Colorado goes inside to beat Missouri

BOULDER, Colo. -- With its primary offensive weapon, the 3-pointer, ineffective and not falling, Colorado needed to change its game plan. They did and it changed the outcome of the game with Missouri.

Switching to a more inside oriented attack, Colorado scored 44 points in the paint and got 15 points each from Richard Roby and Jayson Obazuaye and ended a two-game losing streak with a 78-60 rout of Missouri on Saturday.

"We were seeing more than the normal amount of pressure on the ball outside," Roby said. "When you see that much pressure out there, coaches tell us to drive to the basket."

"We did and it produced results," added Roby, who was 1-for-6 on 3-point attempts.

The rest of the Buffaloes were only 2-for-16 shooting 3-pointers.

Nick Eddy added 12 points for Colorado (18-7, 8-6 Big 12 Conference). Eddy and the Buffaloes reserves contributed 30 points.

"Our bench was a factor because when Richard Roby is having an off night, we need to look to other people to help," Colorado coach Patton said.

There was little help for Missouri guard Thomas Gardner, who had 19 points to reach 1,007 career points and became the 37th player in school history to score 1,000 points. Kevin Young, 13 points, and Jason Horton, 10, reached double-figures for Missouri (11-14, 4-10).

The Tigers are 1-3 since Quin Snyder resigned as coach on Feb. 10.

"We got off to a great start and hit a wall and weren't able to score," said Missouri coach Melvin Watkins. "When you can't score and you can't stop the other team, that's a bad combination."

Illinois tops Iowa

James Augustine was so nervous that he airballed his first free throw. Dee Brown was 2-of-12 from the field.

It wasn't exactly the way Illinois' two senior stars wanted to play in their final home game. But their teammates came to the rescue and the eighth-ranked Illini beat No. 20 Iowa 71-59.

"They both had special careers here so we wanted to send them out with a bang on their last night at Assembly Hall," said Rich McBride, who scored 15 points to lead the Illini (23-5, 9-5) and keep them in the hunt for a third straight Big Ten title.