BOULDER — Lacking consistency all season, the Colorado men’s basketball team followed its best home performance with undoubtedly its worst.
Taking advantage of a disappearing act by the Buffaloes’ defense down low, Texas Tech pulled away in the second half for an 87-69 victory Wednesday night at the Coors Events Center.
Making much of the game look almost like a layup drill, the Red Raiders shot 72.4 percent in the second half, 61.8 percent for the game. The visitors never went scoreless on consecutive possessions after halftime, outscoring the Buffs 52-37 during the final 20 minutes.
“I don’t think I’ve ever had a team play defensively that poorly,” said first-year CU coach Jeff Bzdelik, who has three decades in the profession.
“Give Texas Tech credit. Hopefully, our players learned a great lesson in how to play the game because we haven’t played the game the right way all season. I can’t coach effort. That’s what frustrates the heck out of me. It has to come from inside.”
Colorado (10-15, 2-9 Big 12) lacked the energy it showed in a 72-58 victory over Oklahoma here 11 days earlier. CU apparently forgot how to stop a motion offense Saturday in a 69-45 loss at Kansas.
“(Texas Tech) picked us apart and made us look foolish defensively,” senior guard Richard Roby said.
The Red Raiders (14-11, 5-6) improved to 2-3 under newly promoted coach Pat Knight, who took over for his father, Bob Knight, on Feb. 4. It took only one visit to Boulder for Pat Knight to match his father’s victory total here. With Texas Tech, Bob Knight went 1-2 in road games against CU.
Tech notched its first conference road victory of the season and made it look easy.
“(Bzdelik) had great shooters at Air Force,” Pat Knight said. “When he gets more shooters in here, his system will start clicking.”
Colorado had hoped to celebrate a special night. Roby needed 25 points to move into third place on the school’s career scoring list. And Roby’s half brother, Nuggets forward Kenyon Martin, watched from the front row.
But Colorado couldn’t stop Texas Tech’s drives in the lane or along the baseline. Eight of the first 11 baskets scored by the Red Raiders in the second half came from inside.
Roby reached 25 points on a drive with 3:45 remaining to tie Shaun Vandiver (1989-91) for third place on the all-time scoring list with 1,876 points.
Freshman Cory Higgins added 12 points for the Buffs.
TEXAS TECH (14-11)
Singletary 3-7 1-2 7, Suljagic 6-7 1-2 13, Zeno 5-5 4-4 14, Voskuil 7-10 2-3 20, Roberson 8-12 1-2 20, Craig 0-1 0-0 0, Roberts 0-1 0-0 0, Hoffmeister 0-0 0-0 0, Cook 1-2 2-2 4, Prince 1-2 0-0 2, Rizvic 0-0 0-0 0, Burgess 3-8 1-2 7, De Bem 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 34-55 12-17 87.
COLORADO (10-15)
Jackson-Wilson 2-4 2-2 6, Hall 3-10 0-1 8, Higgins 4-7 3-3 12, Thorne II 2-4 1-2 5, Roby 9-16 5-7 25, Silas 4-10 1-2 9, Coney 0-1 0-0 0, Patterson 1-2 0-0 2, Knutson 1-3 0-0 2, Zehnder 0-0 0-0 0, King-Stockton 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-57 12-17 69.
Halftime — Texas Tech 35-32. 3-point goals —Texas Tech 7-12 (Voskuil 4-5, Roberson 3-6, Burgess 0-1), Colorado 5-16 (Hall 2-3, Roby 2-3, Higgins 1-4, Silas 0-1, Coney 0-1, Knutson 0-2, Thorne II 0-2). Fouled out —None. Rebounds — Texas Tech 33 (Suljagic 10), Colorado 27 (Roby 9). Assists — Texas Tech 14 (Burgess 5), Colorado 11 (Silas 3). Total fouls —Texas Tech 15, Colorado 18. A — 4,974.
Tom Kensler: 303-954-1280 or tkensler@denverpost.com
