Colorado University Athletics
Brooks: Buffs Better Get Used To Zone 'D' - Quickly
December 08, 2011 | Men's Basketball, B.G. Brooks
After Fresno State's zone disrupted Colorado's offense Wednesday night and revitalized the Bulldogs, the Buffaloes better believe they'll see more of the same - and starting real soon. Friday's tip is at 7 p.m. (ROOT Sports).
Leading by as many as 20 points in the first half and holding a 15-point advantage at halftime, CU languished offensively in the second half and allowed Fresno State to pull to within three points on two occasions. However, the Buffs adjusted just enough and hit enough free throws down the stretch (13-of-14) to come away with a 71-64 win.
One of CU coach Tad Boyle's adjustments was to alternately play point guards Nate Tomlinson and Spencer Dinwiddie in the high post against the zone. Tomlinson is a seasoned senior and the Buffs' assist leader (he had six Wednesday night) and Dinwiddie is a savvy freshman whose height (6-5) allows him to see over defenses.
Explained Boyle: "We wanted to put a playmaker in that position to get them the ball. I just thought our penetration this game wasn't very good, we penetrated around the zone rather than into the zone and we have to get better at that . . . (it) was a lack of aggressiveness on our part. We want to play inside-out, we want to get the ball down low, when we did that we had some good results but we just didn't do that consistently enough."
If the Buffs can play effectively inside-out, they'll need continued outside accuracy from Tomlinson and Dinwiddie, who combined to make six-of-eight field goals (four-of-five three-pointers) against Fresno State. Austin Dufault, Andre Roberson, Carlon Brown and Jeremy Adams also have shown they can shoot from the perimeter.
Roberson hit five of his six field goal attempts against the Bulldogs, Dufault four of his 10 and Adams two of his six tries. But Brown had a subpar night and missed both of his attempts.
Adams has only been available for the past three games after suffering a concussion in preseason practice, but Boyle likes what he's seen from the 6-5 transfer. Adams played a season-high 22 minutes Wednesday night, contributing eight points and four rebounds, with no turnovers.
"He was very efficient," Boyle said. "The thing I love about Jeremy is that there are no turnovers on the stat sheet . . . I thought Jeremy gave us some good minutes both offensively and defensively. He'll be a key player for us as we progress through this season."
By tip-off Friday night, CU will have had a little over a day and a half - or one full practice and a shoot around - to prepare for Wyoming and smooth out its offense to combat a zone. That's not an ample amount of prep time, but Boyle says the quick turnaround will offer a glimpse of Pac-12 Conference scheduling.
"We're going to play Thursday-Saturday games (in the Pac-12)," Boyle said. "That's one of the reasons we scheduled in this preseason the way we did - to try to get us ready for conference play. Whether it's good or bad, that's immaterial because that's how we are going to play in the league, so we have to figure it out now."
But figuring out Wyoming comes first. The Cowboys are 8-1, with all the wins recorded in Laramie and the lone loss coming at Wisconsin-Green Bay (52-44). Wyoming hasn't played since last weekend, defeating Bradley 66-49 on Saturday.
Larry Shyatt is in his second stint as Wyoming's coach, leaving Florida last spring after seven seasons on Billy Donovan's staff to return to Laramie. Shyatt previously was Wyoming's head coach for the 1997-98 season. He was hired as Clemson's head coach in 1998 and stayed until 2003, then made his stop at Florida. Wyoming was 10-21 last season under Heath Schroyer and interim coach Fred Langley.
The Cowboys' 8-1 start under Shyatt is their best since 2008-09, and they've accomplished it with defense. Shyatt's team is third in the nation in scoring defense (49.4 points a game) and has held all nine opponents under 60 points. UW is fourth nationally in three-point field goal percentage defense (22.2) and 12th in field goal percentage defense (35.4).
Four Cowboys starters average in double figures, topped by senior guard Francisco "Paco" Cruz at 13.0 points a game. The 6-3 Cruz is a Denver Lincoln High School product who spent two seasons at Western Nebraska Community College before transferring to Wyoming.
Two other Coloradoans are on the Wyoming roster - freshman guard Riley Grabau (Boulder) and freshman forward Tyrone Marshall (Denver George Washington). Both have played in reserve roles.
Boyle is as much concerned with his team's execution and playing consistently for two halves as with the challenges Wyoming presents. "You saw it from the first half to the second half, you saw it at the free throw line, you saw it from the CSU game to (Wednesday night)," he said. "When we become a consistent team that plays as hard and executes for forty minutes we will be good."
After Friday night's game, the Buffs have a nine-day break before playing again. They return to the Events Center on Monday, Dec. 19 to play Cal State-Bakersfield (7 p.m.). Tickets for all games start $10 and can be purchased at CUBuffs.com/tickets or by calling 303-49-BUFFS.
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU
