As No. 23 Colorado (14-4, 3-2 Pac-12) prepare for a Thursday night (8 p.m. MST) game at home vs. Washington State, the bad taste in players' as well as head coach Tad Boyle's mouth remains following back-to-back poor rebounding efforts on the road against ASU and Arizona.

The Sun Devils held a 32-30 edge on the boards while Arizona out-rebounded CU 39-25.

This week in practice leading up to Thursday's game, Boyle is working his team hard to get back to their rebounding roots.

Boyle on how to get his players back to rebounding the ball well: "You challenge them, you watch film — I know when I was a player, any time a coach would challenge me, I'd try to rise to it — you embarrass them...I talked to McKinley (Wright IV) and told him 'you were a great rebounding guard when you got here. That part of your game has maybe taken a step back. It's time to get back into gear and be more conscious about (rebounding.)' We're working on it, talking about it, challenging them, embarrassing them, you name it. Whatever works, I'll try."

Boyle on what the issue has been with respect to CU not rebounding well: "We've got to be more consistent. Part of the problem is that our guys are trying to get one-handed rebounds. Dr. J. was one of the biggest-handed players I'd ever seen as a kid. I never saw him get one-handed rebounds. He had the biggest hands of anybody to play the game. You got to go get (the ball) with two hands. We've got guys trying to get it with one hand, so a lot of it is technique. But rebounding is a mentality, like defense. It doesn't take a lot of skill, it takes a lot of heart, determination and toughness. I'm trying to challenge our guys and hopefully they respond."

Boyle on the role of Dallas Walton moving forward: "We're going to need Dallas...one thing we know Dallas brings is a presence on the low block. You look at his numbers over the year and they're not very good, but certainly as of late they've been better. We know he's a guy who can score on the block. We know if they're one-on-one, he can make a play. Where we've got to figure out to play Dallas is defensively in ball screen coverage. That's a little bit of a challenge right now but we're working on it right now and he's getting better."

"Part of it is that lateral movement. He's seven feet tall, he's still playing with the brace — the lateral movement for him is not where it was pre-injury. That's what's holding him back. It's not his mind, it's not his shot, his offensive skills, it's all the ability to move laterally and rebound the ball. Against Arizona, he was in great rebounding position and he kind of lost his balance. It's going to be a process for him. We're counting him to have two more years of eligibility. We're not giving up in Dallas Walton, I can promise you that."