Colorado University Athletics
Buffs Open Road Trip With Thursday Test At ASU
January 15, 2020 | Men's Basketball, Neill Woelk
TEMPE, Ariz. — Winning on the road in college basketball is never easy. Conference play only adds to the difficulty.
But teams that compete for conference titles are able to solve that equation, and the Colorado Buffaloes want to be one of those teams when Pac-12 play hits the stretch run.
This weekend should give the Buffs — and their fans — an idea of whether they will be able to put themselves in that group, as CU heads to the desert for a pair of Pac-12 tilts. The 20th-ranked Buffs (13-3 overall, 2-1 Pac-12) play their first league road game of the season Thursday at at Arizona State (7 p.m., ESPN2), then head to Tucson on Saturday for a 12:30 p.m. matchup with Arizona (Fox).
"You just have to be tougher mentally and more together," CU head coach Tad Boyle said of what is required to win away from home. "Not that we aren't together — we're a together team. I don't worry about that. But I think it's just a mental toughness in terms of being able to handle the crowd, the other team's runs."
Indeed, it is that momentum generated by runs — and fueled by a home crowd — that can sink the visiting team's chances in a hurry. The Buffs showed that last week when they slapped a 14-0 run on Utah early in the game and worked the CU Events Center crowd into a frenzy.
The Utes never recovered.
"If you get a run for two or three buckets in a row and the crowd gets into it, you have to be able to silence them and have a great offensive possession," Boyle said. "Not let those runs extend for very long — and that takes toughness. It takes maturity, it takes togetherness. You have to have that on the road."
The generally accepted formula for being near the top of the conference standings at season's end is to win all your home games and manage something close to a split on the road.
The Buffs have already taken a hit in that regard, as they dropped a home game to Oregon State two weeks ago. That means they need to make up for that loss with an "extra" road win.
"This is a good opportunity for us," junior point guard McKinley Wright IV said. "We haven't won there in a long time. It's a perfect opportunity for us to make up for our home loss against Oregon State. This will be a big one for us."
Since joining the Pac-12 for the 2011-12 season, Colorado has come close to a road split just once — a 4-5 road mark in the 2012-13 season that was part of a 10-8 conference record. In their seven other Pac-12 seasons, CU has won three road conference games just twice (including last season, another 10-8 league finish).
Overall, CU's best conference mark in the Boyle era was the first season in the Pac-12, when Colorado went 8-1 at home and 3-6 on the road for an 11-7 finish.
"You can't make as many mistakes on the road as you can at home," Wright said. "Fans at home do a good job of cheering and getting you back in the game and helping you get some energy on the court. On the road it's different. You have to make sure you're locked in and limit all the mistakes."
The Buffs have already faced the Sun Devils once this season, an 81-71 Colorado win in the season opener in China. But ASU did not have two of its regular starters — Romello White and Taeshon Cherry — in that game, as well as key reserve Mikey Mitchell. White is second in the league in rebounding (9.6 rpg) behind CU's Tyler Bey, and is also averaging more than 10 points per game.
"They're completely different," Boyle said. "Adding those three guys in the mix makes a big difference. I'm sure that's what they're feeling — they lost by 10 in Shanghai without those three guys and those three guys are worth 10 points, so …"
History certainly isn't on the Buffs' side on this trip. Since joining the Pac-12, Colorado is 1-6 in Tempe — with the only win coming in the first year in the league — and 0-7 in Tucson.
The key, Wright said, will be making sure the Sun Devils don't rev up their transition game and spark the crowd. That means containing ASU point guard Remy Martin, who is fourth in the Pac-12 in scoring (19.1 ppg) and had 23 points against the Buffs in the season opener. It was Martin who helped spark an ASU comeback in the season opener, when the Sun Devils erased a 17-point second-half deficit to come back and tie the game before the Buffs regained control down the stretch.
"We have to really rely on our defense, limit them to one shot and limit live-ball turnovers, keep them out of transition," Wright said. "They have a lot of guards who are really downhill guards that like to get out in transition and run. Remy, Alonzo (Verge) — those guys like to get out and run. We have to do a good job of taking care of the ball and making sure we're getting back in transition defense."
The Buffs would also like a repeat performance from junior forward Tyler Bey, who had a 15-point, 12-rebound double-double in the opener.
TIPOFF: The game is set for 7 p.m. at Desert Financial Arena.
THE SERIES: Colorado holds an 11-9 all-time edge in the series, with seven wins in the last 11 meetings, including this year's season opener in Shanghai. The Sun Devils, however, have won the last six in Tempe. Boyle is 9-8 as a head coach against ASU while Sun Devils head coach Bobby Hurley is 3-5 against Colorado.
BROADCAST: The game will be televised by ESPN2 with Jason Benetti and Bill Walton. The radio broadcast will be carried by 850 AM and 94.1 FM KOA, with Voice of the Buffs Mark Johnson and Scott Wilke.
UP NEXT: The Buffs wrap up their road trip with a 12:30 p.m. game Saturday at Arizona (Fox), then return home next week for a pair of games at the CU Events Center. Colorado hosts Washington State on Thursday (8 p.m.) and Washington on Saturday (7 p.m.).
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
