Rust off, Cody Williams leads Colorado into league game at Washington

Colorado standout freshman forward Cody Williams looks to continue his stellar play when the Buffaloes battle Washington in a Pac-12 contest on Wednesday night in Seattle.

Williams is forecasted to be one of the top picks in the 2024 NBA Draft. He recently returned from a seven-game absence due to a wrist injury and is averaging 17 points in four contests during the span.

The 6-foot-8 Williams scored a season-best 23 points on 10-of-13 shooting in an 86-70 win over visiting Oregon last Thursday and added 16 points in a 90-57 home triumph over Oregon State two nights later.

"The biggest thing, when I was injured, was just staying locked in," Williams said after the Oregon game. "It's hard, especially when you're not able to practice, you have to watch, stay in shape and still get in form shooting. I knew, coming back, it'd be a little bit of rust kind of getting a feel for the game."

Williams is averaging 15.1 points in 11 games, and he will look to help the Buffaloes (14-5, 5-3 Pac-12) snap their road woes in the game against the Huskies (11-8, 3-5).

Colorado is 0-4 on the road and recently went winless on a three-game trek, losing at then-No. 10 Arizona, Arizona State and Cal.

"We just went on a three-game road trip and came back 0-for-3," Buffaloes coach Tad Boyle said. "Now we have another opportunity with a three-game road trip. It's not going to be easy, and we just have to show what we can do."

KJ Simpson (19.1) and Tristan da Silva (15.9) are Colorado's top two scorers.

Washington just completed a road trip in which it lost two of three games, ending with a 90-80 setback at Stanford.

The Huskies were destroyed by the Cardinal's Spencer Jones (career bests of 30 points and eight 3-pointers) in Saturday's loss. Stanford was 13 of 24 from behind the arc.

"Our defense in the second half just wasn't good enough," Washington coach Mike Hopkins said afterward. "I felt like we played hard, I felt like we competed. We didn't execute well enough at the end to win."

Keion Brooks Jr. recorded 20 points and 11 rebounds, and Moses Wood tallied 18 points for the Huskies.

Brooks leads Washington with a 20.2 scoring average. Sahvir Wheeler is second at 16.1.

The Buffaloes defeated the Huskies 73-69 on Dec. 29 in Boulder. Simpson led the way with 21 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists. Brooks had 20 points and eight rebounds for Washington.

—Field Level Media