The new-look Colorado men’s basketball team flashed its ceiling and floor during Monday’s season opener against Eastern Washington.
While the Buffs ultimately pulled off a 76-56 home victory, their slow start against a lower-level team proved worrisome. Colorado fell behind 17 points with under seven minutes remaining in the first half before taking charge.
After entering halftime down 31-25, the Buffs’ comeback was led by Colorado Mesa transfer Trevor Baskin and freshman Sebastian Rancik, who scored 21 of their combined 25 total points in the second half. Washington State transfer Andrej Jakimovski and Javon Ruffin also finished with 11 and 12 points, respectively.
“We obviously weren’t ready to play out of the gate tonight for whatever reason, and that’s very unusual for a team like this,” CU head coach Tad Boyle said (h/t CUBuffs.com). “We turned that thing over like it was nobody’s business and then started feeling sorry for ourselves… Eastern Washington was the better-coached team and they played better than us. Thank God they got tired and they were playing at altitude. Otherwise, it would have been a loss for us, but our guys finally woke up defensively. We got some stops, strung some stuff together and got out in transition.”
Colorado outscored the Eagles 51-25 in the second half while shooting 56.3% from the field.
Now 1-0, Colorado will host Northern Colorado on Friday at 7 p.m. MT (ESPN+).
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