Battey Developing Into Force For Buffs

BOULDER — Colorado redshirt freshman Evan Battey is steadily coming into his own as a Division I college basketball player.

Battey, whose much-publicized return to the game has been a focal point of nearly every Buffs television broadcast, is slowly but surely shaking off the rust of a two-year layoff from playing competitively.

Now, that layoff — due first to ineligibility issues, then a life-threatening stroke — is becoming more and more of a memory from the distant past. After 12 games for the 9-3 Buffs, Battey is the team's fourth-leading scorer (8.7 points per game) and fourth-leading rebounder (4.3 rpg), while currently just sixth on the team in minutes played (21.1 per game).

Equally importantly, he is displaying the versatility that makes him such a rarity for a 6-foot-8, 265-pound forward. He is fourth on the team in assists (13) and steals (7), leads the team in offensive rebounds (25) and is shooting a respectable 44.2 percent from the field.

"I think the rust is going away," Battey said. "I still find myself in situations now and then that I haven't been in for a long time, and I won't finish or I won't get a rebound. But I'm not experiencing as many of those situations anymore. Overall, I think I'm back — it's just a matter of not tricking myself into thinking there's something I can't do. I just have to play."

Battey's season has already been one of many "firsts" in his comeback — first game, first basket, first win, first start, etc.

This week, he will add to the list when he plays in his first Pac-12 game. The Buffs open conference play Thursday with a 7 p.m. game at Arizona — one of the most raucous environments in the conference — followed by a 4 p.m. Saturday matchup at Arizona State.

"I'm looking forward to it," he said. "It's my first Pac-12 game and it just happens to be on the road. I'm excited to get there."

While Battey's numbers are solid for a freshman, he is by no means anywhere close to his ceiling. CU head coach Tad Boyle said he is now urging Battey to take a few more chances with his game.

"Evan still has a ways to go," Boyle said. "He does some really good things. … he wants to be right, he wants to do things the right way. What I'm trying to get Evan to understand as a college basketball player is sometimes you can do the wrong thing and still have it work out. What I mean by that is you have to play with more grit and don't worry about being right — just worry about getting the job done. Worry about putting the ball in the basket. Worry about stopping them from putting the ball in the basket."

That process should come with more confidence, a commodity that is returning to Battey's game on a weekly basis — and that's understandable. Prior to this year, his last competitive game came as a junior in high school. Now, he's not only getting back into regular game flow, he is also adjusting to the difference between high school and high-level Division I play.

"Overall, my confidence is pretty good," he said. "I think it wavers at time, but overall, I feel more confident every time I go out and play."

The Buffs will need every bit of confidence they can muster on their upcoming road trip. The Buffs have never won in Arizona's McKale Center — including an 0-5 record since CU joined the Pac-12 — and Arizona State showed its potential at home by knocking off No. 1 Kansas earlier this year.

"Coach Boyle has a huge emphasis on things that have never been done — and we've never beaten Arizona at Arizona in his career here," Battey said. "That's huge. We would like to be the first team to do that. We want to go down there and beat Arizona and Arizona State."

BOYLE ON INCONSISTENCY: Already this year, the Buffs have endured a swing of inconsistency, particularly in their shooting. After starting the year as one of nation's better shooting teams — CU shot better than 50 percent from the field in the first five games — Colorado has cooled off considerably.

The slump was particularly noticeable in Hawaii, where the Buffs were just just 16-for-60 from 3-point range (26.7 percent) in three games and just 70-for-167 overall (41.9 percent).

"Everybody — baseball players, basketball players, quarterbacks — everybody has hot streaks," Boyle said. "They shoot the ball well, situations where they're really feeling it. There's other times when they can't throw it in the ocean. You go through ups and downs from a physical standpoint."

Boyle pointed to former Buff Carlon Brown as the perfect example. In the final 16 games of the 2011-12 season, the CU senior endured a wild shooting swing. In the first eight games of the stretch, Brown shot just 28.9 percent from the field (24-for-83). But in the last eight games, he was 49-for-97 (50.5 percent). That stretch included four straight CU wins for a Pac-12 tourney title with Brown being named the tournament MVP, along with a first-round NCAA Tournament win over UNLV.

"He went through one of the biggest shooting slumps I've ever experienced from a good player in the middle of Pac-12 play," Boyle said. "He came out of it and led us to a Pac-12 championship. Was he inconsistent? Absolutely. Part of that is just part of coaching. It's part of dealing with young people."

LOOKING AHEAD: After this weekend's road trip, the Buffs will finally return to the CU Events Center for their first home game since a Dec. 8 win over Illinois-Chicago. Colorado will open the home portion of its Pac-12 schedule with a Jan. 10 game against Washington State (7 p.m.), followed by a Jan. 12 matchup with Washington (8 p.m.).

But after that, it's three more games on the road, giving Colorado five of its first seven Pac-12 games on the road. The good news, of course, is that CU will wrap up the conference schedule with five of the final seven at home.

Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu

Players Mentioned

Evan Battey

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