Fast break
Why the Buffs won: CU committed just five turnovers in the second half and tightened defensively, closing the game on a 41-12 run.
Three stars
1. Sebastian Rancik. The freshman forward came off the bench to go 4-for-5 on 3-pointers, finishing with a team-high 13 points along with three rebounds and no turnovers in 17-plus minutes.
2. Andrej Jakimovski. The Washington State transfer scored 11 points in his CU debut, sharing the team lead with seven rebounds and also recording three steals.
3. Trevor Baskin. One of the sparks of CU’s second-half rally, the Colorado Mesa transfer went 6-for-7 on free throws and finished with 12 points, six rebounds and two assists.
Up next: CU’s opening homestand continues on Friday against Northern Colorado (7 p.m., ESPN+).
It didn’t take long for the Colorado men’s basketball to showcase all the reasons why there will be plenty of growing pains during the 2024-25 season.
But the Buffaloes also showed, eventually, why the team’s depth and long-limbed versatility should cause headaches for plenty of foes.
The Buffs trailed by 17 points in the first half but rallied to improve to 13-2 in season openers under head coach Tad Boyle and 15-0 in home openers. The rally tied the eighth-largest comeback win in program history.
Eastern Washington led by nine points midway through the second half, but CU outscored the Eagles 41-12 the rest of the way.
“We obviously weren’t ready to play out of the gate tonight for whatever reason,” said Boyle, who earned his 299th win at CU. “That’s very unusual for a team like this who’s really had pretty good practices. We’ve maybe had two or three subpar practices out of the 30 that we’ve had. But for some reason we weren’t ready to play and we turned that thing over like nobody’s business.”
Eastern Washington again built a nine-point lead, but the Buffs turned up the intensity on defense and quickly buried the Eagles, spoiling the Eastern Washington debut of veteran coach Dan Monson.
“We just started guarding,” guard Javon Ruffin said of the Buffs’ turnaround. “We were getting stops. We were able to get out in transition. Our offense was struggling a little bit to start, so then once we started getting stops and we were able to run, the offense was easier. Stuff was starting to flow.”
Eastern Washington shot .400 in the first half and jumped to the early lead behind the shooting of sophomore forward Vice Zanki, who went 5-for-19 from long range all of last season in 14 appearances off the bench, but went 4-for-5 in the first half against the Buffs. The Eagles shot just .321 after halftime with a 1-for-8 mark on 3-pointers.
The Buffs missed their first eight 3-point attempts but went 9-for-15 the rest of the way. CU committed just five turnovers after halftime, finishing with 18, and outrebounded Eastern Washington 43-30.
Four players finished with double-figure points for the Buffs, with Baskin and Ruffin scoring 12 points apiece. Jakimovski finished with 11 points, and freshman Sebastian Rancik went 4-for-5 on 3-pointers and scored a team-high 13 points in his collegiate debut.
“Thank God (Eastern Washington) got tired playing at altitude. Otherwise it would’ve been a loss for us,” Boyle said. “But our guys finally woke up defensively. We got some stops, strung some stuff together, got out in transition. But there’s so much to improve on. I knew that with this team. But I wasn’t expecting the start that we had. I’ve got to do a better job and figure that out.”
Colorado 76, Eastern Washington 56
E. WASHINGTON (0-1)
Marquardt 1-2 0-0 2, Cook 3-8 1-2 7, Hartmann 3-5 0-0 6, McClain 6-9 4-6 16, Williams 1-11 1-2 4, Zanki 4-11 0-0 12, Powell 1-4 1-2 3, Winkel 0-3 0-0 0, Seale 2-4 0-0 4, Thomas 0-0 0-0 0, Dziuba 0-0 2-2 2, Ngoyi 0-0 0-0 0, Stockton 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 21-58 9-14 56.
COLORADO (1-0)
Dak 2-3 0-0 5, Jakimovski 3-9 4-5 11, Malone 2-3 0-0 4, Hammond 3-8 0-0 7, Ruffin 5-9 2-3 12, Baskin 3-4 6-7 12, Diop 1-3 0-0 2, Rancik 4-6 1-2 13, Smith 3-7 0-0 8, Kossaras 1-6 0-0 2, Carrington 0-1 0-0 0, Anderson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 27-59 13-17 76.
Halftime: E. Washington 31-25. 3-point field goals: E. Washington 5-16 (Zanki 4-8, Williams 1-5, Hartmann 0-1, Marquardt 0-1, Powell 0-1), Colorado 9-23 (Rancik 4-5, Smith 2-4, Dak 1-1, Hammond 1-4, Jakimovski 1-4, Carrington 0-1, Kossaras 0-2, Ruffin 0-2). Rebounds: E. Washington 30 (Hartmann, McClain, Zanki 5), Colorado 43 (Jakimovski, Malone 7). Assists: E. Washington 13 (McClain, Powell 4), Colorado 16 (Hammond 4). Turnovers: E. Washington 15 (Williams, McClain 5); Colorado 18 (Hammond, Baskin 4). Total fouls: E. Washington 18, Colorado 13. A: 5,679.
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