The Colorado men’s basketball team entered the season needing someone to take charge from the 3-point line.
Freshman Isaiah Johnson is the early leader in taking over that department. Yet asked a week ago which Buffaloes player you’d want taking a key 3-pointer at crunch time, and Elijah Malone might’ve been last in line.
Not that an improved Malone wasn’t going to be a key factor in any turnaround enjoyed by the CU men’s basketball team this season. The 6-foot-10, 270-pound Malone is CU’s most physical presence in the post, yet it indeed was his 3-point touch that helped the Buffs hold off an Eastern Washington upset bid Saturday, with the Buffs improving to 2-0 with a 102-97 overtime win.
Malone stepped up to knock down an open 3-pointer with 41 seconds remaining in overtime off a drive-and-dish from point guard Barrington Hargress. It was the second of back-to-back 3-pointers with Johnson, and it opened up a six-point lead for the Buffs.
Malone didn’t shoot often from long range during his first season with the Buffs last year, finishing just 4-for-16. But he has the green light to fire away when open — Malone shot .394 from the arc in four seasons at NAIA Grace College — and Saturday’s big shot was the culmination of an offseason that saw Malone work tirelessly on his 3-point touch.
“Elijah Malone, unequivocally the last week and a half to two weeks, has become our leader,” CU head coach Tad Boyle said. “Elijah Malone, his voice is heard. He’s organizing things off the court. He’s doing what a leader does. And by the way, he’s our only senior. I’m really proud of him.
“The beautiful thing about that 3-pointer is, No. 1, he didn’t hesitate. And No. 2, we practice at 7:30 in the morning. Every day — not every other day, not every third day, not every fifth day — every day he’s here at 6 a.m. I walk out on the floor, if I’m early, he’s out there. He’s got a sweat going. He’s got a lather going before practice even starts. He’s worked on his 3-ball all summer long. All fall long. When you see kid like that, that didn’t have that in his game last year and now he has that in his game, he gets that shot and he doesn’t hesitate and he knocks it down, it is the best feeling in the world as a coach.”
While the Boyle and his staff attempt to fix CU’s generous defense ahead of a Friday night visit from former assistant Kim English and his Providence Friars (7 p.m., ESPN+), Saturday’s performance provided more evidence of a Buffs team with a high ceiling offensively.
After going just 3-for-12 on 3-pointers in the opener against Montana State, including 1-for-9 for everybody besides Johnson, CU went 11-for-23 from the arc against Eastern Washington. Malone, Hargress and Felix Kossaras all knocked down their only long-range attempts, while freshman Ian Inman scored his first collegiate points with a pair of 3-pointers in quick succession in the first half.
Perhaps more crucially, a CU team that committed the most turnovers in the Big 12 last year has posted two single-digit turnover totals to start the season, and that’s with an extra five minutes of play against Eastern Washington. The Buffs had only one single-digit turnover total in 35 games last season.
If the Buffs can’t improve a defense that has allowed both opponents to shoot at least 52% so far, they might have to rely on continuing to win shootouts.
“The main thing, starting with myself, it’s intensity. Defensive intensity, allowing one through five to see that,” Hargress said. “And then just understanding that since we’re such a deep team offensively that there shouldn’t be that much on our mind offensively. It should be even more giving ourselves effort on the defensive end.”