CU Men Prepare For Thursday Matchup With ULM
November 16, 2016 | Men's Basketball, Neill Woelk
BOULDER — Just two games into the season, the math has already hit both ends of the spectrum for Tad Boyle's Colorado Buffaloes.
From a red-hot 61.9 percent shooting (13-for-21) from 3-point range vs. Sacramento State to ice-cold 16.7 percent (3-for-18) vs. Seattle; from a relatively narrow seven-rebound edge over the Hornets (47-40) to a dominating 20-board edge against the Redhawks (55-35); and from 10 turnovers against Sacramento State to nearly double that number (19) three nights later.
But despite the disparity, it all adds up to a 2-0 record, one the Buffs will attempt to push to 3-0 Thursday when they play host to the University of Louisiana at Monroe in a 7 p.m. game at the Coors Events Center.
It's the second game of the Legends Classic Boulder Regional Round, a tournament that will step up a considerable notch in name recognition next week when the Buffs face Notre Dame on Monday at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. That will be followed one night later by a matchup with either Texas or Northwestern.
But given their last outing, the Buffs aren't looking ahead to their New York trip quite yet.
Instead, they'll be giving their full attention to ULM, especially in light of Monday night's struggles against a Seattle zone defense that seemed to befuddle the Buffs all night long.
"We go from 10 turnovers Friday night, which is a great, manageable number to 19 turnovers against the zone," Boyle said after the game. "We weren't getting pressed or pressured, we just turned the thing over. We have to be a little bit more consistent against the zone."
But while the Buffs were struggling from the floor and having problems holding onto the ball, they still managed to adhere to one of Boyle's basic tenets: rebounding. Led by senior Wesley Gordon's 14 boards, CU dominated that department. Colorado's overall 55-35 edge included a 19-10 lead in offensive rebounds, with the Buffs reaping 16 second-chance points.
Now Boyle wants to see more of that — at least until the Buffs regain their shooting eye.
"Offensively we need to be more of a presence down there," Boyle said. "Wes is a presence, but we need multiple guys being a presence."
While Monday night's win was by no means a thing of beauty — Boyle called it "the definition of winning ugly" — it nevertheless hammered home a point Boyle and his staff consistently preach to their team.
When your offense abandons you, defense and rebounding can make the difference.
"We had 19 turnovers, we shot 3 for 18 from three and we still won it," senior Derrick White said. "It just goes to show that if we guard and we rebound, we can win."
Another bright spot came late in the game after the Redhawks had cut a 12-point CU lead down to three with just under six minutes to play. It no doubt raised the specter of last season, when Colorado let a half-dozen such leads slip away in the late going.
Monday, however, the Buffs kept their cool and pulled away down the stretch, getting two key 3-pointers from Josh Fortune to provide some cushion, one they maintained over the final few minutes.
"You need to play with poise and you can't panic," Boyle said. "It's easy to do in those situations. When we have some of the turnovers we had tonight, all I can do is just shake my head. We've got to get better — and that's good. Hopefully our players will learn and understand that."
In ULM, the Buffs will face a team that lost to Texas on Monday, 80-59. The Warhawks trailed by only six, 46-40, with 12:58 to go in the game but the Longhorns used a 16-4 run to pull away and ULM never managed to close the gap again.
The Warhawks, who beat Centenary 96-63 in their season opener, were led by guard Marvin Jean-Pierre with 13 points against the Longhorns.
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
