Colorado University Athletics
Buffs Aim To Add Consistency To Equation
December 18, 2017 | Men's Basketball, Neill Woelk
BOULDER — Last week proved to be one of those head-scratchers for the Colorado Buffaloes — the kind of week that can drive a coach crazy.
In the span of four days, the Buffs put forth their worst offensive performance of the season and arguably their best.
The first resulted in a 69-59 loss to San Diego, a game in which the Buffs shot a miserable 25.9 percent from the field, including a dreadful 3-for-18 from 3-point range.
But four nights later, the Buffs hit 54 percent of their field goal tries (40-for-74), including 13 of their 27 attempts from 3-point range, in a 112-103 double-overtime win over South Dakota State.
Same Buffs, same gym — but dramatically different results.
It all left head coach Tad Boyle in a philosophical mood Monday morning as the 8-3 Buffs resumed practice in preparation for Friday's non-conference finale, a 7 p.m. matchup with Iowa in Sioux Falls, S.D.
"It reminds me of the line in Forrest Gump," Boyle said. "Life's like a box of chocolates … that's the way this basketball team is a little bit right now. It's a box of chocolates. You don't know what you're going to get from game to game. I've never had two games back to back where it's been such a drastic difference."
But Boyle also knows his team is not alone when it comes to such dramatic swings. It happens throughout college basketball, particularly this early in the season.
Example? Try North Dakota last week, which lost early in the week by 36 to South Dakota State — then went to Gonzaga and pushed the nation's No. 12 team to overtime before losing.
"It just tells you that college basketball is played by 18-, 19- 20-year old kids who aren't always consistent," Boyle said. "That's why you see scores that make you scratch your head in November. The San Diego game was one of them. We just don't yet have the mentality we need to have on the defensive end and rebounding the the ball."
But Boyle and his Buffs also know this: when conference play rolls around, teams that display consistency from game to game and week to week are the teams that have the best chance of playing in the postseason.
That consistency is something the Buffs have yet to develop — and perhaps most curiously, it is the team's upperclassmen who have struggled the most in that department. It has been up-and-down nights from seniors George King and Dominique Collier and junior Namon Wright that have been the biggest contributors to the Buffs' major swings.
"Your freshmen, no matter how good they are, are going to have those ups and downs," Boyle said. "I played with (former Kansas star) Danny Manning, who was one of the greatest basketball players of all time. I was a senior when Danny was a freshman — and as good as he was, he was up and down as a freshman.
"But your juniors and seniors can't be up and down. They don't have to be great, they don't have to be perfect, but they can't be up and down. That's where their consistency has to come from."
Thus far, CU's most consistent player is also one of the youngest Buffs. Freshman point guard McKinley Wright is the only starter to shoot better than 50 percent from the field (68-for-135) thus far; and he leads leads the team in scoring (16.6 ppg), assists (50) and blocks (9); is second in rebounding (5.5 rpg); and is the only Buffs in the Pac-12's top 15 in assist-to-turnover ratio.
But even in the recent up-and-down stretch — the Buffs have won just two of their last five — there are positive signs, particularly from the younger players.
Against South Dakota State, along with Wright's 30-point, 11-assist double-double, the Buffs also received a stellar effort from true freshman Tyler Bey on both ends of the floor, a standout defensive effort from freshman Lazar Nikolic, and perhaps the best overall game yet from sophomore Lucas Siewert.
Bey finished with 12 points and nine rebounds as well as an outstanding defensive effort against SDSU star Mike Daum. Nikolic also had a solid defensive effort on Daum before fouling out while Siewert had an extremely efficient 14-point, four-rebound night that saw him shoot 6-for-9 from the floor, including some key moves in the post to keep the Buffs in the game in the second half.
"Tyler Bey can guard anybody he wants to guard — he just has to go out and do it," Boyle said. "(And) that's the Lucas Siewert we thought we were getting when we recruited him. Now — boom — here it happens in a game in December. Critical, big game, tough game, tight game. Now the challenge is can he do that consistently."
What is a good bet is that Boyle will continue to shuffle his starting lineup in an effort to find that consistency. Monday morning, he worked a variety of player into the rotation, and it wouldn't be a surprise to see Bey or Siewert on the floor at tipoff Friday.
Overall, Boyle said, he likes the progress he's seen from his team since the beginning of fall camp. But, that doesn't mean he wouldn't like to see the pace of improvement speed up a little.
"Coming into the season I didn't know where we would be on Dec. 18," he said. "But I knew that there would be be some bumps in the road, some growing pains. We had some of those in Lynchburg (at the Paradise Jam), but we were able to win games while we grew. We weren't able to do that against San Diego and Colorado State. … (Now) I'm just looking for growth. I'm looking for improvement day to day, week to week and certainly month to month."
FINALS WEEK: The Buffs are working their practice schedule this week around final exams, which wrap up Wednesday.
"These guys have a lot of things on their minds," Boyle said. "A high-stress level time, but a lot of time practice can be a relief for them. Get those endorphins going and break a sweat. They have to get finals done, do a good job, and then move on to Iowa on Friday."
PAC-12 LEADERS: Arizona State remains the conference's only unbeaten team. The Sun Devils, now 10-0, were ranked third in the nation in Monday's Associated Press poll. The only other Pac-12 team in the top 25 is Arizona, currently 18th. … Seven conference teams are in the nation's top 100 RPI, led by ASU at No. 4. The others include Arizona (32), Utah (48), USC (50), Washington (61), Colorado (85) and Oregon (98).
CU's King is currently fifth in the conference in rebounding at 8.6 rpg and 21st in scoring (14.6 ppg). … Wright is 12th in scoring (16.6 ppg), sixth in assists (4.5 apg) and 14th in assists-to-turnover ratio (1.5).
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
