In March, Tad just knows how to win gross. And this was gross. God, this was gross.
I’m stopping myself now from a long diatribe about how horrible the Big 12 Basketball court is. It’s horrible. Truly terrible. I have legitimately gotten multiple headaches from the pattern, but I digress. This team, at least until last week, was also pretty terrible. That’s no longer the case. As soon as Colorado got off the plane in Kansas City, a switch must’ve flipped.
This game was 23-29 at the half, in favor of West Virginia. That’s right. 23-29. Basically a basket a minute. Truly gross stuff. No one could shoot, including West Virginia, and Andrej Jakimoksi’s nine points essentially kept the Buffs in it. First Team all-conference guard Javon Small was quiet for the Mountaineers all game, which also helped, as his explosive scoring is basically the whole offensive scheme for WVU after Tucker DeVries’ went down due to injury.
The second half was also a snoozefest, with two exceptions.
Exception One: Elijah Malone. CU’s center was held to two in the first half, but he got to 12 in the second half by getting deep in the paint and sitting down until someone gave him the ball. That dude knows how to work around the rim. He just needs an entry pass. WVU had no one big enough to handle him one-on-one and he knew it, as Malone went 6-7 from the floor in the period.
The second thing to watch in the second half was the 17-1 run the Buffs went on with five minutes left to seal the game. WVU got bit by the same turnover bug that’s plagued the Buffs all season, coughing the ball up seven times in four minutes to fuel CU’s comeback. Trevor Baskin was playing with his hair on fire on the defensive floor and caused enough chaos to force consecutive turnovers.
It also didn’t hurt that the Buffs couldn’t miss from deep. Shout out to R.J. Smith, who went 3-4 from beyond the arc in the second half. He’s having a great season.
Also of note: true freshman guard Felix Kossaras played 21 minutes for Colorado today and looked phenomenal, shooting 3-4 from the floor and tallying seven points with no turnovers. Kossaras gave the Buffs some great minutes down the stretch against the Mountaineers, showcasing his development throughout the season.
As a reward for playing so well the last few days, the Buffs play the second-ranked Houston Cougars tomorrow at 1:00 pm MT. How fun!
by RylandScholes
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