There's no doubt the greater Buff Nation is ecstatic as can be ahead of Tuesday night's Valero Alamo Bowl, but hold your horses everyone — there's some basketball to play between now and then.
Tad Boyle and the Buffs open up league play tonight at Arizona in a rescheduling of a game that was originally set to take place on Dec. 2.
The Buffaloes and Wildcats both sit at 6-1 on the year, but Arizona recently got a conference game in, losing to Stanford by three points.
For Colorado, which has never won (although Sabatino Chen might disagree) a game at the McKale Center in Tucson, item No. 1 on the agenda in making 2020-2021 the year that changes centers around rebounding.
The Buffs had looked good on the glass for the majority of the season, but Grand Canyon, despite an eventual 74-64 CU win, out-toughed Colorado on the glass by a comfortable margin, 33-20.
So far this year, the Wildcats are the best rebounding team in the Pac-12, averaging north of 40 boards per game, while also owning the best rebounding margin over opponents at +11.29.
What's more, the Cats are also grabbing boards in the offensive zone better than any Pac-12 team at this point, with seven per game. On 38% of its shots, Arizona is managing to secure offensive zone rebounds.
“We got our tails kicked on the board against Grand Canyon — they whipped us by 13, so that’s a great challenge for us and we’ve got to be ready for that challenge," Boyle said. "Every time you play Arizona, you have to be ready to compete and battle on the back boards because they’re physical and aggressive. I always say, Arizona never beats themselves — you have to go beat Arizona."
Arizona boasts some long forwards in 6-foot-7 freshman Bennedict Mathurin and 6-foot-11 redshirt sophomore Jordan Brown, both of whom have been doing most of the heavy lifting for the Cats in the rebounding department, averaging a respective 4.6 and 6.9 boards per game.
Then there's Azuolas Tubelis, a 6-foot-11 freshman from Lithuania, who's averaging 5.0 rebounds per game.
Either way, in similar fashion to the GCU Antelopes' strength when it came to bigs, Colorado, namely Evan Battey, Dallas Walton and Jeriah Horne, will have their cork cut out for them going up against Arizona's big men.
"Rebounding the ball, we worked on it in (Saturday's) practice, (Sunday's) practice — we emphasized it," Boyle said. "The effort against Grand Canyon was not good enough. Our guards have to help us rebound the ball more and we know it’s going to be a battle in there.
...
Regarding Jeriah Horne: If it ain't broke, don't fix it
Horne, the first graduate transfer Colorado has brought in during Boyle's 11-year tenure in Boulder, is off to a red hot start.
He's shooting 47% from the floor and has gone 12-of-24 from beyond the arc, quickly affirming his reputation earned at Tulsa as a dependable three-point shooter.
In bringing him in, the Buffs were hoping to replace some of the production left up in the air by the departure of Tyler Bey to the NBA Draft and eventually the Dallas Mavericks.
Horne's 11.4 points (second to only McKinley Wright IV) and team-leading 6.0 rebounds per game is just what the doctor ordered on that note.
So, why isn't he starting?
Simply put, Boyle likes him where he is. Horne enters the game like clockwork at the sub-16-minute opening media timeout and his 23.6 minutes per game is third on the team.
The way Boyle sees it, Horne is seeing the minutes he should be, taking the shots the team wants him to (his 60 attempts ranks second behind only Wright IV) and contributing.
“I love our rotation right now," Boyle said. "Jeriah plays starter’s minutes and has been playing starter’s minutes all year, basically. But bringing him off the bench I think establishes Dallas (Walton) and Evan (Battey) inside. I like the flow of our offense, I just think it’s very good and I think Jeriah is very good coming off the bench."
While Boyle and his assistants have considered the idea of starting Horne, right now, he's providing a valuable spark off the bench and likely will stay right where he's at.
"He’s a totally different look than both Dallas and Evan are when he comes in the game, so I like it," Boyle said. "We’ve talked about it but it’s had no traction in our staff meetings. He’s going to play a lot of minutes — we know that. Somebody’s gotta win Sixth Man of the Year in the league, might as well be Jeriah. He’s playing like it.”
...
Tristan da Silva battling some nagging health woes early in his CU career
Freshman forward Tristan da Silva has not played for Colorado since Dec. 14 against UNC. He missed CU's second game of the season vs. Kansas State due to COVID contract tracing protocol and since then has dealt with some nagging ailments that have sidelined him for the last two weeks.
Da Silva sat against Omaha on the 16th due to a migraine. Boyle went on to note that da Silva had participated in the team's early walk-through shoot around but had to be scratched late due to the extremely painful headache.
In Colorado's 92-69 rout of Washington, da Silva was also absent, as he was in the win over GCU.
That was due to a back issue, per Boyle, but tonight and on the Buffs' conference play-opening road trip, da Silva should be good to go.
“He’s fine and he’s much better," Boyle said. "He was having some back issues there for about a week or so. He was having trouble getting through a practice, so obviously if you can’t get through practice I don’t want to put his back at risk in a game, especially when it’s in the bag, so to speak. Tristan is going to be fine. He practiced yesterday and today and is looking better and healthier."
"I expect him to be available, if needed, against Arizona, USC and UCLA on this trip, so we’re looking forward to getting him back on the floor.”
...
