Colorado University Athletics
Buffs Head To Auburn In Search Of A Win
November 16, 2015 | Men's Basketball, Neill Woelk
AUBURN, Ala. — Silver linings?
There's no such thing in the Colorado men's basketball locker room. Four days after dropping a narrow 68-62 decision to seventh-ranked Iowa State in their season opener, the Buffs head to Auburn today for a nationally televised matinee performance (1 p.m., ESPN) with just one goal in mind.
"I don't think any of us look at anything from the Iowa State game as a silver lining," CU big man Josh Scott said after Sunday's practice. "I think we fought, I think we played hard — but that's stuff we're supposed to do. I think we're all of a mindset that we needed to get a 'W.' It's all about getting a victory and we didn't do that.
"Now we get another game and another chance."
The Buffs are familiar with the Bruce Pearl-coached Tigers. Just a year ago, Auburn visited Boulder as part of the ESPN College Hoops Tip-off Marathon, and CU walked away with a 90-59 win in a game that started at 11 p.m.
This year, the Buffs are returning the favor and traveling to Auburn, once again as part of the ESPN Marathon, but at a much more reasonable hour.
The Tigers opened their season with a 75-74 win over UAB — virtually the same UAB team that notched an NCAA Tournament upset win over Iowa State a year ago.
"Auburn's much improved," CU head coach Tad Boyle said. "Very athletic. They play extremely hard with a lot of energy and passion. They're much much better than they were last year."
Indeed, the Tigers have added three new players — T. J. Dunans, Tyler Harris and Kareem Canty — and they combined for 51 points in the win over UAB.
Pearl, in his second year at Auburn, has been criticized for tough scheduling so early in the season.
"If you are trying to be relevant, than you want to try to schedule relevant," he said. "You want to draw and be relevant, try to recruit and be relevant, you hope to coach and play to be relevant. That is why you play these games. This is a really good opportunity for us."
But at least the Tigers have been at home their first two games. The Buffs won't see their home floor for a game until Friday, when they play host to Portland in a 7 p.m. game at the Coors Events Center (Pac-12 Networks).
Meanwhile, they'll have to contend with what's expected to be a sold-out crowd at Auburn Arena. Attendance at the UAB game was a standing-room only 9,121 and officials are expecting another raucous gathering today.
Early in fall practice, Boyle said he expected CU's opening games to provide a good barometer for his team. While the Buffs did some good things against Iowa State, Boyle will be looking for a much cleaner effort today — one that includes a better shooting percentage and fewer turnovers.
The Buffs did have balanced scoring in the opener, getting 14 points from George King, 13 from Dominique Collier and 11 from Scott. But, they shot just 36.5 percent from the field, and lost the rebound battle, 43-38.
"We've got to build on the positive and learn from the negative," Boyle said. "Obviously we did some things well. But as a coach you're always looking at things you didn't do well that we should've done or could've done."
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
