BOULDER — Once the Buffs grabbed the Rocky Mountain Showdown by the neck, squeezing the life out of CSU’s hopes, CU guard Julian Hammond III insisted it wasn’t personal.
“It feels good to beat them,” Hammond said after his Buffs throttled the Rams 72-55, giving CU its fourth win over its last five men’s basketball meetings with its in-state rival.
“And also feels a little bit better because they also didn’t offer me (a scholarship). So it feels a little bit better to beat them.”
“I feel the same way,” added Buffs forward Bangot Dak, who dropped a team-high 16 points off the bench. “I didn’t get an offer from them either. So I’m going to try to kill them every time.”
OK, so it was a little personal.
And more than a little one-sided.
In a contest that became something of a defensive slog late, CSU’s 55 points were the fewest by the Rams in a Showdown since December 2019.
The Buffs (7-2) weren’t just bigger, which is often the case in these intrastate tussles. They were longer, faster and, much to coach Tad Boyle’s delight, nastier on the defensive end.
CSU was just 9 for 34 from the floor (26.5%) in the first half, then misfired on 12 of their first 18 attempts coming out of the break.
“Defensively, I felt like we exerted our will, and they felt our presence a little bit in that first half,” Boyle said of the Rams, who dropped to 5-4 on the season. “And for the most part, did a pretty good job.”
Former Buff Nique Clifford, who netted 15 points and collected six rebounds in a win over CU last November in Fort Collins, finished with 10 points on 4-of-15 shooting and was booed just about every time he touched the ball.
The senior from Colorado Springs had two points and three boards at the break while misfiring on eight of his first nine attempts from the floor while being chased for much of the evening by CU forward Andrej Jakimovski.
“So it wasn’t just one person, but Andrej did a great job getting through screens and making him work for everything he got,” Boyle said, “because Nique’s turned into a hell of a player. There’s no doubt about it. He’s talented.”
On the offensive end, Boyle tweaked his starting lineup for CSU, replacing 6-foot-9 forward Trevor Baskin with 6-3 guard RJ Smith against the smaller Rams. The former made his presence felt, though, putting up 11 rebounds, nine points and two blocks in 23 minutes off the bench.
CSU struggled with the Buffs’ length throughout. The 6-11 Dak’s two-handed putback dunk extended the hosts’ lead to 56-30 with 12:10 left in the contest, capping an 8-4 CU run.
Like the Showdown two years ago in Boulder, this tilt turned ugly. Unlike the December ’22 contest between the rivals at CU Events Center, it got ugly early — and stayed there.
The Buffs strung together a 21-3 run midway through the opening half, turning a 14-11 CU cushion into a 35-14 bulge on Jakimovski’s basket with 5:40 to go until halftime.
Buffs center Elijah Malone led all CU scorers with 10 at the break, while Hammond poured in eight. Jalen Lake dropped seven for CSU to pace the green and gold in the first half and led all scorers with 18, while teammate Kyan Evans chipped in 11 for the Rams, who were outrebounded 44-33 and outscored in the paint, 36-20.