It didn’t take long for the Colorado men’s basketball team to showcase all the reasons why there will be plenty of growing pains during the 2024-25 season.
But the Buffaloes also showed, eventually, why the team’s depth and long-limbed versatility should cause headaches for plenty of foes.
Colorado came alive after halftime following a turnover-filled first half, rallying past Eastern Washington for a 76-56 season-opening win on Monday at the CU Events Center.
The Buffs trailed by 17 points in the first half but rallied to improve to 13-2 in season openers and 15-0 in home openers under head coach Tad Boyle. The 17-point rally tied the eighth-largest comeback win in program history.
CU committed 13 turnovers in the first half as Eastern Washington built a 27-10 lead. The Buffs outscored Eastern Washington 15-4 over the remainder of the half, cutting the deficit to 31-25 at the break, and CU finally pulled even on a three-point play by Trevor Baskin and a 3-pointer from Andrej Jakimovski.
Eastern Washington again built a nine-point lead, but the Buffs turned up the intensity on defense and quickly buried the Eagles. Eastern Washington led 44-35 when the Buffs erupted for a 30-5 run, squashing the Eagles’ upset bid.
The Buffs missed their first eight 3-point attempts but went 9 for 15 the rest of the way. CU committed just five turnovers after halftime, finishing with 18, and outrebounded Eastern Washington 43-30. The Buffs held Eastern Washington to a 36.2 field goal percentage.
Four players finished with double-figure points for the Buffs, with Baskin and Javon Ruffin scoring 12 points apiece. Jakimovski finished with 11 points, and freshman Sebastian Rancik went 4 for 5 on 3-pointers and scored a team-high 13 points in his collegiate debut.
Colorado 76, E. Washington 56
E. WASHINGTON (0-1)
Marquardt 1-2 0-0 2, Cook 3-8 1-2 7, Hartmann 3-5 0-0 6, McClain 6-9 4-6 16, Williams 1-11 1-2 4, Zanki 4-11 0-0 12, Powell 1-4 1-2 3, Winkel 0-3 0-0 0, Seale 2-4 0-0 4, Thomas 0-0 0-0 0, Dziuba 0-0 2-2 2, Ngoyi 0-0 0-0 0, Stockton 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 21-58 9-14 56.
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COLORADO (1-0)
Dak 2-3 0-0 5, Jakimovski …read more
Source:: The Denver Post – Sports
