Defense Heats Up As Buffs Shut Down Vicenza All-Stars

Colorado poses for a picture with the Vicenza All-Stars

Defense Heats Up As Buffs Shut Down Vicenza All-Stars

August 21, 2017 | Men's Basketball

Buffs Force 24 Turnovers, Record 17 Steals

By: Troy Andre, Associate SID

VICENZA, Italy – It took nearly four minutes for Colorado to dial it in on defense. Four minutes too long for a coaching staff that hangs its hat on defense, but nonetheless, once the Buffaloes clamped down everything started clicking.

Colorado mixed in a three-quarter press with tenacious half-court defense, its best overall effort in three games, in an 87-54 win over the Vicenza All-Stars Monday night at the Pala Goldoni Arena.

The Buffaloes improved to 3-0 on their Italy Tour and will wrap up exhibition play Wednesday against Novipiu Junior Casale at 12 p.m. MT in Vercelli.

Colorado had 17 steals and forced 24 Vicenza turnovers, leading directly to 24 points. The Buffaloes also had plus-19 advantage on the boards (58-39) and pulled down 22 on the offensive end while holding the host team to 11.

McKinley Wright IV led Colorado with 13 points on six of 10 shooting with four assists and three rebounds. He was recognized as CU's Player of the Game by the hosts from Vicenza.

Namon Wright had 12 points. George King had 10 points and four rebounds. Tory Miller-Stewart led the Buffaloes with nine rebounds while pitching in eight points.

"We had good energy, but just didn't get off to a good start," said assistant coach Bill Grier, who worked the bench as acting head coach Monday night. Assistant Coach Mike Rohn will serve in that role Wednesday as head coach Tad Boyle is spending the final two games observing.

HOW IT HAPPENED: The Buffs utilized their three-quarter court press, but it wasn't working early. Missed assignments led to several easy baskets for Vicenza as the hosts built an early 14-8 lead just 3:49 into the contest – Colorado's largest deficit of the three games.

Vicenza guard Andrea Galliazzo broke through the press, finding open teammates over Colorado's defense. The Italians hit six of their first 10 shots, a mix of layups and kick-outs for open 3-pointers off that press.

After a time out, the tide started to turn, quickly. Namon Wright scored five of six-straight points by Colorado to tie the score at 14-14.
Galiazzo hit a 3-pointer to briefly give Vicenza the lead, but Colorado ended the quarter on a 12-4 run to take a 26-21 advantage.

"We put in the press that we've been working on and it was kind of sloppy to start off," McKinley Wright IV said. "But we worked on it and started picking it up late in the first quarter, started getting some deflections and getting some stops."

Then, Colorado put it in overdrive in the second.

The Buffaloes shut down Vicenza, outscoring the hosts 21-9. Vicenza made only two of 10 field goal attempts and had seven turnovers. Colorado wasn't lighting it up from the floor at 40 percent (8 of 20), but the Buffaloes had 15 rebounds – seven on the offensive end – and four steals.

Balance was another key in the second as seven different Buffaloes scored led by Miller-Stewart, McKinley Wright IV and D'Shawn Schwartz who each had four points.

Colorado led 47-30 at the half, and the lead wouldn't dip below that 17-point margin again.

The Buffaloes finished strong, with a 22-8 run to end the game, receiving solid efforts from all spots on the floor. Dominique Collier and McKinley Wright IV combined for nine of the team's 19 assists. Colorado had six blocked shots, two coming from freshman Tyler Bey. Sophomore forward Lucas Siewert had a team-high four steals.

TURNING POINT: Getting it right on the press led to instant results. Colorado was a much bigger and faster team and once the Buffaloes imposed their will, they had their way.

WHAT IT MEANS: Lessons learned in the first two games started to show up in game No. 3. Colorado outrebounded its two previous opponents, but not by as much and the Buffaloes limited Vicenza's offensive rebound opportunities.

KEY STATISTICS: Six Buffs had at least five rebounds. After Miller-Stewart's team-high nine, Dallas Walton had eight, Siewert had seven and Namon Wright and D'Shawn Schwartz had six while Bey had five…Colorado struggled from the free throw line shooting just 20 of 36 (.556)…Colorado hit 50 percent from the field in the fourth quarter, making seven of 14 shots…Vicenza was just 33 percent on the evening (20 of 61)…Twelve of 13 players scored, including walk-on senior Josh Repine who had a 3-pointer in his only attempt…Colorado outscored Vicenza 42-20 in the paint and 16-7 on second chance points.

QUOTABLE: "We tried to three-quarter press from the get go to speed up the tempo, see if we could create some turnovers. We were a little lethargic, a long day, touring Italy had something to do with that. But once we did settle down after the first few minutes I think we did do some good things in our half court defense. And I think we had some decent stretches in our three-quarter court pressure. It's an area that's a work in progress with this group We have so much youth. It's going to take time." – Assistant Coach Bill Grier.