Buffs Aim To Bounce Back As Ducks Visit Events Center On Saturday
February 01, 2019 | Men's Basketball, Neill Woelk
BOULDER —  Late Thursday night, after his Buffs had absorbed a 76-74 loss to Oregon State on their home floor, Colorado coach Tad Boyle still expressed confidence in his team's ability to finish strong.
"The beautiful thing about college basketball is a lot of people count people out in certainly January and February," Boyle said. "People are counting out the Buffaloes and I understand why. But our job is to prove those people wrong and continue to improve every day and try to figure out how to win our next game. If we can get on a roll, which we're fully capable of doing, we can make some noise in this league coming down the stretch."
But with just 10 conference games remaining, the 11-9 Buffs (2-6 Pac-12) also know time is running out on their chances to start that hot streak. Their next opportunity comes Saturday, when they play host to Oregon in a 7:30 p.m. game at the CU Events Center. Colorado has never lost to Oregon in Boulder, owning a 7-0 record against the Ducks on CU's home floor.
The Ducks (13-8, 4-4) bring a two-game win streak to Boulder that includes a 78-72 come-from-behind win over Utah on Thursday. Oregon fell behind 30-16 midway through the first half, but put together a 22-4 run to take a 38-34 halftime lead, and never trailed in the second half.
"Oregon started pressing and Utah turned it over 19 times for 29 points," Boyle said after watching film of the Utah-Oregon game. "Handle their press. That's the key to Oregon — and obviously you have to guard them."
Oregon was picked to win the Pac-12 in the preseason media poll, but has been plagued by injuries and inconsistencies. But they still have two of the league's most-talented freshmen in 6-foot-9 Louis King and 6-5 Will Richardson. King had just seven points against Utah, but had scored in double digits in the previous seven games. Richardson, meanwhile, had a career-high 19 against Utah.
"They're very talented," Boyle said. "They have a lot of weapons."
Along with their outstanding freshmen, the Ducks also have a veteran guard in junior Payton Pritchard and a productive big man in 6-9 forward Paul White, both of whom are averaging 11 points per game.
But it is the Ducks' defense that concerns Boyle the most.
"We'd better handle their press," Boyle said. "They turn you over. If you can't handle their pressure for 40 minutes, you're going to have problems. We're going to be really really tested with their press."
The Buffs have had troubles in the turnover department this year. While they had just 11 in Thursday's loss to Oregon State, eight of those came after halftime, when the Beavers rallied for the win.
But Boyle still believes his team can put together a solid stretch over the last 10 regular season games.
"Absolutely we can," he said. "But we've got to be more consistent and we have to do it for 40 minutes. We're not going to out-talent people in our league. You have to out-play them, out-execute them, out-tough them."
Thursday's loss to OSU produced some box score anomalies for the Buffs. While leading scorer McKinley Wright IV delivered 18 points, Colorado's next two top scorers, Tyler Bey and Lucas Siewert, combined for just nine points. Freshman big man Evan Battey picked up the slack with 16 points — a Pac-12 high for Battey —and guard Shane Gatling added 15 points, his fourth straight game in double-figure scoring.
Overall, offense wasn't an issue, as the Buffs shot 50 percent from the field — marking only the fourth time in the last 68 games in which the Buffs have shot at least 50 percent that they came out on the short end of the score.
One place they didn't shoot well, however, was the free throw line. CU missed 10 of its 26 free throws in the game, well below the 71 percent season average. It's another one of those "small things" that continue to plague the Buffs.
"Our guys are competing," Â he said. "We're competing our tails off, we're just not over the hump yet because we have too many miscues, both offensively and defensively."
THE SERIES: Colorado leads the all-time series with Oregon, 10-8. The Ducks won last year's only meeting, a 77-62 decision in Eugene. But Colorado has never lost to Oregon in Boulder, holding a 7-0 edge on the Buffs' home floor. CU also holds a 7-6 edge in games played in Pac-12 play.
THE BROADCAST: The game will be televised by the Pac-12 Network with Ted Robinson, Don MacLean and Jill Savage. KOA radio will carry the broadcast with Mark Johnson and Scott Wilke.
NEXT UP: The Buffs head back out on the road next week for a pair of games in Los Angeles. Colorado plays at UCLA on Wednesday in a 7 p.m. contest, then travels across town Saturday for an 8 p.m. game at USC.
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
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