Field Level Media
21 Nov 2023, 18:40 GMT+10
(Photo credit: Matt Pendleton-USA TODAY Sports)
Colorado is off to its best start since winning its first seven games of the 2019-20 season.
The No. 18 Buffaloes are cooking early this season and they seek to improve to 5-0 when they face Florida State on Tuesday in the championship game of the Sunshine Slam's Beach Bracket at Daytona Beach, Fla.
Colorado reached the title game by beating Richmond 64-59 on Monday. The Seminoles (3-1) advanced with an 83-75 win over UNLV.
The Buffaloes won their first three games by an average of 25.7 points so the contest against the Spiders represented their first true test of the season.
Richmond held the lead past the midway point of the second half before KJ Simpson's 3-pointer with 8:27 left put Colorado ahead to stay.
"We needed that," Buffaloes coach Tad Boyle said. "We needed to face a little bit of adversity.
"They had a good game plan and we had to fight through some things, but I thought our guys showed a lot of grit and a lot of toughness on a night where we weren't as good offensively as we've been. Richmond had a lot to do with that, but our guys kept grinding."
Colorado shot just 3 of 10 from 3-point range after entering the game hitting a sizzling 51.7 percent (31 of 60) from behind the arc.
Simpson scored a season-high 23 points for the second straight game to increase his team-best average to 20 per game. He is shooting 61.9 percent from the field and is 8 of 16 from behind the arc.
Tristan da Silva is 10 of 19 from 3-point range and shooting 61 percent overall. He is averaging 16.5 points after having 15 against the Spiders.
"We had to work for everything we got out there," da Silva said. "We faced some adversity and overcame it. If we're not shooting the ball well, we have to lean on our defense and rebounding."
Florida State bounced back from an 89-68 loss to Florida on Friday to post a wire-to-wire victory over UNLV. The Seminoles led by as many as 16 points.
Jamir Watkins matched his season high with 19 points on 8-of-11 shooting and had a career-best eight assists in a strong showing against the Rebels.
Watkins is off to a solid start with the Seminoles after transferring from VCU to play for veteran coach Leonard Hamilton.
Watkins is second on the squad in scoring at 13.3 per game, tied for the team rebounding lead at 4.8 and is averaging a team-best 4.5 assists.
"Coach Ham allows all of us to show our abilities and show our versatility," Watkins said recently. "He allows us to play our offense and gets on us about really playing hard on defense."
Darin Green Jr., who scored 16 points against UNLV, leads the Seminoles with a 13.5 scoring average. Cameron Corhen, who scored 14 against the Rebels, is averaging 13 points and shooting 59 percent from the field.
The programs met in the second round of the 2021 NCAA Tournament with fourth-seeded Florida State routing fifth-seeded Colorado 71-53.
--Field Level Media
Get a daily dose of Orlando Echo news through our daily email, its complimentary and keeps you fully up to date with world and business news as well.
Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to Orlando Echo.
More InformationIn a devastating turn of events, Israel's war on Gaza, sparked by Hamas's unprecedented attacks on October 7, has resulted ...
BATON ROUGE, Louisiana: In a Louisiana election where more than 43,000 people cast their ballots, a candidate for parish sheriff ...
LIVINGSTON, Kentucky: This week, railroad operator CSX said a train derailment involving 16 cars, two of which spilled molten sulfur ...
Fifty-seven journalists have been killed as of Saturday as a result of Israel's war on Gaza, which has extended to ...
TEL AVIV, Israel - Following Taoiseach Leo Varadkar's statement on Emily Hand's release, Israel's foreign minister says he summoned the ...
WASHINGTON D.C.: The White House says U.S. authorities have foiled a plot to kill a Sikh separatist in the U.S., ...
MARSHALL, Texas: In a lawsuit unsealed this week, Texas Attorney-General Ken Paxton said Pfizer and its supplier Tris Pharma provided ...
(Photo credit: Jordan Prather-USA TODAY Sports) Freshman reserve Reed Sheppard was outstanding on both sides of the floor with 21 ...
(Photo credit: Perry Nelson-USA TODAY Sports) Connor McDavid continued his hot streak with a goal and two assists and also ...
(Photo credit: Sergio Estrada-USA TODAY Sports) Malik Monk banked in a tough 13-footer with 7.4 seconds left, Stephen Curry was ...
(Photo credit: Sergio Estrada-USA TODAY Sports) The Sacramento Kings, who rallied from a 24-point deficit on Tuesday to complete a ...
(Photo credit: Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports) After splitting a pair of games against high-profile opponents in San Diego last week, ...