BOULDER, COLORADO — After a slow start on both offense and defense, Arizona men’s basketball trails Colorado 45-29 at halftime in the Coors Events Center.
The Wildcats ended the half down 16 having let the Buffalos shoot 64 percent from the floor and 57 percent from deep.
Frustrated by the lack of defense, Arizona head coach Sean Miller sat all of his starters except for Dusan Ristic for several minutes late in the first half.
Arizona looked slow and confused defensively and let the Buffaloes cut to the rim with ease. Colorado made its way to the rim almost unguarded several times due to defensive breakdowns. Other times the Buffaloes simply hit tough shots.
On offense, the Wildcats equalled their defensive performance, as they shot 30 percent from the floor and 23 percent from deep.
Toward the halfway point in the first half Colorado went on a 6-0 run that put them up 12.
During CU’s run, Arizona went on a six minute field goal drought
until Rawle Alkins dunked the ball to bring the game back within 10. Alkins finished the half with five points while Ayton matched him with an additional five. No other Wildcat had more than five at the half.
For Colorado, freshman center Dallas Walton led the way with 11 points while Namon Wright had 10 points and three rebounds. Walton shot 5-for-5 from the floor and 1-for-1 from deep.
Initially Colorado started the game 5-0 until Trier answered with a deep three off of a Parker Jackson-Cartwright drive and dish. Dylan Smith answered with another three and then the Wildcats missed the next nine 3-point attempts.
Arizona put up 13 threes in the the first half, compared to seven from Colorado. PJC missed a wide open corner three and Trier and Alkins took a number of deep threes that rimmed out.
Although the stadium wasn’t quite full the fans were loud and created a hostile atmosphere for Arizona. The officials called several fouls on Colorado in the first 10 minutes of the game and the crowd did not appreciate it, booing loudly.
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