After somewhat of a rough game for Colorado, the Buffaloes trampled the Wofford Terriers, 75-60, in Boulder on Sunday afternoon as Xavier Johnson put up a memorable performance.
“The people that weren’t at the game tonight and the people that maybe follow the Buffs from afar a little bit, they look at the schedule and they see Wofford; they have no idea how good Wofford is,” head coach Tad Boyle said. “That team’s going to win a lot of games in their league this year.”
Senior forward Johnson shot and rebounded his way to his seventh career double-double after netting 27 points and grabbing 12 balls off the glass in an all-around dominant performance. The 27 points also ties his career high, which he last earned in February of 2014 against Washington.
“I’m trying to just play basketball at the end of the day,” Johnson said. “I’m trying to just win. We got big games coming up from here on out. We need to be better as a team, so that’s the whole story.”
Three other Buffs put up double-digit performances with Wes Gordon, Derrick White and George King each adding 10 points to the mix.
With his 10-point performance on Sunday, White inched within arm’s reach of achieving the 2,000-point mark of his collegiate career. At his former school, University of Colorado at Colorado Springs (Division II), White scored 1,912 points in three years. So far this year in six games, he’s scored 82.
Despite the final numbers that the big four put up, the Buffs struggled early on to get anything going on either side of the ball. During the second half, they woke up.
The Buffs (5-1) finished the game shooting 56.5 percent to Wofford’s 43.4 percent, but it was a tale of two halves for each team. Throughout much of the game, the Terriers (1-5) kept the Buffs on their heels as they tied the score up six times and changed up the lead an additional 12.
But the odds swayed ever in CU’s favor midway through the second half.
The Buffs got off to a rocky start as they couldn’t gain any traction on the scrappy Terriers. Although the Buffs shot decent enough throughout the first half (47.8 percent), Wofford wreaked havoc on Colorado’s defense as they shot slightly better at 50 percent. The half saw five tie scores and eight lead changes.
Despite their defensive breakdown during the first 20 minutes of play, the Buffs still led at the break, 31-30. Johnson garnered a strong showing throughout the half after making half his shots from the floor and netting 12 points while grabbing five boards.
Midway through the second half, the Buffs started to find some signs of life on offense and defense. The heart of the offense beat strong as they ran away on an 11-0 scoring streak to put them up double-digits, 46-36, with 12-and-a-half minutes to go.
“I think our energy picked up a little bit,” Gordon said of the team’s second half turnaround. “We started getting after guys. We knew what they were going to do coming down, so we just made little adjustments.”
From there on out, that was all she wrote.
The Buffs went on to win 75-60 and will now turn their attention toward in-state rival Colorado State, who will visit the Coors Events Center on Wednesday, Nov. 30 at 7 p.m. The game will be broadcast on the Pac-12 Network.
It’s sure to be the good game that the rivalry always produces, but the Buffs need to do some work in the days up until they tip off with the Rams.
“I don’t know if we’re there yet to be honest,” Johnson said. “At this point, it’s who wants to compete and who wants to dominate? We’re not playing at that level yet, but hopefully we will soon or we’re going to get embarrassed.”
