Others already had a glimpse of what Texas freshman Avery Bradley can do. It's time Big 12 teams see him for themselves.
Bradley scored 29 points on 12-of-14 shooting and grabbed nine rebounds in his Big 12 debut, leading No. 2 Texas to a 103-86 win over Colorado on Saturday.
``What can I say? He was terrific,'' Texas coach Rick Barnes said. ``Avery's explosive. He's quick. He's as fast any anybody we've had in a long time.''
One of the top recruits in the country, Bradley has been rounding his game into the complete package over the first 15 games. Before Saturday, his season high was a 20-point effort in a win over North Carolina.
``You see the stats,'' Texas senior forward Damion James said. ``He's unbelievable. He's just got to keep it going.''
James had 20 points and 14 rebounds as Texas improved to 15-0 for the first time since the 1932-33 season.
For Colorado, it was just another afternoon of road woes. The Buffaloes (9-6, 0-1) dropped their 22nd consecutive road game overall and their 30th in the Big 12.
Marcus Relphorde scored 24 points for the Buffaloes, but he also was one of four Colorado players to foul out in a four-minute stretch of the second half as Texas put the game away.
Offensively, Colorado looked early like a team determined to end its run of road futility. The Buffaloes made 12 of their first 17 shots, but even with that kind of shooting, couldn't keep Texas from building a big lead.
Both teams shot better than 50 percent for the game. Texas scored 39 points off turnovers and second chance shots.
Bradley was 8 of 9 from the field in the first half. His 3-pointer put Texas up 35-28 and started a 17-4 Texas run helped by three consecutive missed 3-pointers by Colorado.
Bradley found just about any shot he wanted, whether it was from long range, midrange or between two defenders in the lane. Bradley closed the half with a twisting reverse layup at the buzzer to give Texas a 57-42 halftime lead.
``My teammates trusted me. They saw I was making shots and wanted to get me the ball,'' Bradley said.
Colorado coach Jeff Bzdelik said the problem was trying to guard Bradley while also trying to stop James and Dexter Pittman near the basket.
The Buffaloes stopped Pittman - he was in foul trouble the entire game and finished with just four points - but the others will take over the game.
``We didn't disrespect Avery by leaving him open, we just couldn't get to him in time because we were helping out in the paint,'' Bzdelik said. ``They have just so many weapons.''
Colorado shaved the lead early in the second and kept it close for a while. Bradley fouled Alec Burks on a dunk and the 3-point play made it 59-50. But Bradley also kept making the baskets that held off the Buffaloes.
Bradley's 3-pointer from the corner and another jumper from the left wing kept Texas rolling until Colorado started running into serious foul trouble. Austin Dufault, Shane Harris-Tunks, Trey Eckloff and Relphorde all fouled out within four minutes.
``It made it tough,'' Relphorde said. ``They were a real physical team. We tried to match it.''
Texas led by 11 when the exodus started and kept pushing the lead with every departure. Soon after Relphorde was gone, Texas built the lead to 97-77 with just under four minutes to play.
Bradley's third 3-pointer pushed Texas to the 100-point mark for the fourth time this season.
Texas had its own foul trouble that helped keep Colorado, the best free-throw shooting team in the league, in the game. Colorado went 20 of 26 from the line.
``It's a good thing we were scoring today,'' Barnes said.
