Boyle's Buffs Set To Host Eastern Washington

BOULDER — Maybe it's just coincidence, but when junior guard Dom Collier returned to the Colorado basketball lineup, so did the Buffs' shooting eye.

Collier, who missed nine games with a foot injury, returned to action in Monday night's 75-68 win over Air Force and produced nine points on 3-of-6 shooting from 3-point range in 19 minutes of play.

Collier's night was part of a 27-for-50 night from the field for CU (54 percent) — only the third time this season the Buffs have hit at least half of their shots from the field. The first time came in the season opener against Sacramento State (53.3 percent), when Collier was 4-for-7 from the field; the second against Wofford (56.5 percent), when Collier was sidelined.

Thus, two of the 9-3 Buffs' three best shooting performances have come with Collier on the floor. Overall, CU is shooting nearly 48 percent in games with Collier available (78-for-163) and just 42.4 percent (226-for-533) without Collier. From 3-point range, the difference is even more stark: 41.3 percent with Collier; 31.5 percent without.

"It just felt good to be back out there," Collier said after Wednesday's practice. "Sitting and watching wasn't much fun. I had my teammates' back when I was out and tried to support them as much as I could — but I'm just really excited to be back playing again."

Collier and his teammates host Eastern Washington on Thursday in a 6:30 p.m. game at the Coors Events Center, CU's final game before Christmas break and the Pac-12 portion of the schedule.

Buffs head coach Tad Boyle said it was "great" to have Collier available again.

"I didn't plan on playing him as many minutes as we did," Boyle said. "I was hoping around eight to 10, but he played 19. He felt fine, he looked good. He's still rounding into shape a little bit physically, and his foot is sore, which is to be expected, but that's normal."

Collier's 3-pointers came at opportune moments for the Buffs in the win over AFA. His second trey gave the Buffs a 25-21 lead in the final two minutes of the first half; his third gave the Buffs an 11-point cushion, 69-58, with 4:24 to go in the game.

"It felt good to have a couple shots go down and get my confidence back to where I wanted it to be," Collier said. "Now it's just getting my foot back to 100 percent and my conditioning back to 100 percent. I want to be aggressive, find my teammates when they're open and when I have an opportunity, be ready to square up and shoot."

If Collier can add a measure of consistency, it will be a welcome addition to a team that is still struggling to produce that commodity for 40 minutes. While the Buffs have won nine games, they have outscored an opponent in both halves only three times this season.

The Eagles bring an 8-4 record to Boulder, a mark that includes wins over Seattle and Denver and big losses to Texas and Xavier, two teams the Buffs have beaten this season.

But despite the fact that the Eagles will be playing their third straight game on an extended road trip, Boyle said his focus is on getting the Buffs to play a complete game.

"It's not about what Eastern Washington has done this week or where they've traveled," Boyle said. "It's about Colorado basketball, doing what we have to do, doing our jobs, doing it consistently for 40 minutes. That's what our focus is on."

Boyle admits there has been some frustration within the CU locker room with the way the Buffs have played at times. But, he said, part of that can be attributed to some rather large expectations that accompanied the team when the season began.

Now, it's a matter of continuing to improve and hitting Pac-12 play with some momentum.

"When your expectations are here," Boyle said, holding his hand over his head, "and you don't play to here, everybody is like 'What the heck is wrong with Colorado?' Well, guess what — the sky isn't falling. It's not like we're a broken wheel that can't be fixed. We have to get better, we know that. We have to get there, and that's what our plan is."

Indeed, despite that lack of consistency, the Buffs are still 9-3, still own two wins over ranked team and still have a relatively respectable RPI ranking of 75.

"I think that frustration can be a good thing if it's channeled the right way, which is, 'OK, let's do what we're supposed to do and do our jobs,'" Boyle said. "We're frustrated, (but) it's not the end of the world."

BROADCAST: Thursday's game will be televised by the Pac-12 Networks with Mark Rogondino and Kevin O'Neill while Newsradio 850 AM and 94.1 FM will carry the radio broadcast with Mark Johnson and Scott Wilke.

Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu

Colorado University Athletics

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