Colorado
Stanford
Boyle's Buffs Head To Bay Area, Face Stanford On Thursday
February 01, 2017 | Men's Basketball, Neill Woelk
BOULDER — With two straight wins in their hip pocket and some newfound confidence in hand, the Colorado Buffaloes hit the road this week for a pair of games in the Bay Area.
Their aim is to take with them the intensity that helped produce their recent wins and shed for good the inconsistencies that contributed to a seven-game skid.
If the Buffs can accomplish such a process, they still have time to make some noise over the second half of the Pac-12 schedule. Of the nine conference games remaining, five are at home. Of the four road games, two — including Thursday's 9 p.m. matchup at Stanford — are against teams in the bottom half of the conference standings.
But the turnaround that began with home wins over Oregon State and then-No. 10 Oregon will end in a hurry if 12-10 Colorado can't replicate its efforts from those games beginning Thursday at Maples Pavilion, where the Buffs have won on their last three trips there.
So, George King, will it happen?
"I can't answer that right now," the CU junior said Tuesday. "We have to go out and show that and earn that respect. I can sit here and say, 'Yeah, we can do that,' but that means nothing unless you go out there and do it. We'll have to wait and see Thursday and Sunday."
But what King and his teammates do know is that they are capable of a solid, consistent effort over the course of 40 minutes, and they have the depth to get contributions from a variety of players. While King (37 points in the two wins), Derrick White (28) and Xavier Johnson (20) handled the bulk of the scoring, they also received key performances at least one of the games from Bryce Peters, Wesley Gordon, Dominique Collier, Josh Fortune, Tory Miller and Lucas Siewert.
"That's the beauty of this team — we've got a lot of capable guys, but we've got to bring it every night," head coach Tad Boyle said. "Not that everybody's going to play great every night, but mentally and physically and emotionally, they've got to be ready to play."
What the Buffs do know is that they are playing with their backs to the wall. While a .500 record — or better — in conference play is still within reach, any slip from this point on will be exponentially magnified.
"We don't have a choice," said Fortune, who produced five points, eight rebounds, five assists and some solid defense in the last two games. "We have to take what we did against Oregon and Oregon State with us on the road to Stanford and Cal. We have to keep doing what we did to get those wins. We we we can do it and we know we're capable — but we have to come out and play with that kind of pride and energy."
The Cardinal (11-10, 3-6), pose an interesting test. After opening conference play with four straight losses, Stanford put three straight wins on the board, knocking off Washington and Washington State at home, then beating Oregon State on the road. That, however, was followed by losses at Oregon and Cal.
"They're a good team with good low post players, a good point guard and good shooters on the perimeter," King said. "They're like any other team — they make mistakes, but they make a lot of good plays as well."
Stanford is paced by junior Reid Travis, who leads the team in scoring (16.8 ppg) and rebounding (8.7). Junior guard Dorian Pickens (12.1 ppg) is also a capable scorer. But the Cardinal has struggled from 3-point range this year, hitting just 31 percent of their attempts from beyond the arc.
Maybe most importantly, of all the places for the Buffs to attempt to end their 10-game conference road losing streak, Stanford might be the best place possible. Not only do the Buffs own a six-game win streak over the Cardinal, Colorado has also won the last three games on the Cardinal's floor.
"Half the conference schedule is done, but the other half is in front of us," Boyle said. "We have to build upon (last) weekend. It's a great opportunity."
BROADCAST: Thursday's game at Stanford (9 p.m. tipoff) will be broadcast by the Pac-12 Networks with Guy Haberman and Steve Lavin. DenverSports 760 AM will carry the radio broadcast with Mark Jonson and Scott Wilke.
Sunday's game at Cal (2:30 p.m. tip) will be televised by ESPNU.
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
