Fast break
Why the Buffs won: CU shot .550 from the floor and went 26-for-28 at the free throw line.
Three stars:
1. J’Vonne Hadley: Returned from a one game injury absence to score a CU career-high 24 points.
2. KJ Simpson: It wasn’t his best shooting night, finishing 3-for-10, but CU’s point guard still flirted with a triple-double, going 10-for-11 at the free throw line with 16 points, eight rebounds, eight assists and three steals.
3. Cody Williams. CU’s dynamic rookie went 7-for-10 a from the field and 3-for-3 at the free throw line, recording 19 points, three rebounds and a season-high-tying four assists.
Up next: The Buffs will look for the road sweep during their final Pac-12 trip to Washington when they visit Washington State on Saturday (3 p.m. MT, Pac-12 Network).
SEATTLE — It took until Colorado nearly reached the finish line of its tenure in the Pac-12 Conference for the CU men’s basketball team to accomplish something it hadn’t done since joining the league in 2011.
For the first time, the Buffaloes own a two-game, regular-season sweep of the Washington Huskies.
CU picked up its first road win of the season and managed to bid farewell to what has been a difficult venue in victorious fashion, defeating Washington 98-81 on Wednesday night at Alaska Airlines Arena.
The Buffs improved to just 2-9 in Seattle since joining the Pac-12 and posted their first road win against the Huskies since March 5, 2015. CU had been 0-4 this season in true road games and 2-13 since the start of last season.
Five players scored in double figures for the Buffs, who finished a torrid 26-for-28 at the free throw line. It was the most points in a true road game for CU since scoring 98 in a triple-overtime win at USC on Jan. 29, 2015. It was the highest scoring total in regulation in a true road game since a 105-point performance in a win at St. Mary’s on Dec. 6, 2000.
“You have to win on the road to get where you want to get as a program,” CU head coach Tad Boyle said. “When it comes to postseason play, when it comes to competing for a championship, you have to start stacking them. You don’t have to win every game, but for the two (road games) that we tricked off in Tempe and Berkeley, we have to make up for that somewhere. I told them before the game the time is now. The time is now to get a road win.”
CU led 50-41 at halftime and blew the game open with a 10-0 run in the second half.
J’Vonne Hadley returned to the starting lineup after missing one game due to a sore knee and led a number of stellar individual performances for the Buffs, going 8-for-9 from the field and 7-for-8 at the free throw line while finishing with a CU career-high 24 points.
Point guard KJ Simpson didn’t hit a field goal in the first half yet nonetheless hit the break in range of making a run at a triple-double, eventually finishing 10-for-11 at the free throw line with 16 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Center Eddie Lampkin Jr. posted his sixth double-double of the season, and his second in a row on the road, with 14 points and 10 rebounds.
CU’s 17 assists and .550 shooting percentage were the top totals in a true road game this season. The Buffs hit the 50% mark for the third consecutive game and the 12th time this season. Defensively, UW finished with a .541 mark, the second-highest percentage for a CU foe this season, but the Huskies were just 5-for-19 on 3-pointers. The Buffs also outrebounded UW 38-22.
“Offensively, we just moved the ball side-to-side and were taking whatever the defense gave us,” Simpson said. “We knew from playing them the first time that we could get any shot that we wanted, whether they played zone or man. We were ready for whatever they threw at us and we just had to make sure that we were just playing unselfish.”
CU Buffs men’s basketball 98, Washington 81
COLORADO (15-5, 6-3)
Williams 7-10 3-3 19, da Silva 4-9 2-2 10, Lampkin Jr. 7-13 0-0 14, Hadley 8-10 7-8 24, Simpson 3-10 10-11 16, O’Brien 3-6 0-0 8, Hammond III 0-1 2-2 2, Diop 0-0 0-0 0, Dak 1-1 2-2 5. Totals 33-60 26-28 98.
WASHINGTON (11-9, 3-6)
Brooks Jr. 9-14 3-4 22, Wood 5-7 0-0 13, Breidenbach 3-4 0-2 6, Wheeler 3-11 0-0 6, Mulcahy 4-6 3-3 11, Johnson 4-6 3-3 9, Meah 4-6 3-7 11, Holland 1-4 0-0 3. 33-61 10-18 81.
Halftime — Colorado 50-41. 3-point field goals — Colorado 6-13 (Williams 2-3, da Silva 0-2, Hadley 1-1, Simpson 0-2, O’Brien 2-3, Hammond III 0-1, Dak 1-1); Washington 5-19 (Brooks Jr. 1-3, Wood 3-4, Breidenbach 0-1, Wheeler 0-3, Mulcahy 0-1, Johnson 0-3, Holland 1-4). Rebounds — Colorado 38 (Lampkin Jr. 10); Washington 22 (Meah, Wood 6). Assists — Colorado 17 (Simpson 8); Washington 13 (Johnson 7). Turnovers — Colorado 13 (Simpson 5); Washington 10 (Brooks Jr., Wood, Wheeler, Johnson 2). Total fouls — Colorado 16; Washington 21. Attendance — 5,210.