Boyle's Buffs Turn Focus To Defense

BOULDER — One day after Tad Boyle delivered a harsh critique of his team's defensive performance, the Buffs put together what Boyle called “one of our best practices of the year.”

Sunday afternoon, Boyle was not happy after the Buffs squeaked out an 87-82 come-from-behind win over visiting Nebraska-Omaha. Boyle was particularly incensed at the Buffs' perimeter defense, which yielded 17 layups and allowed the visitors to shoot 47 percent from the field.

Monday morning, though, the Buffs were back on the practice floor at the Coors Events Center, and much of that time was devoted to defense.

“Great practice,” Boyle said. “The guys came in here today, recognized what they needed to work on and responded with a great practice and a great attitude. It's one of the reasons I love this team.”

In four games this year, the 3-1 Buffs have limited an opponent to less than 40 percent shooting from the floor just once, in an 85-63 win over Portland. Even then, the Pilots shot nearly 46 percent in the first half before CU's defense put on the clamps after intermission.

Omaha hit 47 percent of its field goal tries in Sunday's game.

“We're going to keep harping on it,” Boyle said. “If I have to shame them into playing defense, I'll shame them into playing defense. But the bottom line is we have to have a collective pride. That has to be our identity.”

Through the first four games, the Buffs are averaging more than 81 points per game. It's a nice number, but one Boyle doesn't expect the Buffs to maintain the rest of the season.

“There's going to be nights when we shoot the ball poorly from the field, like we did yesterday — 38 percent,” Boyle said. “Sometimes, shots just don't go in. But defense is a constant. You have control over keeping the ball in front of you and contesting every shot, and that's what we have to do. We have to make people beat us and not make it easy.”

Two things the Buffs did do well in the win over Omaha was rebound and get to the foul line. The Buffs had a dominant 52-35 edge on the boards, and also shot 46 free throws (compared to Omaha's 15).

Leading the way in the rebound department were Josh Scott (12) and Wesley Gordon (7). Scott also had 14 points and Gordon had 12.

“We rebounded our tails off and we got to the free throw line,” Boyle said. “But there are going to be nights on the road when we don't get to the line like that. That's why we have to rebound and play defense. We're not going to score 87 points every night.”

The Buffs return to action Wednesday night in a 7 p.m. game against Air Force , then play again Sunday in a 1 p.m. contest against Northern Colorado.

Both will be televised by the Pac-12 Networks.