Colorado University Athletics
Brooks: Buffs Hope To Create Coors Magic In Vegas
December 20, 2013 | Men's Basketball, B.G. Brooks
LAS VEGAS - Now comes the Big 12's co-contender, but in this matchup the Colorado Buffaloes can't depend on the comforts - or the chaos - of home.
Earlier this month in the now-inhospitable Coors Events Center, CU shocked then-No. 6 Kansas - the preseason co-favorite to win the Big 12. On Saturday night, the Buffs try to sweep their former conference's top two, meeting No. 7 Oklahoma State in the MGM Grand Showcase.
The CU-Okie State tip is scheduled for 9:30 p.m. MST, or half an hour following the conclusion of the night's first game - New Mexico vs. Marquette - in the MGM Grand Garden Arena.
It's the same venue the Buffs got acquainted with last March in the Pac-12 Conference postseason tournament, but in no way will it provide the home edge they enjoyed on Dec. 7 against the Jayhawks.
"It's like playing KU on a neutral floor," said Tad Boyle, who in his fourth season as CU's head coach has transformed the CEC into a nightmarish hoops stop (Boyle is 52-7 at home). "We won't have the Coors Events Center to rely on and that energy. We'll have to make our own energy and play together. It's going to be a great test for us."
The Cowboys' record (10-1) matches that of the Buffs, but CU is on a 10-game winning streak - the basketball program's longest since a 12-win run in the 1961-62 season. Possibly succumbing to holiday hype, OSU coach Travis Ford calls CU "a great basketball team, one of the best teams in America . . . it's going to be a very challenging trip."
Granted, the Buffs are a top 25 member (No. 20), but Boyle wants to see his team play a complete game before he'll second any of Ford's superlatives. Boyle is of the belief that if the Buffs finally play a 40-minute game "the results will take care of themselves. We haven't done it yet. We've done it in spurts, in halves, in five-minute segments. But we haven't put one (40-minute game) together on offense and on defense. When we do that it's going to be fun."
But Ford and Boyle are on the same page about this: Run down both rosters and stat sheets and it's difficult to give either team a decided edge. Said Ford: "We're very evenly matched up. Our strengths are very similar. They've got some big guys that can score inside."
One of those is 6-9 Wesley Gordon, whose return after a two-game absence due to injury excites Boyle as much for rebounding and defense as it does for any point Gordon might provide. Boyle calls the Cowboys "athletic and long," but adds, "I think we do (matchup well). It's good to have Wesley back. I think he helps us with our interior defense and our depth."
Gordon watched wins against KU (75-72) and Elon (80-63), with the victory over the Jayhawks easily the most difficult to miss. "It was tough to sit out, but I knew my teammates would be fine," said Gordon, who is averaging 7.6 points and 6.3 rebounds. "I wanted to play - the Kansas game particularly, but we got the win in both games so that's all that matters."
Gordon termed his physical status "pretty good . . . these last couple of days I've been trying to get back in shape. I wasn't too much out of shape. My shooting lost a little bit, but I'm getting back to normal. I haven't missed too much. Really, I'm better than I thought I was (conditioning-wise). I've been working out with (James) Hardy (strength/conditioning coach) since I've been out."
Come Saturday night, he'll find out fairly fast how up-to-speed he is, likely matching up with OSU's 6-7 Le'Bryan Nash. Boyle counts Nash (13.8 points, 6.2 rebounds) among three key Cowboys that the Buffs must concentrate on defending. The other two: guards Marcus Smart (18.0 points, 3.8 assists) and Markel Brown (15.7 points, 3.1 assists).
"Those three guys are the three we have to really key in on," Boyle said. "We can't let them go off on us because they're capable . . . but they've got capable guys coming off the bench - Phil Forte (11.2 points) can shoot it."
OSU's other starters are 6-5 Brian Williams (9.6 points, 3.7 rebounds) and 6-8 Michael Cobbins (4.9 poinits, 4.9 rebounds). Cobbins averages 1.6 blocked shots a game and has 110 in his career. The Cowboys have rejected 72 shots in their 11 games and are averaging 87.2 points on 49.5 percent shooting from the field (38.0 from beyond the arc). They've outrebounded opponents 38.6-35.5.
Smart, a sophomore, is the Okie State headliner. But the Big 12's preseason player-of-the-year went scoreless in the first half of the Cowboys' 75-43 rout of Delaware State on Tuesday night and finished with a season-low eight points.
Still, Boyle knows Smart's last performance isn't indicative of his talent. Boyle says the 6-4 Smart is "a lot like Spencer (Dinwiddie) - he can affect the game in a lot of ways, he gets his teammates involved, he can pass the ball, he attacks the rim, he gets to the free throw line. He's a good player . . . we've got to make him take tough shots over a hand and keep him off the foul line."
Boyle will assign the 6-6 Dinwiddie (15.5 points, 4.0 assists) to check Smart first, with guarding the 6-3 Brown likely falling to 6-2 Askia Booker, who is recovering from an ankle sprain but practiced Thursday afternoon and Friday morning before the team flew commercially to Las Vegas.
"He might not be quite 100 percent yet, but we hope he will be by Saturday night," Boyle said.
Gordon's return means 6-7 Xavier Johnson, who played in Gordon's "four" spot in the last two games, can return to his normal "three" position. It matters little to "XJ" which spot he plays: "It's something I've been used to all my life - playing the four. I'm accustomed to it. I can play that position, but I feel like I can play any position. So I just want to keep doing what I'm doing - keep playing."
Boyle said Johnson (10.0 points, 6.1 rebounds) "can affect the game at whatever position he's playing. With Wesley back he'll play some 'three,' but he'll also play some 'four.' He just has to take what the defense is giving him and not try to do too much, play within himself. He's got the same rebounding responsibility at the 'three' as he does the 'four.'"
Johnson added that getting Gordon back "definitely will help; everything now gets bigger and better - better competition against bigger people. We'll need bigger people to rebound and he's good at that."
In their fourth season under Boyle, the Buffs are 10-10 against nationally ranked opposition, including 4-5 against members of the top 10. Boyle's four CU teams are 13-9 on neutral courts, but the Buffs haven't defeated a top 10 team on a neutral court since 1990 when they upset No. 6 Missouri (92-88) in the Big Eight tournament in Kansas City.
Defeating the Cowboys, said Johnson, "would put us a little higher on a national level, give us a lot of confidence going into the Pac-12 season. We can beat Georgia (Saturday, Dec. 28) as well. We just have to keep focusing, playing hard."
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU
