The Ralphie Report

The Colorado Buffaloes continued their momentum over from their past two Pac-12 games and beat the Washington State Cougars 71-60. They controlled the pace throughout the game until the end and let their effective shooting and strong defense carry them to a win. Carlon Brown played his best game of the year with 28 points and Austin Dufault had his best game of the year as well with 17 points. The Buffaloes had great ball movement against Washington State's zone and have continued to improve their play against zone zone defense since Pac-12 play started.

Things the Buffaloes did well: Carlon Brown did everything for the Buffaloes today. He made some big threes when Colorado was in a scoring drought and had 7 rebounds while leading the team in scoring. Also, Austin Dufault stepped up and replaced Dinwiddie and Roberson's usual scoring showing his variety of post moves. More importantly, he did a good job finding the weakness in Washington State's interior defense and taking advantage of it until they stopped, which they never did. The defense had another tremendous performance forcing 14 turnovers and limited the Cougars to 38% shooting. The defense has been much improved since Pac-12 play has started and will be a big factor in how this season plays out for the Buffaloes. Overall, the Buffaloes are improving each game and look like they could contend in the Pac-12 this year.

Things the Buffaloes struggled with: The Buffaloes did not show the same killer instinct that they had against the Washington Huskies. They let the Cougars back in the game in the late second half with some sloppy play. The Buffaloes acted like the game was over with six minutes left, which happened a lot in non-conference play. Spencer Dinwiddie didn't post his usual numbers and played carelessly. They could have used his scoring in the latter part of the game to end it early, but Dinwiddie picked up too many fouls and was not a factor in the game.

Up Next: Colorado will play Cal on Thursday at Haas Pavilion. This game should be a measuring stick for the Buffaloes. The Coors Event Center is a hard place to play for opposing teams, but not every game is at home. The Buffaloes need to win on the road to have a chance of making the tournament. I would be surprised if Colorado won, but you never know as the early Pac-12 season has already shown.