CORVALLIS, Ore. — The Colorado Buffaloes hope plenty more wins are on the way. Still, their victory on Saturday night at Oregon State delivered another milestone for coach Tad Boyle’s program.
The Buffs’ 69-47 road win gave CU its 20th victory of the season, improving to 20-6 overall with a 9-4 mark in the Pac-12 Conference.
Though the Buffs have much larger goals in mind, it still marked the 11th time in program history CU has reached the 20-win plateau. Seven of those 20-win seasons have occurred during Boyle’s 10 seasons at the helm.
Depending on the Buffs’ fortunes at the Pac-12 tournament as well as the postseason, and with five games remaining in the regular season, CU has a chance to top the program record of 24 wins in a season. The Buffs reached that total in Boyle’s first season in 2010-11 and again the following year.
“My message to the team after the game was, again, feel good about where we are right now,” Boyle said. “We’re tied for first-place. But in no way can you be satisfied. There’s still a lot of basketball to be played and a lot of good things ahead for this team. But when it comes to 20 wins, it is just a number. But, I think you’ve got to put it in context with the history of Colorado basketball. That’s a number that we want to shoot for every single year. Sometimes we’ve gotten there, sometimes we haven’t.
“When you get there you know you’ve had a decent year. But we’re not satisfied with decent. We want great. This team understands that. I think they recognize that. It’s good to get it, but it’s not as good as the 21st one. We have to find a way to get 21.”
Rough 21
Speaking of getting to 21, junior D’Shawn Schwartz turned 21 on Saturday, but it was a birthday he likely will want to forget.
While Schwartz was a leading figure the defensive effort against Oregon State guard Ethan Thompson, he went scoreless for the first time this season and the first time his second game of last season against Omaha on Nov. 16, 2018. Schwartz went 0-for-8 from the field, but what was far more painful was a shot to the nose he took from Thompson during a collision under the basket with 13 minutes, 9 seconds remaining in the game. Schwartz suffered a bloody nose and did not return, and Boyle said he would be re-evaluated once the Buffs return to Boulder.
Parquet pitches in
Like he did at USC two weeks ago, sophomore guard Eli Parquet gave the Buffs valuable minutes off the bench, scoring five of his career-high-tying seven points in the second half.
Parquet knocked down his only 3-point attempt and went 2-for-3 overall, including a highlight-reel dunk off a feed from McKinley Wright IV that capped the Buffs’ game-breaking 12-2 run midway through the second half. Parquet also recorded two assists and a blocked shot without a turnover in 18 minutes, his second-highest total of the season.
“It felt amazing,” Parquet said. “Me and (Wright) have been trying to get that back-door play for a while now.”
Bey’s bouce-back
After a rough game against Oregon, junior forward Tyler Bey produced a monster game against Oregon State. Bey recorded his 10th double-double of the season with 21 points and 15 rebounds, tying Alex Stivrins for the 10th-most double-doubles in history.
Bey went 6-for-10 from the floor and 9-for-13 at the free throw line, matching a season-high in made free throws and establishing a new season-high in free throw attempts. His 15 rebounds extended his career total to 752, as he became just the seventh player in CU history to post 1,000 alongside 750 rebounds.
“Oregon State wasn’t doubling, and when you don’t double-team him on the block…he’s a really good player,” Boyle said. “He can turn and face and he had the jumper going. He had a couple jump hooks. He got to the free throw line. Tyler is a handful if you don’t double-team down there. So when they didn’t, we kept going there.
“If you’re one of seven in over 100 years of history, it’s pretty special. But he’s not done yet. I don’t know what the future holds for Tyler Bey in terms of his career at Colorado, but I do know this — he’s been a terrific player for us. We want him to continue to put up those kinds of numbers certainly this year and hopefully next, but we’ll figure that out when the season is over with. But it’s a testament to him.”
The other former Buffs in the 1,000-point/750 rebound club are Cliff Meely, Shaun Vandiver, Josh Scott, Stephane Pelle, Jim Davis, and Andre Roberson. Bey also passed Roberson and Chauncey Billups to move into 34th-place on the all-time scoring list.
Notable
Wright passed Scott Wedman and Blair Wilson to move into 21st-place on CU’s all-time scoring list…Lucas Siewert played in his 124th game, tying Scott for the ninth-most all-time at CU…In Oregon State’s comeback win at CU last month, Beavers junior Zach Reichle torched the Buffs for a career-high 19 points. He went 2-for-7 on Saturday with only five points…Oregon State leading scorer Tres Tinkle secured a prestigious team record by recording his 90th consecutive game with double-figure points, breaking a tie with Mel Counts for the longest streak in team history. But the Buffs very nearly ended that streak, as Tinkle needed a free throw with 2:45 remaining to notch his 10th point…The Buffs’ eight turnovers tied for the second-fewest in a game this season. CU also had eight at home against Oregon on Jan. 2 and had a season-low seven against UC Irvine on Nov. 18…Since suffering a concussion at UCLA on Jan. 30 and then missing the next game against USC, junior guard Maddox Daniels had gone 0-for-4 on 3-pointers over the past three games. He went 2-for-4 at Oregon State and also matched a season-high with three rebounds…Oregon State’s 47 points was a season-low scoring total. It was the third-lowest for a CU opponent this season, trailing Wyoming (41) and Sacramento State (45).
