Colorado Buffaloes Defeat the Washington Huskies in Boulder 78-64

The Washington Huskies came into Boulder, Colorado to finish up a 3 game conference road trip and looking to come out with a 2-1 record. Always a tough place to play and unfortunately the shooting went colder in Boulder as the Colorado Buffaloes were able to pound Washington into submission 78 to 64.

Washington had some early runs to help try and steal a game but the offense got too stagnant again and Colorado was able to get balanced scoring outside of their top 2 scorers.

Both teams looked a bit sluggish in the first 4 minutes exchanging misses. Washington did pick up where they left off in Utah and Arizona by taking the ball away from Colorado early on to make up for the early misfires on offense.

The first half would be a game of runs for both teams. Washington had the first run started by a Cole Bajema three pointer, who has continued his hot shooting from the Utah game. UW would go on a 10-0 run to take a 12-6 lead. Colorado would instantly go on their own 10-0 run after a tough 3 pointer made by Elijah Parquet in the corner.

Cole Bajema would end the Colorado run with his 2^nd three pointer and helped propel the Huskies to take the lead again. Daejon Davis, Emmitt Matthews and Terrell Brown would each add a 3 pointer respectively and was only Brown’s 5^th three pointer of the season. Washington would have a 23 to 22 lead with 7:27 left in the first half but Colorado would go on another big run, scoring the next 11 points unanswered to take a 33 to 23 lead.

The final 8 minutes was a struggle both on Defense and Offense for Washington. UW gave up multiple wide-open layups and a couple of open 3 pointers during the 17-5 run to end the half. Offense was a struggle again as well as the ball stopped moving around and Washington guards forcing up tough shots going 1 on 1.

For Colorado, it was the Tristan da Silva show as he was looking like his All-Conference brother Oscar da Silva at Stanford. Da Silva led Colorado with 14 points on 5-8 shooting in the 1st half. Surprisingly, Colorado’s talented big men Jabari Walker and Evan Battey only combined for 3 points in the half.

Bajema shines but Colorado runs away in the 2nd half

The 2^nd half followed a similar recipe with a few runs by each team but it was Colorado that had 1 or 2 more runs in them. Washington down 13 with 14 minutes left in the 2^nd half, it was Cole Bajema again with back to back 3 pointers, his 4^th and 5^th of the game. Washington had not had an assist since the 7 minute mark in the first half until the Bajema triples, a 13 minute span.

Washington seemed to have some momentum as they were able to trim a 13 point Colorado lead down to 5 but Colorado was able to quickly score 6 unanswered points themselves to push back to an 11 point lead.

With 7 minutes left in the game, Washington decided to go small again, similar to the Utah game that proved to be successful Thursday night. Colorado, however, was able to make Washington pay by feeding Jabari Walker, Evan Battey and Tristan de Silva down low. Walker had 6’4 PJ Fuller or 6’7 Cole Bajema on the block and was able to score easily on back to back plays.

Colorado’s defense and post play was able to cause Washington to slowly bleed out and defeat the Washington Huskies 76 to 65. Tristan de Silva scored a career high 22 points on 9/15 shooting and did damage inside and outside. UW did a fairly good job on Evan Battey (5 points) and Jabari Walker (11 points) but got scoring production elsewhere from Julian Hammond (14 points) who was filling in for injured 4 star Freshman KJ Simpson.

Rough shooting Night for UW

For Washington, it was a tough shooting night but not in the way you would expect. Washington shot 10-23 from 3 (43.5%) but shot 11/35 (31.4%) from 2 point field goals. Terrell Brown, who has been UW’s undisputed scoring leader all season, had his toughest offensive game all season. Brown scored 12 points off 4/16 shooting (25%) and had 3 turnovers. Brown did have team high 5 assists and 6 steals however.

Again, it was the Cole Bajema show for the 2^nd game in a row. Bajema beat his previous career high that he set on Thursday with 15 points (5/7 from 3) and set a new career high with 18 points off of 6/7 shooting from 3. Bajema has hit 11 three pointers over the last two games. Don’t expect Bajema to continue this type of scorching hot shooting but he should be a helpful threat from the outside, which this team desperately needs.

Emmitt Matthews had a strong game with 16 points and 5 boards on 4/7 shooting and 7-7 from the line but Washington did not get enough help outside of Bajema and Matthews.

Washington heads home to face the Bay Area schools, starting with Cal (9-7) on Wednesday and Stanford (8-4) to try and get some home cooking.

Other Observations:

• Colorado is one of the worst 3 point shooting teams in the country, making only 5 per game but went 8-20 today (40%)
• Colorado averages 3.2 blocks per game but had 6 blocks today. 3 of them came on jump shots by Brown and Bey.
• Colorado had 10 first half Turnovers but only 4 in the 2nd half. They were able to take care of the ball and UW only had 3 steals in the 2nd half.
• Jamal Bey and Nate Roberts combined for 4 points on 2/9 shooting.