Thoughts and observations from Colorado men's basketball's open scrimmage
An intrasquad scrimmage is inherently only so revealing – how much can you really learn about a team when it’s playing itself, right? – but with the start of the men’s college basketball season less than a month away, any early look at a team is valuable.
On Saturday morning, Colorado hosted an open scrimmage, providing fans and media with a first glimpse at the team in something resembling a game setting.
The Buffs played a 20-minute first half and a 15-minute second half, switching a few of the players between the black and gray squads at halftime. The black team won the first half, 35-32, before a few roster adjustments were made – Lawson Lovering and Julian Hammond went from black to gray while Ethan Wright and Jalen Gabbidon went from gray to black – before the gray team nearly doubled up the black team in the second half, 33-17.
“We still have a lot to put in,” Buffs head coach Tad Boyle said. “We still have put probably two-thirds of what we need to have in and a third of that is not very good because we just put it in. This is a time of the year where coaches start getting a little nervous because that first game keeps getting closer and closer. The kids get more excited for that, but the coaches get a bit more nervous for that because there's so much more we have to put in and get better at. You want to move forward, but in order to move forward, you’ve got to have the basics down and some of our young guys are still figuring that out.”
The score of the game means far less, though, than how individual players looked and how certain lineup combinations worked together. So what stood out over those 35 minutes?
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Offensively, it was a struggle at times, not necessarily with the way that the offense flowed, but just with missed shots. Stats were not kept during the scrimmage, so we don’t have an official field goal percentage, but it was well below 50%.
I did, however, keep track of point totals, aside from two points for each team that I missed in the first half. KJ Simpson led all scorers with 16 points, though that total came with a high shot volume on a day when most of his attempts weren’t falling. Also finishing in double figures were Gabbidon (15), Hammond (13), Nique Clifford (13), Javon Ruffin (10) and Harrison Carrington (10).
As for the rest of the team, the following players finished with points of some kind: J’Vonne Hadley (8), Luke O’Brien (8), Lovering (7), Tristan da Silva (5), Wright (3) and Quincy Allen (2).
At this stage in the season, it’s to be expected that a team will be further behind offensively than it is defensively, so whatever occurred Saturday shouldn’t be any cause for concern, especially since the Buffs were a much better defense team last season, anyway, finishing 48th in defensive efficiency, according to KenPom.com, compared to 108th in offensive efficiency. Part of the problems Saturday, Boyle thought, were due to settling for too many outside shots.
“I think it will be a good shooting team, but we can't do it without getting into the paint and attacking the rim,” he said. “If we do that, we'll put foul pressure on the defense and we're shooting 3s. Now we're going to be really, really difficult to guard. I thought that first 10 to 15 minutes of the scrimmage, we got a little 3 happy. We were also dribbling the ball too much. We’ve gotta get that thing moved.”
Colorado often looked most comfortable in transition offensively, which wasn’t a surprise to its coach.
“Transition is always a big part of our offense,” Boyle said. “We want to get out and run and play fast. One thing I think this team has is we're really unselfish. I think we share the ball. I don’t think there’s any agendas as far as who wants to score the points. It's just making the right plays.”
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Ruffin was the standout from the early part of the scrimmage, with 10 points in the first 13 minutes of play. With 6:34 left in the first half, however, the freshman guard went down to the court grabbing at his leg. He walked off gingerly with the support of his teammates before eventually being able to walk on his own with a slight limp, though he understandably didn’t re-enter the contest.
Boyle said after the scrimmage that Ruffin “tweaked his ankle”, a relatively minor injury for a player who redshirted last season while dealing with knee and back ailments.
“He's fine,” Boyle said. “He'll be fine. I was just hoping it wasn't his knee again. It wasn’t.”
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While Simpson’s shot was off at times, I was really impressed with what he did defensively. This may be an observation of someone watching him up close for the first time, but his aggressiveness and in-your-face approach in a man scheme is really notable.
It’s particularly encouraging that he didn’t allow whatever struggles he was experiencing on offense to affect him on the other end of the court. Many players, particularly younger ones like Simpson, let that happen.
He still made some nice plays offensively. The highlight was a three-point play in the second half in which he got out on a fast break and got a layup coming off a 360-degree spin in mid-air in which he absorbed contact and finished off the play. Earlier that half, he also passed up what was a relatively open 3-pointer to kick it to an even more open Clifford in the corner, who knocked it home. For a former four-star recruit who’s going to be taking on a bigger offensive role this season, it’s a good sign that he still looks out for teammates with higher percentage looks.
Much of Simpson’s best work came in those final 15 minutes, when he was paired in the backcourt with Hammond.
“That was by design, putting those guys in the backcourt together to kind of get a look like that,” Boyle said. “But this is a team that is going to have multiple combinations.”
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I really, really liked what I saw from Gabbidon. The Yale transfer enters the season as one of Colorado’s most intriguing players, given his past production for a good team in a strong mid-major league. He picked up his play offensively as the scrimmage went on, scoring 11 of his 15 points in the second half.
What stood out the most was his toughness, aggression and tenacity. He was constantly crashing the glass and giving the man he was marking little, if any, room to operate. It’s not surprising from the former Ivy League defensive player of the year, but it’s a nice peek at what he might be able to provide for the Buffs.
“One thing about Jalen, you talk about foul pressure on teams, he attacks,” Boyle said. “He's one of those guys like, things are going to happen when he's in the game or when he has the ball because he’s in attack mode. He's a good shooter. I think if he can find the balance between shooting when you’re open and driving when the defense is closing out, he'll be a big, big asset to us.”
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da Silva wasn’t as involved as I would have expected from a player with his experience and track record, but it was just a limited look in a game of no consequence. I wouldn’t make too much of it. He’s still going to be one of Colorado’s most important players this season, especially with relatively few proven frontcourt options.
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Wright, the Buffs’ other Ivy League transfer, struggled with his shot, which included two airballs in the first half. He did knock down a late 3 to get on the board. Like da Silva, I wouldn’t necessarily draw too many conclusions from what we saw Saturday, particularly since we’re talking about a player who shot nearly 40% from beyond the arc last season.
“As time goes on, he’s going to get more comfortable,” Boyle said. “I think he’s going to be a knockdown shooter for us.”
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Freshman Joe Hurlburt had some nice moments defensively, using his 6-foot-11 frame to block a couple of shots – including one on a back-door cut that would have fooled, or at least delayed, a lot of other young bigs – and alter several others. Given the state of Colorado’s frontcourt, any productive minutes that he can provide in his first season of college basketball will be welcome.
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Lovering showed some signs of promise while also exhibiting some of his shortcomings as a young, inexperienced player. Despite standing several inches taller than anyone near him on the court, he wasn’t able to finish through contact at the rim on multiple occasions and sometimes looked timid offensively. He had what I’d describe as the look of a baby giraffe – there’s a lot of size and length to him, but he doesn’t look totally sure of how to use it just yet, which is understandable and not at all uncommon for a young big man.
Still, he did well from the free throw line, where he got most of his points and missed just one attempt, and altered a number of shots defensively. If anything, Boyle would like to see Lovering’s role in the Buffs’ offense grow.
“I think Lawson is going to be a great rebounder,” Boyle said. “We need to use him more offensively. I was a little disappointed in both teams that he was on not looking at him more in the post or on rolls because he's a seven footer. You saw at the end there. We got him the ball, the defense converged and he hit Nique down the lane for a dunk. When Lawson touches the ball, good things happen for our team and our players need to start understanding that. Right now, I don't think they do. I think the coaches do, but we need our players to understand that. We need to play through Lawson more than we did today when he's on the floor. He's a weapon.”