University of Colorado Athletics
Boyle's Buffs Prepare For Visit From Skyhawks
December 01, 2015 | Men's Basketball, Neill Woelk
BOULDER — It didn't take much for Colorado basketball coach Tad Boyle to get his players' attention when talking about the game plan for Wednesday night's game vs. Division II Fort Lewis (6 p.m., Pac-12 Networks).
All Boyle had to do was remind the 5-1 Buffs that the Skyhawks opened the season with a 76-69 exhibition win over Wyoming in Laramie.
The Buffs, of course, remember all too well their last trip to Laramie, a 56-33 loss last November.
"I said 'They've done something we haven't done,'" Boyle said Tuesday morning. "Kudos to them, because that's not an easy place to play. Those guys would like nothing better than to come in and do it to us here. We'd better be ready."
The Skyhawks are off to a 5-0 start under Bob Pietrack, in his first full year as FLC's head coach. Pietrack replaced Fort Lewis legend Bob Hofman, a former CU player and assistant coach who is serving this season as "head coach emeritus." Hofman, who also coached at Boulder's Fairview High School, will be in attendance Wednesday night.
Boyle also reminded his players that the Division II Skyhawks see the game as an opportunity to make a name for themselves.
"It's their Super Bowl, no question," Boyle said. "I just said it to our team. It is a danger."
Because the Skyhawks are a D-II program, the game doesn't affect the Buffs' RPI.
"A lower-ranked Division I team can hurt your RPI," Boyle said. "And, you get to keep the money and keep it in state. If we're going to pay somebody to come into the Coors Events Center, why not pay an in-state school like Fort Lewis or Western State or Northern Colorado? We should try to keep the money in state if we can."
The Buffs are coming off an 82-52 win over Northern Colorado, their fifth straight win and the fifth straight game with at least 81 points. They've been the hottest 3-point shooting team in the Pac-12 thus far, hitting 42.3 percent of their attempts from beyond the arc, and have hit at least 10 3-pointers in each of their last two games.
Three Buffs are averaging double-figure scoring thus far, led by sophomore George King's 17.3 per game clip. Senior Josh Scott is right behind at 16.8 points per game, and the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award candidate is also averaging 8.7 rebounds and three blocks per game.
Third on the team in scoring is junior Josh Fortune at 10.7 per game. The 6-5 Fortune, who sat out last year after transferring from Providence, is also third on the team in rebounding with 5.8 per game, and is third on the team in assists with 13 for the year.
"His game has improved," Boyle said. "I think he's much better off the dribble now. When we first got him he was a catch-and-shoot guy. Now he's putting the ball on the floor and making plays for other people. He's a very good passer. He's got a good feel for the game."
While Boyle said the Buffs won't overlook the Skyhawks, there's no doubt CU players and coaches are quite aware of their next foe after Wednesday. The Buffs will take their shortest road trip of the year Sunday when they head north to Fort Collins to face in-state rival Colorado State in a noon contest at Moby Arena.
"I've already started looking at them," Boyle said. "We've got the Fort Lewis scouting report and game plan in. Once you have that in as a coach, you start looking at the next game."
No doubt, CU's schedule gets tougher after the Wednesday's contest. After Sunday's CSU game, the Buffs play host to BYU the following Saturday, then play four games in the Las Vegas Classic (two in Boulder) that will involve a matchup with Penn State and either Kent State or SMU.
"As a coach, I'm not going to overlook Fort Lewis," Boyle said. "I don't want our players to overlook them. But as a staff, you have to be one or two steps ahead. We're looking at both CSU and BYU tape, quite frankly, over the next few days to put things together."
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
