Though it wasn’t enough to produce an upset of No. 16 Oregon, the surging Tory Miller was one of the few bright spots for the Colorado Buffaloes Thursday night.
With starting forward Wesley Gordon unable to make a difference at either end of the floor, Miller came off the bench to produce 10 points and six rebounds — grabbing five of them off the offensive glass. The sophomore forward connected on 4-of-7 shots.
Miller entered the game averaging 5.4 points and 4.7 rebounds overall this season, but he has been coming on strong of late. Since missing a lone game at Stanford on Jan. 3 due to a head injury, Miller has averaged 6.3 points and 5.9 rebounds in eight games.
“Outside of Tory Miller, I don’t think we had one player that played very well tonight,” CU head coach Tad Boyle said. “I thought Tory was terrific. Including myself as a coach, I don’t think I coached a very good game tonight. Everybody should be disappointed in themselves. I know I’m disappointed in myself. Tory Miller should not be disappointed in himself.”
Quotable
“Tonight was the biggest game we’ve had all year, and we laid an egg. That’s disappointing.”
— Boyle, on his team’s effort on a night in which CU’s only lead was 2-0 in the early minutes.
Akyazili out
Freshman guard Thomas Akyazili did not play for the first time this season after suffering a leg injury earlier this week at practice. Boyle described Akyazili’s status as day-to-day heading into Saturday’s date at Oregon State.
Notable
The Buffs’ 56 points matched the second-lowest mark of the season, trailing only the 54 scored in a loss against Utah on Jan. 8. CU scored 91 points in its home win against Oregon on Jan. 17…Gordon went scoreless for just the second time this season. Gordon also had no points against Portland on Nov. 20 in a game that saw him post six rebounds and six blocked shots in 19 minutes. Gordon had four rebounds and one blocked shot in 28 minutes Thursday…Reserve guard Xavier Talton recorded a season-high five assists and, with Akyazili sidelined, he played a season-most 28 minutes…Pac-12 leading Oregon may have suffered a significant injury late in Thursday’s game when Chris Boucher was helped to the bench with an apparent ankle injury. Boucher scored just seven points but recorded a game-high 12 rebounds to go with six blocked shots.
Pat Rooney: rooneyp@dailycamera.com or twitter.com/prooney07
