BOULDER — Colorado may depend on its “L.A. Connection” of freshmen guards Askia Booker and Spencer Dinwiddie even more than Buffaloes coach Tad Boyle had imagined. The boss was already counting on them a bunch.
Booker and Dinwiddie each recorded a career-best scoring effort and enabled Colorado (4-2) to overcome shoddy free-throw shooting Monday night in a 70-68 victory over Georgia at the Coors Events Center.
Boyle took Dinwiddie and Booker aside Wednesday after they struggled in the overtime win at Air Force. Talk about responding: The 6-foot-5 Dinwiddie led the Buffs with 16 points, marking his first game in double figures; Booker, 6-1 but perhaps the best dunker on the team, pitched in 14 points.
“I’ve always thought positive (reinforcement) is better than negative — some of the time,” a grinning Boyle said of the meeting. “Ski and Spencer are freshmen. They’re going to have good games and bad games. But we talked about not getting down when things aren’t going the way they want.”
Georgia (4-3) may be as bouncy as anybody Colorado will face this season. But the Bulldogs are young, and they shot just 34.4 percent in the second half after leading 38-34 at the break.
Colorado came out firing with an 11-1 run to begin the second half. Swinging the ball around for open shots, Colorado raced to a 45-39 lead with 15:41 left. Time out, Georgia.
“We picked it up on the defensive end,” said CU sophomore forward Andre Roberson, who patrolled the baseline and recorded a double-double of 15 points and 15 rebounds.
“(Georgia is) so athletic, so fast, it was hard for us to get a hand in the face,” Boyle said. “We talked about getting through ball screens aggressively in the second half and staying with the shooter.”
Still, Colorado had to hold off a late rally — helped by the clanging of missed free throw after missed free throw. The Buffs missed 15 in all.
No fault of the fab freshmen, however. With several of CU’s veteran players struggling from the line, Booker (6-for-8) and Dinwiddie (7-for-8) stepped up and showed how it’s done — just as they might have on the playgrounds of Los Angeles.
“Those two guys have an unbelievable belief in themselves,” Boyle said.
Dinwiddie and Booker drove the baseline and darted through the paint more than they had in previous games. Dinwiddie, last spring named the Los Angeles “City Section” player of the year at Taft High, entered Monday night’s game averaging just 4.8 points with a best of seven — despite being a starter in every game.
“Those are the type of things I expect of myself,” Dinwiddie said of his Monday night performance. “My teammates told me that I’m better in practice when I’m aggressive.”
Already developing into a super sub, Booker is called the team’s “Energizer Bunny” by Boyle. The former Price High standout reached double figures from off the bench for the third straight game.
“Coach told us to be more aggressive tonight,” Booker said of himself and Dinwiddie. Colorado needed it.
GEORGIA (4-3)
Thornton 0-5 0-0 0, D. Williams 3-7 5-8 11, Caldwell-Pope 6-17 0-1 15, Ware 3-7 0-0 9, V. Williams 4-6 0-0 9, Dixon 0-0 0-0 0, Nolte 0-1 0-0 0, Robinson 6-9 1-2 14, Brantley 0-3 0-0 0, Florveus 2-5 0-0 4, Djurisic 2-3 0-0 6. Totals 26-63 6-11 68.
COLORADO (4-2)
Roberson 4-8 7-11 15, Dufault 1-6 0-2 2, Tomlinson 2-5 2-6 7, Dinwiddie 4-8 7-8 16, Brown 4-8 0-0 10, Booker 4-6 6-8 14, Harris-Tunks 2-6 0-0 4, Chen 1-2 0-0 2, Adams 0-1 0-2 0. Totals 22-50 22-37 70.
Halftime — Georgia 38-34. 3-point goals — Georgia 10-25 (Ware 3-6, Caldwell-Pope 3-10, Djurisic 2-2, Robinson 1-1, V. Williams 1-3, Brantley 0-3), Colorado 4-14 (Brown 2-4, Tomlinson 1-3, Dinwiddie 1-4, Adams 0-1, Booker 0-1, Dufault 0-1). Fouled out — Dufault. Rebounds — Georgia 38 (Florveus 7), Colorado 37 (Roberson 15). Assists — Georgia 12 (Robinson, Ware 3), Colorado 11 (Booker, Brown 3). Total fouls — Georgia 26, Colorado 14. A — 6,453.
