BOULDER– The No. 18 Colorado Buffaloes bounced back with a resilient, double-digit win over the Iona Gaels just days after suffering their first loss of the season against the Florida State Seminoles.
The win didn’t come without a fair share of adversity for the Buffs as they only led by five heading into halftime. However, a strong second half helped propel CU to the 85-68 win.
“Workman-like effort tonight,” Colorado head coach Tad Boyle said after the game, “against an Iona team that has a bunch of tough kids. Their coach is tough.”
Iona's head coach, Tobin Anderson, was the head coach of the Farleigh Dickinson Knights last season, who became the second No. 16 seed to ever upset a No. 1 seed in March Madness after defeating the No. 1-seeded Purdue Boilermakers 63-58.
Amidst the redeeming victory, senior Tristan da Silva also scored his 1000th career point as a Buff on Sunday afternoon. Da Silva scored a team-high 17 points for the Buffaloes on a 6-of-7 shooting day as he became the 39th player in Colorado’s basketball history to reach the milestone.
“It’s a testament to him and, obviously, being here for a while,” Boyle said. “What I love about Tristan’s game is his efficiency…What? I mean, Tristan was 6-of-7 from the field, 3-for-3 from three.”
The game tipped off with Colorado senior Eddie Lampkin Jr. getting to the rim on the Buffs’ opening two possessions. Despite Lampkin only converting once, the lack of resistance from the Gaels’ defense against CU’s center forced Anderson to opt for a full-court press that Iona would stay in the rest of the game. The struggles Florida State capitalized on in their overtime win over CU last Tuesday also played a factor in Anderson’s decision.
After turning the ball over a season-high 20 times against FSU, the Buffs handled Iona’s press well as a Cody Williams three and a Lampkin alley-oop dunk put Colorado up by seven with 15:43 left in the first. Across the next 10 minutes, the Gaels’ pressure and overwhelming hustle caused some first half issues as they outscored CU 24-17.
Despite the run, it was the unexpected showing of freshman Bangot Dak that helped Colorado momentarily weather the storm. After entering the game, the 6-foot-11 forward scored an and-one bucket at the rim in transition before following it up with a pump fake, drive, and acrobatic layup for two on the next possession. Dak played just under six minutes for the black and gold, but his five points were quite helpful (and exciting) as the Buffs looked for offense.
“I’m really proud of Bangot,” Boyle said about the freshman’s performance. “He made the most of his minutes.”
Still, the press went on to force four early Colorado turnovers and helped Iona take two one-point leads late in the first. The Gaels took their first lead of the game after their leading scorer on the season, Idan Tretout (16.8 PPG), lined up a shot from deep to go up 23-22. A few possessions later, they took their second and final lead after a three-pointer by Iona’s Dylan Saunders put them up 26-25 with 7:49 left to play.
From that point forward, CU’s star senior knew he had to take over.
After giving up the lead, da Silva scored or assisted on the next 14 points for the Buffaloes as he helped his squad to a 39-32 lead. On the three-pointer that gave the Buffs 39, da Silva had officially surpassed the 1000-point mark. Of his team-leading 17 points, 12 of them came during this stretch.
Da Silva, himself, actually had never thought about the accomplishment.
“I didn’t know where I was at, to be honest,” da Silva said about the moment, “before the game, or, actually, my whole three years. So, it’s crazy to think about, to join that club but I’m just grateful.”
Iona slightly closed the gap, cutting it to three with 43 seconds left in the half after a made jumper by Tretout. CU free throws, however, gave the Buffs a 42-37 lead going into the break.
Tretout and da Silva led both their teams in scoring at the break with 14 each.
The second half, on the other hand, was all Colorado.
Coming out of the break, the Buffs scored their first 6-of-7 field goals as they went on to outscore Iona 43-31 in the final 20 minutes. Of the first five baskets, Williams scored or assisted on four of them as he finished with 12 points, four assists, and a rebound in the 17-point win. But it was the last of those four baskets that got the CU Events Center the loudest. As the 6-foot-8 freshman received a pass to break the Gaels' press, Williams saw the open lane toward the hoop and took off with two hands to dunk on multiple Iona defenders.
“Once we broke the press, we wanted to attack the basket for layups,” Boyle said, “and we did a good job of that for most of the game.”
The Gaels proceeded to stick around, trailing by eight with 12:40 left. But after a drop-off pass from Williams found Lampkin for a thunderous one-handed slam, the Buffs ignited an 11-0 run that broke the game open. Up 70-51, it was smooth sailing until the final buzzer.
On the way to their fifth win of the young 2023 season, the Buffs found their defense to help them past a struggling Iona squad. After allowing five makes on 12 attempts from deep and 8-of-10 shooting from the charity stripe in the first half, Colorado only allowed three three-point makes and just seven free throw attempts in the second. CU also forced nine turnovers and continued dominating on the glass as they outrebounded the Gaels by five in both halves.
“We talked about guarding the three-point line ‘cause they had five threes at halftime,” Boyle said about what he changed at the intermission. “And we talked about keeping them off the foul line because their guys are really good at faking…They come to a jump stop, they shot fake. If you’re first off the floor, they’re jumping right into ya and they’re getting the call.”
The Buffs' offense stayed consistent, however, as they shot a scorching 60.8% (24-of-57) from the field.
“Offensively, you shoot 61% from the field you feel pretty good about things,” Boyle said. “So it was a great night from that standpoint. Once we strung together stops in the second half we blew the game open.”
Iona’s Greg Gordon led the Gaels with a game-high 19 points on 8-of-13 shooting despite the 85-68 loss.
On Wednesday, Nov. 29, the Buffs head to Fort Collins to face off against the Colorado State Rams in the 134th head-to-head matchup between the two rivals. After winning 93-65 last year, Colorado looks to continue adding to their 93-40 record over the Rams despite CSU’s undefeated start to the season. It will also be the first time CU plays one of last season’s transfers as Nique Clifford is third in scoring and second in rebounding for the Rams.
“Always love to Nique, he’s always going to be our brother,” Buffs' guard KJ Simpson said about the upcoming game, “but on that court though, sorry.”
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