Saturday evening at 8 p.m., Tad Boyle and the No. 25 Colorado Buffaloes host the San Diego Toreros at the CU Events Center for the 2019-20 home opener.
This is the third straight seasonal meeting between the two teams, with both prior games, 2017-18's in Boulder and last year's in San Diego, resulting in frustrating non-conference losses for CU.
Needless to say, the Buffs are hoping that the third time will be the charm in marking up an elusive win over San Diego.
In 2017-18, the Buffs hosted San Diego and were defeated handily, 69-59. The Buffs were 7-2 heading into the game but shot just under 26% from the floor that night, as four Toreros scored in the double digits, including Isaiah Pineiro and Olin Carter III.
The Buffs trailed 29-21 at halftime and failed to do much in terms of a tangible or convincing second half comeback. San Diego dominated the whole game, and left Boulder with a commanding win.
The next fall, CU hit the road to face San Diego, this time led by Pineiro and Carter III, both in their senior seasons. The Buffs fared somewhat better, losing 70-64, but again, the game was dominated by the Toreros, who beat Boyle and the Buffs at their own game, out-rebounding them 41-35.
Colorado simply had no answer for Pineiro, who dropped 27, and Carter III, who added 22 and once again, the Buffs were handed a bruising loss.
In terms of any bad blood or a desire for revenge on the part of Colorado, Boyle isn't having anything of it.
“I hope (the players) are approaching it just like every other game," he said. "To me, we can’t put any more importance on one game vs. another, but we know that they’ve beat us the last two years. Our players that have been here know that...so that’s part of it, but revenge is for suckers, I’m not into revenge and I don’t want our players to be either, but (this) game should certainly give us added attention — but not added importance.”
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