North Alabama and Colorado have never met prior to their game Thursday night at the CU Events Center, but the Buffs’ 85-7 non-conference home record under coach Tad Boyle provides a strong reference point from which to project his team may finally put together its first consecutive wins of the season.

North Alabama's (6-4) penchant for playing strong second halves should be noted, though, as Colorado (5-5) has created some precarious second half situations for itself this season, almost falling to Yale and losing to Arizona State. In one of the Lions' recent wins against Morehead State, they were down 41-25 at the half before surging to victory.

The Buffs, meanwhile, are feeding off the momentum of crushing in-state rival CSU by 28 points on Thursday. Boyle wants to see a similar tenacity against North Alabama.

“When [we] were getting ready for Colorado State, they were a really efficient offensive team that [we] were preparing for and we had to guard them and we have to do the same thing against Northern Alabama because they can really score the ball,” Boyle said. “We have to be patient on offense. We can’t settle for quick jump shots. Their defensive numbers aren’t great. I think we have a depth advantage on them.”

Guards Daniel Ortiz and KJ Johnson have helped keep the Lions in games this season. Both are efficient shooters with Ortiz averaging 13.7 points per game and shooting 47 percent from 3, and Johnson scoring around 10 PPG. On defense, junior forward Damien Forrest is their rim protector leading the team in rebounds, averaging 6.7 per game.

North Alabama allows 73.1 points per game while opponents are shooting around 45 percent. In comparison, Colorado’s opponents are averaging 68.4 points and shooting 41.4 percent.

The Buffs worked well off the glass against CSU, outrebounding the Rams, 42-23. They currently are fourth in the Pac-12 with 39.6 rebounds per game due in large part to the dynamism of J’Vonne Hadley.

“He’s always active,” Boyle said. “He’s hunting the ball. I’ve coached for a long time now and the longer I coach the more I realize you probably can’t teach rebounding. You can teach boxing out, but you can't teach offensive rebounding. That’s a nose for the ball and he’s got that.”

Hadley almost got his first double-double with the Buffs against CSU, posting 9 points and 9 rebounds. His activity around the rim has him 5th in the Pac-12 with 7.5 rebounds per game.

Once he has the ball in his possession, he has shown the ability to drive and finish in the paint. However, beyond the paint, he’s working to improve from mid- and long-range.

“I’m just going to continue to do my role and continue to work on my jumper, my 3-pointer and my pull-ups," Hadley said.

Hadley’s shoulder is not 100 percent quite yet, “but it’s getting there,” he said.

Colorado is hoping it's consistency is also getting there.

Its numbers vs. CSU were a step in the right direction as the Buffs limited turnovers (8), rebounded well and shot their second-highest field goal percentage this season (.567).

With the stress of finals out of the way, the Buffs are able to focus on stacking strong performances together and ideally ending their run of alternating wins and losses. If CU can push the Lions to the perimeter and contest their shots like against Colorado State (only 24 paint points, 42% FG), holding them off in the second half doesn't have to be a daunting task.

“Colorado State, we let them get hot with their shooters and that’s kind of the reason that they were in the game,” Hadley said. “If we lock into keeping them out of the paint and take away those 3s, I think we’ll do fine.”

Notes: During the preseason, Ethan Wright said, “[Quincy Allen] is one of the best athletes I’ve ever seen." However, no one had seen Allen play until last Thursday in the final minutes against CSU. His first college points came from a dunk followed by a layup.

“I thought I would definitely be a lot more nervous, but I kind of just blocked everything out and just played. It definitely felt good to get out and just hoop,” Allen said.

Boyle is two wins away from tying Sox Walseth (1956-76) with 261 for the most in program history.