Arizona jumped out to a 1-0 start in Pac-12 Conference play Thursday night as it used a big first-half run to put away Colorado, 64-56, to open the second half of the season. The Wildcats (10-4, 1-0 Pac-12) didn't take their first lead in the game until 11:37 mark of the first half on a 3-pointer from sophomore wing Brandon Randolph, but it eventually closed the first half with a 25-11 run to earn a comfortable lead going into the second half.
The big run was sparked by strong work on the defensive end of the floor as the Wildcats held CU to 40 percent shooting from the floor and forced nine turnovers in the opening 20 minutes.
UA head coach Sean Miller has mentioned that his team doesn't have a lot of room for error, so he was pleased with how the Wildcats went about winning Thursday night's game at McKale Center considering it didn't have the strongest finish to the nonconference portion of its season.
"The first 20 minutes of this game was among our best basketball of the year," Miller said. "We moved the ball really well against the zone. We played good defense, good offense and without Justin Coleman at the forefront of it I think made us feel really good at the half."
The Buffaloes (9-4, 0-1) wouldn't do down easily as Tad Boyle's squad made things a little closer down the stretch as UA tried to close out the game. CU cut the lead down to seven points with under three minutes left to play and Miller had to use a late timeout to get his team settled back in on the defensive end.
While the game never quite felt in doubt after UA's initial burst in the first half, the late run from the Buffaloes certainly left Miller something to critique Thursday night.
"With the type of team that we have we had a hard time putting two halves together," he said. "Colorado deserves some credit, but we had some plays that are head scratchers throughout the second 20 minutes. We went from playing our best or among our best ball in the first half to maybe some of our worst ball in the second half.
"I was just happy that we were able to hold on, win, talk about it, learn from it and move on to Utah here on Saturday."
Arizona played its first game of conference play largely without its starting point guard. Coleman dislocated his shoulder earlier in the week and was not at 100 percent in Thursday night's game. He came off the bench and played four minutes for the Wildcats, but he was not able to score in that time and sat out in the second half.
What that meant was UA leaning on freshman guard Brandon Williams to handle the point guard duties. Willams, who normally splits his time between the two guard spots, looked comfortable handling his increased role on the ball Thursday as he finished with a team-high six assists to go with a team-high 14 points.
"Kind of just being like the quarterback of the team," Williams said of his mindset Thursday night. "Just looking at guys off pick and rolls and making smart decisions."
The freshman played more minutes, 33, than any other UA player in the victory over the Buffaloes and Miller commended his young guard for stepping into a position that might be more difficult for other players in their first season of college basketball.
"I thought Brandon Williams did an excellent job," Miller said. "That's not an easy situation that he walked into, first Pac-12 game. Brandon, although he's played the one quite a bit this year, he's predominantly played off the ball with Justin being our point guard. So, just throwing him into the fire like that he did a really good job."
UA also received an spark from an unlikely player Thursday with freshman wing Devonaire Doutrive getting his biggest opportunity so far this season. Doutrive has played in spurts throughout the season, but the win over Colorado gave him his best opportunity to stay on the floor for extended minutes and he delivered with eight points and four rebounds in just 12 minutes.
The performance could end up earning him even more time as the conference season rolls along.
"In my mind what Devonaire did he makes us a deeper team," Miller said. "He's earned a right to play a bigger role and I was really pleased watching him play. He played today like he practiced, and that a good sign for a freshman."
Miller said Coleman could play more minutes Saturday when the Wildcats host Utah since there can be no further damage done to his injured shoulder. UA takes on the Utes at 12 p.m. MST Saturday as it looks for its first weekend sweep of conference play. The Utes (7-6, 1-0) knocked off Arizona State Thursday night.
