Boyle's Buffs Set For LA Road Trip
February 04, 2019 | Men's Basketball, Neill Woelk
BOULDER — Now that the Colorado Buffaloes have proven they can put together a strong wire-to-wire effort, the next item on their agenda is to do it again.
Indeed, halfway through the Pac-12 schedule, "one game at a time" is more than just a cliche´ for Tad Boyle's Buffs as they head to Los Angeles this week for a pair of games. Colorado plays at UCLA on Wednesday (7 p.m. tipoff) before heading across town Saturday for an 8 p.m. game at USC.
"Just do it one more time," Â Boyle said after Monday's practice. "Get better at practice today, figure out what we have to do and how do we beat UCLA. That's all that's on our mind. Before we do that on Wednesday, we have another practice (Tuesday). It's just staying with the day-to-day improvement, individually and certainly as a team."
That has been the Buffs' goal all season — day-to-day improvement.
But now, instead of simply believing they are capable of a complete game, the Buffs have concrete proof after Saturday's 73-51 win over Oregon in what was undoubtedly their best overall effort of the year.
"We proved we could do it for 40 minutes, now we have to go do it again for 40 minutes," Boyle said. "Again, it may not be the kind of score that it was the other night, but we have to be ready to compete and execute defensively and offensively for 40 minutes."
With nine games down and nine to go in Pac-12 play, the Buffs — 12-9 overall and 3-6 in conference games — certainly aren't where they wanted to be in the Pac-12 standings. But they are still within reach of a top-half finish, and a top-four finish isn't out of the question. Currently, they are just three games behind Arizona State, Oregon State and USC — all tied for second at 6-3 — and just two games behind the next three teams, Arizona, UCLA and Utah (all 5-4).
But to make that second-half run, the Buffs will have to exhibit the kind of 40-minute consistency they showed against the Ducks. Colorado held a commanding edge in almost every statistical category, including rebounding (45-32) and shooting percentage. Colorado hit 43.3 percent of its shots in the game (23-for-53), but more importantly held the Ducks to a season-low 31 percent from the field (18-for-58).
"This second half, the next nine games, will show has our team matured?" Boyle said. "Have we made the improvements we should make? The next nine games should prove that."
Consistency hasn't been a problem for sophomore point guard McKinley Wright, who is shooting a team-leading 52.5 percent from the field in conference games while averaging a 11.3 points per game (Wright leads the team in scoring for the season with a 12.8 average). Wright is also averaging just under four assists and 3.5 rebounds per game in Pac-12 play.
Fellow sophomore Tyler Bey, meanwhile, bounced back from a mini-slump with a career-best 27 points against Oregon, along with 10 rebounds for his ninth career double-double and seventh of the season. Bey is averaging 13.2 points and 8.8 rebounds in Pac-12 play.
But along with Bey and Wright, the Buffs will need consistency from the rest of the lineup. The good news is that appears to be developing.
Junior guard Shane Gatling appears to be coming into his own. Gatling has scored in double figures in four of his last five games and is averaging 11.7 points per game in conference play. Equally importantly, he has stepped up his defensive play and is contributing in the rebound department, averaging more than three rebounds per game over his last five.
"He's much more comfortable on offense," Boyle said. "He's not shooting the ball like he's capable, but he's made some really nice plays off the dribble — floaters, gotten to the rim a little bit. Shane's a good offensive player. I think the strides he made, especially in the Oregon game, came on the defensive end and he helped us rebound the ball, especially in that first half."
And it is those kind of contributions — along with similar steadiness from junior forward Lucas Siewert and sophomore swing man D'Shawn Schwartz — the Buffs will need over the second half of the season. Along with Bey and Wright, those are Buffs who have the most experience, and they will have to make that experience produce results down the season stretch.
"Basketball is still a game of runs, it's a game of momentum," Boyle said. "That's not going to change. But our lapses mentally have got to be eliminated."
THE SERIES: The Bruins are the only team the Buffs swept in conference play last year, as Colorado took a 68-59 win at Pauley Pavilion in mid-January — CU's first-ever win on UCLA's home floor — before following it up with an 80-76 win in Boulder in late February.
It was the opposite, however, with USC. Colorado dropped a 70-58 decision to the Trojans at the Galen Center early in the season, then lost a 75-64 game to USC in Boulder.
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
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