When the Buffaloes and No. 16-ranked USC Trojans tipoff Thursday evening from the CU Events Center, it will mark the fourth time in 2021-22 that Colorado has faced an opponent ranked within the AP Top 25.
The Buffs' first two attempts against ranked foes, Dec. 1 at UCLA and Dec. 4 at home vs. Tennessee, both ended in losses, while Colorado's anticipated showdown with the then-No. 7 Kansas Jayhawks on Dec. 21 was cancelled due to COVID-19 issues within CU's program.
Most recently, Colorado (12-4, 4-2 Pac-12) dropped a game on the road at No. 6 Arizona, 76-55.
Now, CU's attention is on the Trojans, who were ranked as high as No. 5 in the country earlier this month before suffering losses to the unranked Stanford Cardinal and Oregon Ducks recently.
With the Buffaloes currently sitting at No. 88 in the NET and sporting an 0-3 record in Quadrant I games, Thursday presents an opportunity to chalk up an NCAA Tournament resume-building win.
"It's time for us to beat a good team," Tad Boyle said after Wednesday's practice. "...We've got to beat a Top 25 team at some point to say we have national relevance. What I want our players to understand is that in the 11 years that (my staff has) been here, we've beaten 22 ranked teams — it's not like we haven't done it before, we just haven't done it this year."
Under Boyle's tenure, the Buffs have gone 22-39 overall against ranked opponents.
Last year, the senior-heavy Buffaloes beat USC three times, including in the Pac-12 Conference Tournament semifinals round.
The Buffs are 16-7 all-time against Southern Cal and are currently on a seven-game win streak vs. the Trojans, with CU's last loss to USC having come in February of 2019.
That said, the past success Colorado has had against the Trojans won't exactly factor in as an advantage when the two teams face off Thursday night.
The 2021-22 Trojans bring a strong corps of veterans to Boulder, including Memphis transfer guard Boogie Ellis, with USC ranking second in the Pac-12 in team field goal percentage (47.8%) and second in the conference in field goal percentage defense, holding opponents to a 37.4% make rate so far this year.
"USC's got good, talented players," Boyle said. "They play hard, obviously they're a Top 25 team and this is our only crack at them this year — this is the only time we get a chance to play USC in the regular season. We've got to make the most of that."
While Ellis has undoubtedly given the Trojans some added offensive firepower, junior Isaiah Mobley has continued to assert himself as USC's on-court engine.
The 6-foot-10 forward leads USC in minutes (33.2) points (15.3) and rebounds (9.2) per game.
"Isaiah Mobley — his improvement from his freshman year to now his junior year has been really remarkable," Boyle said.
Boyle also complimented 6-foot-9 Trojans guard Drew Patterson (11.1 points, 5.8 rebounds per game) Wednesday while noting that USC rebounds the ball well — second in the Pac-12 with just under 42 per game, to be exact.
Having thus far failed to take down a ranked opponents, freshman guard K.J. Simpson couldn't help but notice that in all previous cases this season, the Buffs have been competitive.
"Every game we played against a ranked opponent — UCLA, Tennessee, Arizona — we always cut (our deficit) down to single digits," Simpson said. "UCLA, we cut it to four, Tennessee, we cut it to five, Arizona, we cut it to four — we're hanging in there."
"We can hang with these types of teams. For us, it's just a mentality of we just can't let up. They're going to go on runs, that's why they're ranked. They're good teams, but it should be exciting, for sure, when we play USC."
The Buffs and Trojans tipoff in Boulder at 5:30 p.m. tomorrow, with the game televised by the Pac-12 Network.
