The calendar has flipped to February, which means that bubble talk is starting to heat up.
This weekend, Colorado travels to Salt Lake City to take on Utah in a matchup of two teams that will be hearing their names closely tied with advanced metrics, blind resumes and Quad 1 wins as each try to make their case to the selection committee that they deserve a spot.
The Buffs (15-6, 6-4 Pac-12) sunk even closer to the projected cut line last weekend after splitting their games against Washington and Washington State. Tad Boyle’s group picked up a convincing 98-81 win over the Huskies in Seattle, capping off a season sweep, before falling flat at the hands of the Cougar in Pullman in a 78-69 loss.
“I just think we were the more aggressive team at Washington,” point guard KJ Simpson said. “We dictated what we wanted to do, we understood the gameplan on defense and we executed really well, and then on offense we also understood the gameplan, executing against zone whenever they ran zone and executing against man when they went man. I think when we went to Washington State, that’s where we kind of weren’t the same team. We weren’t the aggressor.
"Washington State came out and they pressured us defensively a lot different than we gave them, so that’s where we kind of see the difference. Seeing that, hopefully we can carry over and understand what we need to do going on the road to Utah.”
Now, the Buffs’ attention turns to the Utes after a full week off. Utah (14-7, 5-5) is currently projected a few seed lines ahead of the Buffs heading into this one, so Colorado has a big chance to pick up a resume-boosting win on the road over a team that it might be compared with when Selection Sunday rolls around.
As for the matchup against Utah, the Utes present problems both on the inside and the outside. Center Branden Carlson is one of the top big men in the Pac-12 and leads the Utes at almost 17 points per game. They are also dangerous from the 3-point line, where they have three rotation players shooting north of 40% from deep. The best of the bunch is senior guard Gabe Madsen, who is second on the team in scoring and is shooting 42.3% from deep on high volume (6.5 attempts per game).
While Simpson and the Buffs are well aware of the threats that the Utes pose, they’re confident that the outcome on Saturday rests in their hands.
“It’s about making plays. We have to go out there and we have to make plays,” Simpson said. “We have to guard every possession like we don’t have another one. If we do that, I feel like we’ll come out on top, but the main thing is the main thing. We’ve just gotta focus on ourselves and can’t really focus on what they do. It’s all about us.”
Saturday may also be a bit of a revenge spot on both sides. Former Buffs center Lawson Lovering, who started 34 games for Boyle last season, transferred to Utah in the offseason, where he has made 17 starts so far. The Wyoming native is averaging just over 7 points per game in about 19 minutes per contest but has missed the Utes’ last four games with an ankle injury.
It’s still unclear whether Lovering will be suiting up for his first possible matchup against his old team, but the Buffs are looking forward to the chance.
“It’s just fun,” a smiling Tristan da Silva said of potentially matching up with his former teammate. “You kind of see where basketball takes you in this life. As I said, I’m looking forward to it. I haven’t seen him in a while, haven’t talked to him in a while, so it’s gonna be cool to catch up with him a little bit.”
The Buffs also enter this one just one game back in the Pac-12 standings at 6-4, with Oregon and Arizona just in front of them. Utah is a game behind Colorado at 5-5. Between that and the bubble situation, it would be easy for CU to get caught up in the big picture, but it knows that no matter what, there’s only one way to get to where it wants to go: win.
“Obviously, we know it and we understand it,” Simpson said. “We understand that the margin for error is really slim, especially after the loss at Washington State. With that being said, we just have to take it game by game, we can’t go back and change games or get games back. So obviously, we know that but we just wanna go out there and focus on the next game.”
This matchup will be the first of two against the Utes, as coach Craig Smith and company will come to Boulder on Feb. 24.
