To the naked eye, it's been tough to get a true feel for how Colorado freshman guard Nique Clifford is coming along in his debut season with the Buffs.

It would be hard enough to do so just on the numbers — Clifford is averaging a bit over four minutes per game and has taken less than 20 shots all year — but compounding the issue is that CU's practices are closed to all except players, coaches and team staff this year.

Tad Boyle is known for having a pretty open door at his practices, allowing media essential free reign to observe as much of a given day's practice as desired, providing the gentleman's agreement of not reporting on anything that happens during practice without his permission — an injury, play calls, player rotations, etc. — is upheld.

The COVID-caused closed doors at practice is unfortunate enough but perhaps more so this year given CU's large freshman class.

Boyle will be the first to tell you that it is during practice where his young players sharpen their iron in the most visible manner. This year, we'll have to take Boyle at his word with respect to what he's been observing from Clifford in practice.

"He is a capable shooter and we’ve seen that in practice," Boyle said. "That’s why we chart and stat all of our practices...I’ll go up to my office and there will be the stat sheet from the day’s practice, where we can see how Nique shot it."

"I can also see how he shot it this last week, this last month and certainly for the whole year in practice. I’m concerned about those practice numbers. You obviously only see the game numbers."

Clifford's end game ultimately is to translate what he does well in practice onto the hardwood come game night.

But it should go without saying that trying to replicate a couple hours worth of good work in a practice setting during a game is a tough task when you're only seeing an average of 4.4 minutes per contest.

The Buffs' 6-foot-5 freshman has played in 12 of the team's 20 games so far this year and his playing time has often come in limited spurts towards the end of the first half or late in games that the Buffs have in the bag.

"I don’t know when I’m going to get in, so I just have to stay ready at all times," Clifford said. "I’ve just got to go in and produce no matter what when coach puts me in. I think I was overthinking some of my shots sometimes because I was hearing different things from different coaches."

"I’ve just got to play my game, do what I do, take the easy shots and make the simple plays. That’s the biggest thing."

Clifford has shot 2-of-19 (11%) from the floor this season, a far from impressive make rate at first glance. But if there's anyone who understand the difficulty of getting in a groove when seeing limited minutes and taking limited shots, it's Clifford's head coach.

"I’ve been in Nique’s shoes," Boyle said. "When I played in college, I was coming off the bench at times. There were games where I didn’t know if I’d play or when I’d play or how much I’d play. When you come in a game cold and you get one shot, maybe two shots in a game — it’s hard to be in the rhythm and show what you can do. That’s really the situation that Nique’s been in."

"You look at the 2-for-19 (make rate) but then you break it down to where he’s 0-for-2, he’s 0-for-2, 0-for-1, 1-for-2 — he’s not getting any rhythm and to be a good shooter, you have to have rhythm. I don’t want to make excuses for him — 2-for-19 is 2-for-19 — but that’s a small sample size."

Rare is the freshman who can make a seamless transition from high school to college hoops with the lack of extended playing time Clifford has been seeing.

As a senior at The Vanguard School in Colorado Springs, Clifford averaged a double-double of 26.3 points and 13.7 boards per game. His junior year stats were similarly dominant: 18.9 points and 11.3 rebounds per game.

In other words, in high school, Clifford was the guy being pulled towards the end of blowout games as opposed to being someone taking off his warmup gear around that time.

Seeing a couple minutes per game as a freshman may have been a foreseen result for Clifford due to the veterans and depth around him, but it is an unfamiliar position for him, nonetheless.

“The last time I did that was my freshman AAU summer, when I came off the bench, so it’s been a long time since I’ve sat the bench like this," he said. "I’ve never really sat like this but it’s definitely difficult getting in and trying to get a rhythm."

Limited minutes and opportunities to shoot the ball will likely be Clifford's par for course as he navigates the rest of his freshman year with the Buffaloes.

Far from feeling concerned whatsoever with Clifford's effort and output this season, Boyle remains confident that he will turn into a special player for the Buffs when given the chance to show what he can do on a more regular basis.

"He’s a really talented player and he’s got a lot of upside," Boyle said. "It’s been an adjustment for him, going from 3A high school basketball in Colorado to high major Division I basketball. He continues to make that adjustment but I’m encouraged with him. He’s coachable, he’s smart and he wants to be great — that’s the key when I think about Nique Clifford."