Pac-12 Tournament Recap: Buffs use balanced attack to defeat Oregon, 80-69

The Colorado Buffaloes used a balanced attack Thursday afternoon to get past the Oregon Ducks in the second round of the Pac-12 Tournament. With the win, the Buffs advanced to the semifinals to face the Arizona Wildcats Friday night.

Evan Battey continues to elevate his play during his final year as a member of the Buffs. Colorado’s senior scored a team-high 19 points on 6-of-15 shooting, hauling in 12 rebounds while recording two blocks.

His teammate, sophomore Jabari Walker, was a rebounding machine in Thursday’s contest. Jabari scored 18 points on 6-of-16 shooting but hauled in 16 rebounds — yet another double-double for Walker.

Every time Colorado seemed to be pulling away with the lead, Oregon’s forward Quincy Guerrier answered back. Quincy scored a game-high 25 points on 8-of-18 shooting, going 4-of-10 from deep. He also added 13 rebounds and two blocks in the loss.

Jacob Young was another tough guard for the Buffs. Oregon’s guard scored 18 points on 7-of-19 shooting, recording four rebounds, seven assists and two steals.

Oregon was without leading scorer Will Richardson as he was slated to miss the entire Pac-12 Tournament due to a non-COVID19 illness.

Buffs freshman guard KJ Simpson continues to evolve in his role off the bench. KJ appeared in 27 minutes Thursday afternoon, scoring 13 points on 5-of-11 shooting while collecting seven rebounds and six assists.

Not bad for a freshman.

Tristan da Silva was the other Buff in double-figures, scoring 12 points on 5-of-9 shooting as he pulled in three rebounds, two steals and two blocks.

Colorado advances to the semifinals as they face the Arizona Wildcats. You know very well that Arizona will come ready to play as Colorado upset the No.2 ranked Wildcats back in Boulder on Feb. 26.

Arizona is coming off a closely contested game against the Stanford Cardinal in their second round matchup. The Wildcats defeated the Cardinal by the final score of 84-80 behind 24 points from Christian Koloko. Bennedict Mathurin added 20 points of his own while recording seven rebounds.

If Colorado wants to be considered for an at-large bid in the NCAA Tournament, a win over Arizona Friday night will be the right step in that direction.