A much needed holiday break helped the Colorado basketball team get back to full health before its first Pac-12 road trip against Stanford and Cal.
Luke O’Brien posted double-digits scoring performances against CSU (10 points) and North Alabama (11) before he sat on the sidelines the last two games. Lawson Lovering didn’t play against Southern Utah due to an elbow injury. Coming back from the break, both Buffs were active in practice and looking to get minutes on the road trip.
Colorado (8-5) is riding a season-best four-game winning streak, and coach Tad Boyle wants the players to maintain that competitive edge as the focus shifts fully to conference play now -- with two very winnable games against the Cardinal (5-7) and Golden Bears (1-12).
“What the biggest thing for us is we have to play with an edge and we kind of limped through with Lawson’s and Luke’s injuries there toward the end,” Boyle said. “And Jalen [Gabbidon] was sick against Southern Utah. We really did that with about seven and a half players. So, we got to play with an edge and have a chip on our shoulder.”
Colorado was led last Wednesday by Tristan da Silva's and KJ Simpson’s offensive efforts, as they posted a combined 41 points. With his first career double-double against the Thunderbirds and scoring 20 points or more in the last three games, da Silva is becoming that consistent asset that the Buffs need on the floor.
Julian Hammond II is also trending upward coming off consecutive 11-point games against Southern Utah and Northern Colorado, shooting 60 percent across the two games (9-15).
This team is beginning to find its rhythm offensively, averaging 87.8 points per game over the four-game streak. With the help of the Buffs' bench, Hammond, Javon Ruffin and others, a more cohesive team is emerging. However, maintaining the good nights on the hardwood is a continuous work in progress.
“What we need from our starters and from anybody coming off the bench is we need consistency, we need consistent production in the minutes that they play,” Boyle said. “Those minutes might vary from night to night, but the performance can't vary in terms of how we execute, how hard we play, how smart we play, how together we play.”
Boyle has all 10 guys to rotate in against Stanford, which despite its record, Boyle says “is not going to be easy."
Stanford has played three ranked opponents in the 2022 campaign, losing to each, which factors into that losing record.
Stanford averages 68.2 points per game while shooting 43.8 percent from the field. The offensive contributions come from senior forward Spencer Jones (10.8 PPG) and graduate senior Michael Jones (10.5 PPG) while senior forward James Keefe works well off the boards, leading the Cardinal with 5.3 rebounds per game.
“I see a really talented group that’s better than their record,” Boyle said. “They’ve played the 16th toughest schedule in the country. The seven losses they have are good teams. They haven’t lost to a bad team yet.”
The Buffs and the Cardinal both sit 0-2 in conference play, looking for a win to mount a climb up the Pac-12 rankings.
“I'm reminding our players that all the time, we're 0-2,” Boyle said. “We haven't proven anything to anybody yet and the time is now as we go on this road trip because in order to finish in the upper half of the league, you have to win on the road.”
The game will air on ESPNU at 9 p.m. MT Thursday.
