Colorado University Athletics
Boyle Expects Young Buffs To Bounce Back Quickly
December 04, 2017 | Men's Basketball, Neill Woelk
BOULDER — Sooner or later, Tad Boyle's Colorado Buffaloes were bound to hit a bump in the road.
The fact that it came against the Buffs' in-state rival Saturday in Fort Collins just made it sting a little more than it might have otherwise.
Anyone who had watched Colorado with regularity this year knew the young Buffs had already flirted with disaster more than once. There was the game when they needed to rally from 13 down in the final four minutes to beat Quinnipiac. There was the 17-point lead against Drake in the second half that dwindled to one before they finally regained control.
Saturday was simply a case of tempting fate once too often. The Buffs allowed the Rams to build a 17-point lead in the second half before coming back to cut the deficit to four — but this time around, couldn't get over the hump down the stretch.
While it is no consolation to the Buffs, it did take CSU's best effort of the year to produce the win. The Rams, who entered the game shooting just a shade better than 30 percent from 3-point range, hit 39 percent of their long-distance shots. They also thumped the Buffs on the boards, taking full advantage of CU's first game without the services of big man Tory Miller-Stewart (out with a foot injury), and ended up with nine blocked shots — three times their average thus far this season.
Now, the 6-1 Buffs have to take what they learned from the loss and apply it to the future, beginning with a pair of games this week. The slate begins with Wednesday's 7 p.m. home tilt with New Mexico (Pac-12 Networks) followed by a 3 p.m. contest Saturday at No. 13 Xavier (FS1).
No doubt there are plenty of lessons to be learned. As Boyle said late Saturday afternoon, "We didn't do anything well enough to win this game."
But Boyle also isn't worried about his team's psyche. While some young squads might let such a loss damage their confidence, that shouldn't be the case with this bunch.
Rather, Boyle expects them to bounce back in a hurry. He made that clear when asked if he thought the Buffs might "spiral" downward.
"That's not going to happen," Boyle said firmly. "This team has too much fight, toughness, and character to allow that to happen. I don't worry about this spiraling into the next game. One game doesn't affect the next game."
Indeed, if there is one thing this team has already established, it is an air of mental toughness. While they may be young — at one point Saturday, CU's on-court lineup consisted of four true freshmen and a sophomore — they are by no means fragile. They know the coaching staff has their back, they know they can play better than they showed Saturday, and above all, they know they have precious little time to wallow in a loss.
But what we don't know yet is how quickly the Buffs can adjust to the loss of Miller-Stewart. Along with being a rebounding and defensive presence in the middle, he also provided a strong measure of leadership.
While Boyle didn't name names after Saturday's loss, there's no doubt he will be expecting more from his upperclassmen in the future. CU's three elders — seniors George King and Dominique Collier and junior Namon Wright — combined to shoot just 9-for-32 from the floor and collect a combined total of nine rebounds.
Those are numbers that will have to improve dramatically if CU wants to be competitive, particularly when the Buffs hit Pac-12 play.
"There are some experienced guys who didn't play as well as they are capable of playing," Boyle said. "I always give freshmen some more breaks. It's harder to do that with juniors and seniors because they've been around."
Speaking of the freshmen, the Buffs did get some nice efforts from their youngsters against the Rams. Point guard McKinley Wright IV led Colorado in scoring (19 points) and rebounding (eight), Tyler Bey chipped in six points and six rebounds and Lazar Nikolic had five points and a rebound.
As for filling the gap in the post, redshirt freshman Dallas Walton had six points and a pair of rebounds.
But with Miller-Stewart sidelined, the Buffs need sophomore Lucas Siewert back to full strength in a hurry. Siewert had been averaging 5.0 rebounds per game before suffering a sprained ankle, and played six mostly ineffective minutes against the Rams.
Now, every Buff will have to play a role in picking up the rebounding and defensive slack created by Miller-Stewart's absence.
"Our next two games, New Mexico and Xavier, they're going to watch this film," McKinley Wright said. "They're going to see we got our (butts) whooped on the glass. It's a challenge but we're looking forward to the challenge. We're going to take it. …. I'm going to be better and this team's going to better."
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
