Colorado University Athletics
Buffs Back Home, Prepare For Saturday Home Opener
November 12, 2019 | Men's Basketball, Neill Woelk
BOULDER — After traveling more than 13,000 miles to collect a win in their season opener, Tad Boyle's Colorado Buffaloes are back in Boulder, preparing for Saturday's 8 p.m. home opener against San Diego (Pac-12 Network).
Their first order of business is recovering from jetlag and readjusting to Colorado time. The No. 25 Buffs arrived home Sunday from Shanghai, where they opened the season last weekend with an 81-71 win over Arizona State in the annual Pac-12 China Game.
"All I can say is the win made it all worthwhile," Boyle said after a light workout Tuesday morning. "I can't imagine coming back without the win. It would have put a real sour taste in our mouths. But it was a great experience for our players, to see a different country, a different culture, certainly a dynamic city."
The Buffs are still working to get their body clocks back to normal. Several players and the head coach admitted to waking up at about 4 a.m. Tuesday.Â
"We're just trying to get back in the groove of things and get into class and get back in the academic schedule," Boyle said. "Today was just film work and talk about Arizona State. We put that behind us, got some shooting in, got a sweat, and tomorrow we'll we'll hook it up … Our guys will be anxious but this is a week to get better practice and continue to develop."
The good news is they have a little extra time between now and their next game to readjust. But they will need every bit of that time to make sure they haven't lost the edge that produced a solid season-opening win, as Saturday's game against the Toreros is the first of five in a 14-day span.Â
The win over ASU was enough to convince voters to bump the Buffs up to No. 25 in the latest Associated Press rankings, released Monday. It is CU's first appearance in the rankings since January 2014.
There were plenty of positive signs in the season-opening win. The Buffs built a double-digit lead in the first half and pushed it to 17 early in the second before ASU rallied to tie the game midway through the period.
 That's when Colorado's established veterans — in particular McKinley Wright and Tyler Bey — delivered, leading a surge that helped the Buffs re-establish control and keep the Sun Devils at bay down the stretch.
Wright had six points in an 8-3 Colorado run and finished with 17 points, seven rebounds and five assists. Bey, meanwhile, came back from foul-plagued first half to record his 20th career double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds, with 11 points and eight rebounds after halftime.
Also producing key efforts were junior wing D'Shawn Schwartz with 15 points, including 13 in the first half; sophomore forward Evan Battey with 11 points and nine rebonds; senior forward Lucas Siewert with nine points and eight rebounds; and junior college transfer Maddox Daniels with eight points.
It was the kind of depth and balance Boyle wants to see on a consistent basis.
"I was really, really pleased with how we came out," Boyle said of CU's first half, when the Buffs built a 14-point lead. "But we have to be more consistent. We let a 17-point lead slip away. We can't do that. That's a credit to Arizona State but a lot of that was our own doing as well. So again, a lot of things you can learn."
STRUGGLES VS. SAN DIEGO: One thing that definitely won't happen Saturday night is the Buffs taking San Diego lightly. CU has lost to the Toreros in each of the last two seasons, including a home loss two years ago.
"We should have plenty of energy and attitude and should be trying tried to rectify that," Boyle said.
San Diego is 1-2, with a win over Fresno State and losses to UC-Irvine and Long Beach State thus far, and another game before Saturday. The Toreros travel to Weber State on Thursday before making the swing into Boulder for Saturday's game.
BUFFS BITS: Bey, who was 5-for-22 from 3-point range last year, worked on his outside shot in the offseason, but still had an 0-for-4 night from long range in the opener. Boyle, though, said he's not worried, noting that all four attempts were open shots. "He's proven in practice that he can make that shot," Boyle said. "I'm fine with it. I just don't want them hunting those threes." … Boyle also said he was pleased with Schwartz's defense against ASU, an area of the junior's game CU coaches stressed in the offseason. "He was really good defensively," Boyle said. " That's that's one area of his game that people don't recognize has really made significant strides." Schwartz was also 7-for-10 from the field, a big improvement over his 43.6 shooting percentage from last season … The Pac-12 is having an excellent start thus far, with an 18-1 record. The only loss (ASU) came in a game featuring two Pac-12 teams. That conference record is important when it comes to NCAA Tournament at-large bids in March.
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
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