Colorado’s non-linear nonconference schedule concludes with one final test at home against Southern Utah who is averaging 91 points per game.
Southern Utah (8-4) is coming off a 106-101 OT win against Northern Arizona, continuing their four-game win streak. Even though Southern Utah isn’t a staple name across the college basketball scene, earlier this season, they took Kansas — the 2022 NCAA tournament champions — down to final minutes and lost by just six points.
From the scouting report, they’re simply an effective shooting team that is able to attack in the paint and draw fouls at an alarming rate. This season the Thunderbirds had 311 free throw attempts while their opponents had only 203. Colorado had 232 attempts this season.
The Thunderbirds frequently feed Senior guard Tevian Jones as he’s averaging 20.3 points per game. However Jones isn’t the only one racking up points, the other starting four are also all in triple digits this season.
“Those starting five are gonna play a lot,” head coach Tad Boyle said. “That’s what we have to dial into and make sure nobody comes off the bench and catches fire.”
On the Buffs’ side of the ball, Luke O’Brien is questionable entering tonight’s game, minimizing the Buffs’ 10-man rotation to nine. The Buffs’ depth is running deep as of recent with some quality showings from Julian Hammond II and Javon Ruffin.
“I know once I made a couple of threes last game like they were looking for me,” Ruffin said on his 12-point performance on Sunday. “They were looking for me every time they drove like they were looking out. That just means that they trust me, I’d do the same for them.”
Colorado’s depth has been an integral part in their winning recipe. Four players reached double-digits in their last three-game win streak against UNC, North Alabama and CSU.
With O’Brien potentially out, Quincy Allen entered the mix for that 10th spot.
Allen saw action for a total of four minutes this season, but made the most out of those two recent appearances against CSU and North Alabama scoring six points. However, it’s not the athletic or physical abilities that’s limiting his minutes, it’s grasping the concepts.
“It’s the mental grasping of defensive concepts and consistency,” Boyle said. “Staying in stance, not getting beat off the bounce, or backdoor, those sorts of things and then offensively, just understanding our concepts as well.
“He's working on our scout team. Hopefully by working on our scout team can help him get a feel and understanding of what the other team is doing so that if he does get in the game, he understands it and is able to guard it.”
Christmas is right around the corner and the Buffs could give the gift of Boyle’s 262nd win, making him the winningest coach in program history.
Ruffin’s Christmas plans
Most of the team is heading home for the holidays, but Ruffin is staying back to watch former teammate Jabari Walker play with the Portland Trailblazers in Denver on Dec. 23. Then on Christmas Day, his dad Michael Ruffin will be in town coaching the Phoenix Suns on the sidelines against the Nuggets. He was a former NBA player, and later down the line, he joined the Suns’ coaching staff as an assistant in September of 2021.