FIN
Tonight could be the night to get that ever elusive win at the McKale Center! Should be a good primer of Buffs activity leading into the Alamo Bowl.
Tad Boyle and the Buffs open up league play tonight at Arizona in a rescheduling of a game that was originally set to take place on Dec. 2.
The Buffaloes and Wildcats both sit at 6-1 on the year, but Arizona recently got a conference game in, losing to Stanford by three points.
For Colorado, which has never won (although Sabatino Chen might disagree) a game at the McKale Center in Tucson, item No. 1 on the agenda in making 2020-2021 the year that changes centers around rebounding.
The Buffs had looked good on the glass for the majority of the season, but Grand Canyon, despite an eventual 74-64 CU win, out-toughed Colorado on the glass by a comfortable margin, 33-20.
So far this year, the Wildcats are the best rebounding team in the Pac-12, averaging north of 40 boards per game, while also owning the best rebounding margin over opponents at +11.29.
What's more, the Cats are also grabbing boards in the offensive zone better than any Pac-12 team at this point, with seven per game. On 38% of its shots, Arizona is managing to secure offensive zone rebounds.
“We got our tails kicked on the board against Grand Canyon — they whipped us by 13, so that’s a great challenge for us and we’ve got to be ready for that challenge," Boyle said. "Every time you play Arizona, you have to be ready to compete and battle on the back boards because they’re physical and aggressive. I always say, Arizona never beats themselves — you have to go beat Arizona."
Arizona boasts some long forwards in 6-foot-7 freshman Bennedict Mathurin and 6-foot-11 redshirt sophomore Jordan Brown, both of whom have been doing most of the heavy lifting for the Cats in the rebounding department, averaging a respective 4.6 and 6.9 boards per game.
Then there's Azuolas Tubelis, a 6-foot-11 freshman from Lithuania, who's averaging 5.0 rebounds per game.
Either way, in similar fashion to the GCU Antelopes' strength when it came to bigs, Colorado, namely Evan Battey, Dallas Walton and Jeriah Horne, will have their cork cut out for them going up against Arizona's big men.
"Rebounding the ball, we worked on it in (Saturday's) practice, (Sunday's) practice — we emphasized it," Boyle said. "The effort against Grand Canyon was not good enough. Our guards have to help us rebound the ball more and we know it’s going to be a battle in there.
...
Regarding Jeriah Horne: If it ain't broke, don't fix it
Horne, the first graduate transfer Colorado has brought in during Boyle's 11-year tenure in Boulder, is off to a red hot start.
He's shooting 47% from the floor and has gone 12-of-24 from beyond the arc, quickly affirming his reputation earned at Tulsa as a dependable three-point shooter.
In bringing him in, the Buffs were hoping to replace some of the production left up in the air by the departure of Tyler Bey to the NBA Draft and eventually the Dallas Mavericks.
Horne's 11.4 points (second to only McKinley Wright IV) and team-leading 6.0 rebounds per game is just what the doctor ordered on that note.
So, why isn't he starting?
Simply put, Boyle likes him where he is. Horne enters the game like clockwork at the sub-16-minute opening media timeout and his 23.6 minutes per game is third on the team.
The way Boyle sees it, Horne is seeing the minutes he should be, taking the shots the team wants him to (his 60 attempts ranks second behind only Wright IV) and contributing.
“I love our rotation right now," Boyle said. "Jeriah plays starter’s minutes and has been playing starter’s minutes all year, basically. But bringing him off the bench I think establishes Dallas (Walton) and Evan (Battey) inside. I like the flow of our offense, I just think it’s very good and I think Jeriah is very good coming off the bench."
While Boyle and his assistants have considered the idea of starting Horne, right now, he's providing a valuable spark off the bench and likely will stay right where he's at.
"He’s a totally different look than both Dallas and Evan are when he comes in the game, so I like it," Boyle said. "We’ve talked about it but it’s had no traction in our staff meetings. He’s going to play a lot of minutes — we know that. Somebody’s gotta win Sixth Man of the Year in the league, might as well be Jeriah. He’s playing like it.”
...
Tristan da Silva battling some nagging health woes early in his CU career
Freshman forward Tristan da Silva has not played for Colorado since Dec. 14 against UNC. He missed CU's second game of the season vs. Kansas State due to COVID contract tracing protocol and since then has dealt with some nagging ailments that have sidelined him for the last two weeks.
Da Silva sat against Omaha on the 16th due to a migraine. Boyle went on to note that da Silva had participated in the team's early walk-through shoot around but had to be scratched late due to the extremely painful headache.
In Colorado's 92-69 rout of Washington, da Silva was also absent, as he was in the win over GCU.
That was due to a back issue, per Boyle, but tonight and on the Buffs' conference play-opening road trip, da Silva should be good to go.
“He’s fine and he’s much better," Boyle said. "He was having some back issues there for about a week or so. He was having trouble getting through a practice, so obviously if you can’t get through practice I don’t want to put his back at risk in a game, especially when it’s in the bag, so to speak. Tristan is going to be fine. He practiced yesterday and today and is looking better and healthier."
"I expect him to be available, if needed, against Arizona, USC and UCLA on this trip, so we’re looking forward to getting him back on the floor.”
...
FIN
Tonight could be the night to get that ever elusive win at the McKale Center! Should be a good primer of Buffs activity leading into the Alamo Bowl.
