Buffs Reserves, Defense Have Been Key In Recent Streak
February 13, 2018 | Men's Basketball, Neill Woelk
BOULDER — Over the course of their current three-game win streak, the Colorado Buffaloes have been consistent in two key places: defense and contributions from the bench.
They will need to continue that production in those areas this week when they embark on a two-game road trip that begins Thursday at Washington State (9 p.m., Pac-12 Network).
On paper, the 15-10 Buffs (7-6 Pac-12) should like their chances in Pullman, as WSU has struggled this season. Losers of their last seven, the Cougars are just 1-11 in conference play and 9-15 overall.
But Boyle and the Buffs also remember what happened last week when they struggled to beat 8-16 Cal in Boulder, a team that had lost nine of its previous 10. Thursday, they must make sure they don't take WSU lightly.
"First thing that coach (Bill) Grier talked about in the scouting report today, exactly the first thing, was what happened against Cal," Boyle said. "We'll find out on Thursday night if our players learned from it or not."
If the Buffs can produce the kind of balance they have had in their three-game win streak — and continue to get big production from the bench — they will be in good shape. The Buffs have had balanced scoring, solid rebounding from a variety of players and, most importantly, strong defense. CU has limited its opponents to under 37 percent shooting from the floor in three straight games and Colorado now leads the Pac-12 in field goal percentage defense, allowing opponents to shoot just 41.3 percent from the field in conference games.
But Colorado will also be playing without key reserve guard Deleon Brown, who underwent surgery for a broken hand Tuesday. Boyle said Tuesday after practice that he didn't expect Brown to be back this year.
"That's part of college basketball," Boyle said. "Injuries are a part of it, sickness is a part of it, bad breaks are a part of it. That's why we try to build depth in November and December and that's why your bench is so, so important this time of year. If one guy does go down, you've got guys that are ready, they've been tested. We're young and we know we've been young all year. But it's next man up. We're still nine deep."
Colorado's bench has been a key factor recently. In the three-game win streak, CU's reserves dominated their counterparts. Colorado's bench outscored Utah's 29-24, Cal's 26-15 and Stanford's 22-10 — a 77-49 differential over the three-game stretch.
That includes a 17-point effort from sophomore Lucas Siewert against Stanford, eight points apiece from Dominique Collier and D'Shawn Schwartz against Cal, and 13 points from Siewert, eight from Collier and six from Schwartz against Utah.
"I've got confidence in everybody that's in the rotation," Boyle said. "The good thing is we have guys like George King who can play the 3 and the 4 (positions), guys like Laz Nikolic, who can play 1 through 5. You have some guys that are able to plug into different spots. That's part of building a team and a program that can sustain an injury or two on the front line or an injury or two in the backcourt or on the wing and still not have the season fall apart. Mission accomplished as far as that is concerned."
With five games remaining, the Buffs are still squarely in the hunt for a top-four conference finish and a first-round Pac-12 tournament bye — but they'll need to pick up a win or two on the road. Three of CU's last five games are on the road, and Colorado has just one road win this season, a mid-January win at UCLA.
After Thursday, the Buffs play at Washington on Saturday (6 p.m.), then return home next week for games against USC (Feb. 21) and UCLA (Feb. 25) before wrapping up the regular season March 3 at Utah.
FOUR IN A ROW A RARITY: The Buffs have the chance to do something Thursday that hasn't been accomplished by a CU team since 2006.
If the Buffs can beat Washington State , it will be their fourth consecutive regular season conference win. CU hasn't won four league games in a row since the 2006 Buffs won five in a row in Big 12 play.
Along with their current three-game win streak, Boyle's teams have won three conference games in a row multiple times, including twice last season. Boyle's Buffs also have the distinction of being the only Pac-12 team ever to win four games in a row in the conference tournament, doing so in their memorable tournament title run on a neutral floor in Los Angeles in 2012.
But the Buffs haven't won four regular season conference games in a row in the last 12 years, something they can accomplish Thursday with a win over the Cougars.
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
