Buffs Prepare For UCF 7-Foot-6 Center Fall

BOULDER — Tad Boyle's Colorado Buffaloes have seen some of the best teams and the best players in the nation this year.

But Wednesday night, when they tip off against UCF in the first round of the NIT, the 19-14 Buffs will see something none of them have ever faced before: a 7-foot-6 man in the middle, UCF center Tacko Fall.

Fall, a native of Senegal, is the tallest player in college basketball. He leads the Knights in rebounding (9.6 boards per game), is third in scoring (11.5 points), is 18th in the nation in blocked shots (2.53 bpg) and is shooting 72.8 percent from the field (147-for-202).

"Tacko Fall is a different animal in terms of what we're used to dealing with," CU head coach Tad Boyle said. "We're used to good post players in the Pac-12 but none of them are 7-foot-6."

Fall changes virtually everything teams do offensively. UCF leads the nation in field goal percentage defense, allowing opponents to shoot just 36.2 percent from the field this year. The Knights are also among the top 20 teams in the nation in 3-point defense because Fall allows his teammates the luxury of pressing the arc against 3-point shooters.

"It's nice when you can run a guy off the 3-point line because you know you've got a 7-foot-6 guy in the middle who's going to clean up your mistakes," Boyle said.

The Buffs spent some time at Monday's practice attempting to simulate Fall's presence in the middle, using sticks with cushions on the end to block shots in the paint. But, Boyle admitted, it is by no means what they will see Wednesday.

"Until you see it, you don't know it," Boyle said. "I don't think our guys have any idea what they're in for when it comes to that. We're going to have to make good decisions with the ball offensively and put him in situations where he's a little uncomfortable."

CU senior Derrick White, the Buffs' leading scorer this year, scores a significant number of his points by driving the paint and going to the rim. With Fall — who reportedly has a wingspan of nearly eight feet — in the middle on Wednesday, he knows he will have to adjust.

"You have to make good decisions and know that you can't try to finesse it or do some things you might do to a 6-8 or 6-9 guy," White said. "It's definitely a challenge. Something I've never seen before and none of us have seen before."

But fall is by no means the only weapon on coach Johnny Dawkins' team. The former Stanford coach, whose Knights finished fourth in the AAC and bring a 21-11 record into the game, also boast a standout point guard in B.J. Taylor (17.2 points, 4.3 rebounds, 3.6 assists per game) and a solid outside shooter in Matt Williams (38.4 percent from 3-point range).

What makes the Knights especially difficult to prepare for is that they play almost two different styles — one with Fall in the game and a different one when he's on the bench.

"They're a totally different team with Tacko Fall in the game vs. him out of the game," Boyle said. "He only plays about 24 minutes a game, so it's almost like you have to have two game plans as you go into these guys. One game plan when Tacko Fall is in the game, both offensively and defensively, and then one when he's out of the game."

The key for the Buffs will be their ability to be patient on the offensive end and find good shots — something that hasn't come easily this year, particularly away from home. In 16 games away from the Coors Events Center (12 road games, four neutral site games), the Buffs shot better than 45 percent just four times.

"We're going to have 15-foot jump shots all night long," Boyle said. "The danger you have when you play this team is you settle for those early and they don't go in, and then frustration sets in. We're going to have to play with great poise and great understanding of what we're trying to get offensively. We're going to have to make some 15 footers, no doubt about it, because those are the shots we're going to get. We just have to make sure they're the right ones and they don't come after one pass and we get jump shot happy, which this team has done in the past."

BROADCAST: The game will streamed live on ESPN3. Denver Sports AM 760 will carry the radio broadcast with Mark Johnson and Scott Wilke.

Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu