Colorado
5-1
Wofford
1-5
Johnson Leads Buffs To Win Over Wofford
November 27, 2016 | Men's Basketball, Neill Woelk
BOULDER – Colorado senior Xavier Johnson continues to make his comeback from an Achilles tendon tear a successful one.
Johnson, who missed all of last year with his injury, produced his seventh career double-double with 27 points and 12 rebounds Sunday to lead the Buffs to a 75-60 win over a feisty Wofford squad.
The Buffs improved to 5-1 on the season and will next play host to in-state rival Colorado State in a 7 p.m. game Wednesday at the Coors Events Center.
HOW IT HAPPENED: While the final margin might indicate otherwise, the win didn't come easily for the Buffs. Colorado led by just one, 31-30, at the half, and trailed by a point four minutes into the second half.
But after Nathan Hoover's 3-pointer gave Wofford a 36-35 lead, the Buffs responded with an 11-0 run and the Terriers never came closer than six again.
Wesley Gordon started the burst by muscling inside for a bucket, followed by a Derrick White steal and layup, a Johnson basket on an assist from White, and a George King 3-pointer. Two Johnson free throws capped the run and Colorado held a 46-36 lead with 12:38 to go.
"People who weren't at the game have no idea how good Wofford is," head coach Tad Boyle said. "I think that team is going to win a lot of games in their league this year. Is it a game we should have won? Yes, it probably is. But it's not easy, and what our players need to understand is every time they step on the floor, it doesn't matter who you are playing, doesn't matter where you are playing, doesn't matter when you are playing, you have to be ready to go."
The second half was no doubt an improvement over the first, when the smaller Terriers hit 50 percent of their shots (13-for-26) and held a 14-13 rebounding edge.
"I wasn't real pleased with our energy level in that first half," Boyle said. "I thought it got much better in the second half. But I've got a lot of respect for Wofford. They're a good team, they're well coached and they've got tough kids. But we need to continue to get better, without a doubt. There's no question about it."
Johnson's energy, however, was consistent throughout the afternoon. He scored 12 points in the first half and 15 in the second, shot 9-of-14 from the floor and hit seven of his 11 free throw tries. Johnson and Gordon (nine rebounds) accounted for nearly 66 percent of the Buffs 32 total rebounds — their lowest total of the season.
"I thought Xavier Johnson was terrific," Boyle said. "X has played really, really unselfishly. He's taking good shots. He has 27 points tonight on 14 shots — that's efficiency. I really like the way he's helping lead this team. One thing we know Xavier does night in and night out is he competes."
Wofford temporarily halted CU's second half run, pulling back to within six on two separate occasions, the latest with just under 10 minutes to play.
But the Buffs finally began to put the game away for good after the Terriers cut the CU lead to 48-42. A Josh Fortune 3-pointer and a Bryce Peters driving bank off the glass quickly boosted CU's lead back to 11, 53-42, and the Buffs then maintained control for the remainder of the game.
Johnson was dominant down the stretch, scoring 11 points in the final 7:30.
"I thought his competitiveness kind of rubbed off on the rest of the guys," Boyle said. "We need that from everybody. It can't just be one or two guys. It has to be every Buffalo who is on the floor playing with great energy, great effort, great attitude. We had some guys hanging their head, feeling sorry for themselves tonight, which you can't be successful doing."
Colorado again produced some balanced scoring, with four players in double digits. Along with Johnson's 27, CU also received 10 points each from Gordon, White and King.
But King — who had 26 rebounds in two games in last week's Legends Classic games vs. Notre Dame and Texas — had a tough night on the boards, failing to collect a single rebound. Fortune was also blanked in that department Sunday.
The Terriers were led by 15 points from guard Fletcher Magee and 10 each from Ryan Sawvell and Cameron Jackson.
TURNING POINT: After the Terriers took a 36-35 lead early in the second half, the Buffs responded with an 11-0 run and Wofford never came closer than six again.
WHAT IT MEANS: The Buffs won their second straight, but they still showed some defensive lapses as well as some rebounding issues. They'll need to shore that up before Wednesday.
NOTEWORTHY: Johnson's 27-point, 12-rebound double was the seventh of his career, and the 27 points matched a career high. He also had 27 vs. Washington on Feb. 9, 2014. His 12 rebounds were a season high and his 11 free throws attempted and seven made also matched career highs. ... Gordon made his 97th career start, tying Askia Booker (2011-15) for 10th on CU's all-time list. His two blocked shots moved him into second place on CU's all-time list (163), and he's now seventh in career rebounding with 736. ... Fortune, who was 2-for-2 from the free throw line, pushed his streak of consecutive free throws made to 17. He is now 23-for-25 for the season. ... Junior Tory Miller sat the game out after suffering an ankle injury in last Tuesday's Texas game. Boyle said he hoped to have Miller back for the CSU game.
QUOTEWORTHY: "When you get ready to play Colorado State, I'm always talking about defense and rebounding, but rebounding is the key against those guys because they are so well-schooled and well-coached in terms of going to the glass. We're going to have to exert our will on the offensive glass. … It's going to be a bloodbath inside, because they play physical, they rebound the ball extremely well and we need to be ready for that." — CU head coach Tad Boyle.
— "I've been trying to play basketball at the end of the day. I'm just trying to win. We have some big games coming up from here on out and we need to be better as a team. That's the whole story." — CU senior Xavier Johnson.
— "I thought our energy picked up a little bit (in the second half). We started getting after their guys." — CU senior Wesley Gordon.
"Xavier kind of really understands who he is now. Sometimes you try to be who you're not. Xavier's done a great job of playing to his strengths, understanding what his strengths are. He made a couple threes in that first half; shooting the 3-ball is a part of his game. It's not something we want to take away from him. But he also is really, really good around the basket. He's good finishing with contact. He's a true inside-out type guy. He's become a very good passer, a very willing passer. I can't say enough about Xavier Johnson's unselfishness. If we can all play with that 'we' instead of 'me' type attitude, our team's going to be really hard to beat as we move through this year." — Boyle.
NEXT UP: Colorado plays host to in-state rival Colorado State in a 7 p.m. game Wednesday at the Coors Events Center.
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
