No. 20 Colorado ready to enter Allen Fieldhouse unafraid

Tomorrow at 5 p.m. MST, No. 20 Colorado faces off with No. 2 Kansas at the Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence. Fresh off a comeback win Wednesday night vs. Loyola Marymount, he Buffs (7-0) will look to win for the first time at Kansas since the early 1980s.

The date of Dec. 7 holds more than one solid Colorado basketball memory in the Tad Boyle era.

On Dec. 7, 2016, the Buffs knocked off No. 13-ranked Xavier in Boulder.

But pertaining to tomorrow's matchup with No. 2 Kansas, that date holds further significance. It was on Dec. 7, 2013 that the Buffaloes upset a top 10 Kansas team in Boulder that boasted future NBA players Andrew Wiggins and Joel Embiid.

CU won that game, 75-72, on a last-second three-pointer by junior guard Askia Booker.

Before Colorado won that game against KU in 2013, the Buffs had dropped their last 20 games against the Jayhawks — a 60-59 win in Boulder on Jan. 22, 2003 marked the last victory.

As for winning at the Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence, that's a whole other story entirely.

You'd have to go back to Feb. of 1983 to find the last CU win there, which was a win over then-sophomore guard Tad Boyle, who suited up and started for Kansas.

Now Colorado's head coach for a decade, Boyle asserted firmly where his loyalties lie, with him being raised in Greeley but having played collegiately in Lawrence.

“I played there," he said. "I spent four years of my life in Lawrence, but look, I spent 10 years here in Boulder now in terms of being the coach here and another eight years as an investment advisor (in the late 1980s/early 1990s). To me, I’m a Colorado guy, not a Kansas guy, even though I played at Kansas."

"I’m proud that I did. I’ve got great friendships and some of my closest friends to this day are guys that I played basketball with at Kansas. It was a good experience, but I’m a Colorado guy. That’s who I am and what I am. But I did play there, so every time I go back you get flooded with memories…(but) when the ball gets tipped up, that stuff goes out the window.”

Playing in the Allen Fieldhouse is something Boyle has done his utmost to prepare the Buffaloes for. He's described it as an environment no roster player has experienced before.

"In order to have a chance in that building, you have to control the tempo of the game," Boyle said. "If you let them control the tempo of the game, you’re in the danger zone. That doesn’t mean we won’t run or attack, but we decide when we do it and when we don’t. We have to have great ball security. My guess is that Kansas isn’t going to turn it over 20 times."

"I think the biggest thing is limiting their runs — our guys are going to have to communicate with themselves on the floor because communicating from the sidelines in that building, when it’s rocking, is nearly impossible.”

Kansas does average about 14 turnovers per game, but is shooting a collective 52% from the floor so far this season — being that lights out in the shooting department has a way of making up for turnovers.

Needless to say, the Buffs needs to clean things up on their own end if Saturday evening is going to feature a competitive basketball game.Environment and odds aside, Colorado enters this game with the confidence becoming of the 20th-ranked team in the country.

“We respect everybody but fear nobody," junior C/F Dallas Walton said. "Coach Boyle tells us all the time that Kansas is beatable and he wants all of us to understand that. When we’re out there, no matter how it’s looking, if we execute and take care of the ball, make the right plays on offense, we have a great chance of winning.”

Walton as an individualistic study has been interesting to watch so far in 2019-20. He's averaging just 6.4 minutes per game and is 1-of-12 from the floor to date. For Walton, his focus is on contributing as much as possible when he can, even when his minute totals aren't high.

Continuing to bounce back from a torn ACL suffered in last year's preseason, and which sidelined him for the entirety of the 2018-19 season, has been part of solving that equation.

“The mental part is the hardest part," he said. "Your body may be good, but some movements you make, the movement you may have made that caused the injury originally, it’s scary to make that move again. But it’s (all about) repetition and patience in the process. You can overcome those obstacles.”

“Once I’m out on the court, I don’t like to play with fear or worry about anything, because that’s when other problems start to arise. You just have to not play scared. I know the risks that I take when I come out here and I know when I’m out here, I’m going to give it all I’ve got and whatever happens happens.”

Walton said he sees a lot of similarities between the Jayhawks and CU's own style of play.

“They play inside out through their big guys — just like us, so it’s almost like playing ourselves and making sure that we’re aware of where those big guys are, because that’s the head of their dragon, so to say," he said.

As for Boyle, he commented on the impending showdown between KU sophomore guard Devon Dotson, who leads the Jayhawks with 19.7 PPG and 35.6 minutes played per game.It'll be McKinley Wright IV who will guard Dotson, the latter of whom is shooting a clean 50% (44-of-88) from the floor and 87% from the free throw line.

“He’s in attack-mode all the time," Boyle said of Dotson. "He’s a capable shooter but he wants to drive it. When you’re shooting 87% from the line, you want to get to the free throw line, and the way you get (there) is attacking — we have to understand that."

"We have to keep him in front of us, easier said than done, but whether you’re guarding him one-on-one or setting a ball screen for him. Either way, we have to execute defensively, better than we did (vs. Loyola Marymount). (Against the Lions), I thought we took a step backwards defensively. Dotson is a different animal. He’s an elite point guard, but we have an elite point guard too — McKinley Wright.”

Wright IV played just over 38 minutes in Wednesday's game vs. Loyola Marymount, a contest that didn't become comfortable for Colorado until well under two minutes were left in the second half.

Boyle said after the win over the Lions that he prefers Wright IV's minutes be more in the realm of 32-33 per game but that when occasions call for it, he won't hesitate to play him more.

"I want to keep him fresh, that’s the big thing, but McKinley’s got the heart of a lion and when things are tight, he’s going to be on the floor," Boyle said. "He makes winning plays.”

For Wright IV, despite the Buffs' sloppiness at times on offense this year, trying to get better each night and taking things game by game is how he and the team will attempt to play cleaner, starting tomorrow with Kansas.

"Kansas puts five players on the court, we put five players on the court," he said. "It's time to go to war. It's going to be a battle — we're not just going to roll over because it's at Allen Fieldhouse (or that) they're the No. 2 team in the country...we're going to go in there with all the confidence in the world and act like on offense (there) haven't been problems. We're going to go in there and just play ball."

Tip-off is at 5 p.m. MST tomorrow night, game is on ESPN2.