Now that was fun. In one of the most lopsided wins of the Tad Boyle era, the Colorado Buffaloes thoroughly beat the Maine Black Bears, 90-46. Yes, Maine isn’t exactly a powerhouse, but who says confidence building isn’t important?
We all love gaudy numbers and here are a few of them from the Buffs’ third consecutive win to start the season.
Total rebounds: Colorado 45, Maine 23
We learned that Colorado could rebound against New Mexico and the Buffs showed their fight on the boards once again vs. Maine. I’m probably most proud of Lawson Lovering’s seven boards. The 7-footer has gotten better each game and he delivered against an albeit undersized Maine team. Evan Battey also had seven and Jabari Walker brought down six.
Colorado turnovers: 10
Basically, the only reason Colorado’s previous two games were close was because of turnovers. The Buffs had a combined 34 against Montana State and New Mexico but they only had 10 total vs. Maine. Plus, the starting unit of Keeshawn Barthelemy, Jabari Walker, Evan Battey, Tristan da Silva and Eli Parquet —all of whom played at least 20 minutes — committed just three total. None of them had more than one as well.
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Luke O’Brien and Julian Hammond III combined points: 12
The debut of Julian Hammond III was as advertised. In 16 minutes, he shot 2-of-4 from the field, including a three pointer, and hauled in four rebounds. His three personal fouls, however, was not a good sign. With Barthelemy’s career-high 22 (an honorable mention on this list) and Simpson impressing again, the emergence of Hammond made for a scary group of guards.
After struggling in CU’s first two games, O’Brien was given more minutes in a blowout game and looked better. He made a three pointer in the second half and excelled defensively. Maine wasn’t a particularly clean team, but O’Brien snuck in four steals in just 14 minutes — an impressive number for a bigger guy.