For Colorado's players, splitting the first two Pac-12 Conference games of the year seems like far from a disappointing result.

After all, the Buffaloes handled business at home against Stanford Nov. 28, winning 80-76, and showed some fight on the road at No. 5 UCLA in Wednesday's 73-61 loss.

However, for Tad Boyle, who now gears up his squad for Saturday's noon matchup with No. 13 Tennessee, CU's two most recent contests contain a more ominous trend of the Buffs failing to play robust defense.

Stanford shot a clean 50% (26-of-52) at the CU Events Center last Sunday while the Bruins had no trouble making it rain on Colorado earlier this week, shooting 55% from the floor in the first half.

As far as the players are concerned, they picked up a win at home and kept things close against a national powerhouse before ultimately falling in Westwood.

But the impending showdown with the sharpshooting Volunteers has Boyle seeking to light a fire under his players' rear ends in the name of understanding that recent defensive efforts have been far from satisfactory.

"We felt good about ourselves against Stanford," Boyle said. "Well, we shouldn’t feel good about ourselves because we didn’t guard and we didn't rebound. But the players don’t feel that. They just feel like we won the game and (their) coach is trippin’ again — whatever. Well, guess what, UCLA — wake up call. Are we going to answer the bell? That’s the question.”

In Westwood, a lack of communication and organization plagued the Buffaloes defensively, with UCLA managing to exploit CU for points in just about every area imaginable.

The Bruins scored 34 points in the paint, turned 12 Colorado turnovers into 23 points and scored 29% of their total points from behind the arc.

“A lot of it was just being in the wrong positions," freshman guard K.J. Simpson said of the loss. "A couple guys would go help, and then you’ve got to go help the helper. We didn’t do that. We didn’t rotate like we normally do and that messed us up a lot — they would get dunks and easy buckets. It’s more (about) communicating and being in the right positions.”

Tennessee arrives in Boulder shooting about 47% from the floor and 38% from long range.

UT's Kennedy Chandler (10-for-20) and Justin Powell (11-for-20) are shooting over 50% from deep while Santiago Vescovi has taken the most three-point shots on the team with 51, converting about 35% of them.

“They’re shooting almost 3(8)% as a team from three," Boyle said of Tennessee. "We’re not guarding the three-point line right now, we’re not guarding the paint right now — we’re not guarding anybody right now, the last two games."

The Buffaloes have also not rebounded as robustly as Boyle likes.

Colorado was minus-7 (36-29) on the glass at UCLA while Stanford out-rebounded CU, 32-28 this past Sunday.

"Our defense is going to be challenged. This young team has got to figure it out — they’re either going to have to get sick of losing or figure out how to guard and how to rebound. Bottom line.”

Evan Battey was a magnet for the officials' whistles during Wednesday's game at UCLA, as he ultimately picked up his fifth and final foul fighting for a loose ball in the offensive zone with about 6:30 to play in the second half.

His four points vs. the Bruins matched a season-low (Maine), while Wednesday represented the first time he'd fouled out thus far into the 2021-2022 campaign.

At the 12:26 mark of the first half, Battey picked up his second foul of the game and promptly headed to CU's bench.

However, while Boyle is normally averse to playing anyone with a pair of fouls in the first half, Battey was reinserted into the game with a little under eight minutes to go before halftime, as Colorado had shown a bit of fight and trailed UCLA just 22-16.

But Battey was shortly thereafter called for his third foul, backing up on the Bruins' Myles Johnson in the low post.

Johnson dropped onto his back at the fist sign of contact and earned the charge.

The loose ball foul in the second half that ended Battey's night was also a case of questionable contact leading to the whistle.

Commenting on Battey's foul trouble Friday, Boyle detailed the sometimes unpredictable nature of a given officiating crew's calls.

“It’s league play on the road," Boyle said. "The whistle’s not going to come. You have to deal with it and adjust to it. I told Evan — there’s a reason I don’t play guys with two fouls in the first half, now you know why. I don’t not play guys with two fouls because I don’t trust them — I don’t trust the officials."

"I trust Evan Battey more than any player I’ve ever trusted in my coaching career. So, it’s not my lack of trust in Evan, it’s my lack of trust in what’s going to be called when the whistle blows. Sometimes you never know. And when you’re on the road, sometimes it’s going to happen. You’ve got to deal with it.”

Colorado and No. 15 Tennessee tipoff from the CU Events Center Saturday, Dec. 4 at noon.