BOULDER— The Colorado defense everyone has been waiting for finally showed up in full force Sunday night against Washington State. The last time the Buffs played the Cougars they went into overtime and weren't able to capitalize on one possession ultimately leading them to a loss.
Sunday night was different, they were capitalizing on almost every possession and that transitioned to their defense, which was unstoppable.
“Well I think that was as good as of an all-around performance as we’ve had all year,” Coach Boyle said after the game. “There is not a lot of things that I can point to as a coach that I was disappointed in, other than maybe the last two or three minutes got a little sloppy, other than that I thought our guys defended, they rebounded, we turned them over 24 times. Overall I thought it was a great team effort.”
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When Colorado last played the Cougars they allowed them to score 91 points, Sunday night they only gave up 49 points to a team who usually averages 71.3 points per game. It was easy to see that the Buffs came out with energy and effort and were ready to take on the challenge of defending in Pac-12 play.
“We guarded,” guard Derrick White said. “They scored 91 points and then they scored 49 points, that’s the biggest difference.”
In the Buffs first seven conference losses they were giving up 83.85 points per game and even allowed a 100 point game by UCLA which was the first in Coors Event Center since Texas in 2007 but now they are finally starting to notice a difference in their defense and what they need to do as a team to win more games.
“We’re defending, bottom line. We’re defending much better than we did in those first seven games and we are much more active on that end of the floor and we’re rebounding on a consistent basis, where in the 0-7 stretch, there were games we did and games we didn't but we weren't guarding anybody those first seven, that’s the whole difference,” Coach Boyle on what the difference is right now compared to the first seven games.
“We’ve been practicing hard, proving each and every day, we just got to keep building on this one and try to hit this last stretch hard,” White said.
In a Colorado basketball system, you have to play defense, it’s a Tad Boyle staple and for quite some time this team wasn't buying into the defensive philosophy of Boyle and this program but it seems like now it’s finally clicking for them.
Against Washington State they caused the Cougars to turn the ball over 24 times, a monstrous number and they also had 12 steals which was the first time with back-to-back double-digit steal nights since 2012.
“I’d say that it has to do with a lot of energy,” Bryce Peters said when asked how they are getting too many turnovers and steals per game. “Guys have been coming out like we’re down 20 from the jump and playing better on the defensive end and we’ve been playing together on the defensive end, most people don't talk about playing together on the defensive end.”
This team is finally starting to find their chemistry and play together and if they can keep it up they might be able to close out these next five games with wins especially since they only have one more road trip to Oregon.
“The key is you play for each other, you make plays for each other and we can do that,” Boyle said with a smile on his face.
