Buffs Expect Battle In Thursday's Matchup With Trojans
February 19, 2020 | Men's Basketball, Neill Woelk
BOULDER — Colorado coach Tad Boyle expects to see a different USC team when the No. 18/17 Buffs and Trojans square off Thursday in a 7 p.m. game at the CU Events Center (ESPN2).
Not that the names and faces will be different. The roster hasn't changed.
But Boyle does expect the Trojans to remember their last meeting — a 78-57 Colorado win on the Trojans' home court on Feb. 1 — and play accordingly.
"If I'm USC, one of those players or on their coaching staff, I want another crack at Colorado," Boyle said. "I want to make sure that that doesn't happen again. So we know we're going to get a good USC team, a hungry one, a competitive one. We just have to come out and do what we do and do it well."
The Buffs (20-6 overall, 9-4 Pac-12) enter the game tied with Oregon for the Pac-12 lead. But just a half-game behind are Arizona and Arizona State (both 8-4 in conference play), followed closely by and USC and UCLA, just a game behind at 8-5.
It means there will be plenty on the line for both teams Thursday, as well as Saturday, when UCLA pays a visit to Boulder for a 2 p.m. matchup in CU's home finale.
Colorado's win at USC earlier this month — CU's third in a row over Andy Enfield's team — was one of the Buffs' best overall efforts of the year. CU dominated the Trojans in virtually every statistical category, jumping out to a nine-point lead at the half before putting the game away with a 13-0 run early in the second half. The Buffs shot 51.9 percent from the floor, held USC to 37.9 percent shooting and produced a comfortable 33-27 edge on the boards against the Pac-12's leading rebounding team.
Perhaps most importantly, CU contained the Trojans' "big three'' — Onyeka Okongwu, Nick Rakocevic and Jonah Mathews — to just 28 points on 10-for-31 shooting. The three are averaging more than 41 points per game.
Okongwu has missed the last three games with a concussion, but the Buffs are expecting the 6-foot-9 freshman to be back in the lineup. If so, the Buffs will see a front line that Boyle calls "one of the best in the country," a group that also includes 6-11 senior Nick Rakocevic and 6-10 freshman Isaiah Mobley.
"Our big guys really played well when we played at USC," Boyle said. "Our whole team did, but our bigs really took on a challenge — and they need to do it again because the front line for USC is very, very talented."
In that early February win, the Buffs produced a balanced attack that put four players in double figures, led by a 16-point, 7-rebound effort from Tyler Bey. McKinley Wright IV, D'Shawn Schwartz and Lucas Siewert also chipped in 12 points apiece, with Wright adding eight assists and six rebounds.
"With their big guys, you have to take the approach that they can't score if they don't touch the ball," Boyle said. "If you let them get deep touches, you're going to have problems. It doesn't matter who's guarding them, we have to limit their touches deep and then have great awareness. If they do catch it in the on the block, we have to dig on the post, make them play in a crowd and feel uncomfortable."
The Trojans do have capable outside shooters, led by Mathews. The USC senior is 18th in scoring in the conference in Pac-12 games (13.31 ppg) and is 10th in 3-point percentage (.389)
USC's loss to Colorado was the beginning of a three-game losing streak, but the Trojans have bounced back to win their last two.
"They are one game back in the league standings," Boyle said. "They have a lot to play for. They're playing for an NCAA Tournament bid, just like we are. That's what makes these games in mid- to late February so intriguing from a fan standpoint."
BOYLE ON TRANSFER RULE: CU's head coach made it clear he's not a fan of an NCAA proposed rule change that would allow student-athletes to be immediately eligible if they transfer to another school. If approved, the rule could go into effect as soon as the next school year.
Under current rules, a player must sit out a year before becoming eligible. But Boyle isn't unhappy about the proposed rule in terms of how it could affect the Buffs. More often than not, the new rule will likely benefit bigger programs, including Colorado.
Boyle doesn't like the new rule because of the way it could affect smaller programs. As someone who coached at such places as Jacksonville State and Northern Colorado, Boyle has an affinity for those schools. He believes the new rule will simply make it easier for bigger schools to "poach" talent from the smaller schools — after those schools have developed that talent for a year or two.
"What makes our sport great is March Madness," Boyle said. "Three hundred fifty-three Division I teams and you never know where Cinderella is going to come from."
But, Boyle said, the new transfer rule will make it tougher on the smaller schools to reach the NCAA Tournament pinnacle.
"As the head coach of Colorado, it's good for me personally," Boyle said. "It's terrible for our sport, because I've coached those schools … We're not college football. One of the things I don't like about college football is you know when the season starts what eight to 12 teams are going to be in the Final Four every year. The beauty of college basketball is you have no idea. But you let this transfer thing happen and we're going to become more like college football, less like college basketball. I think in the long run it's bad."
Boyle even suggested the new rule should allow a "clawback," much like most coaches have in their contracts. Nowadays, if a coach leaves for another school before his contract is up, there is a buyout that must be paid to the coach's former school.
Boyle said the transfer rule should also include a clawback that would require the player's new school to pay his former school the cost of his scholarship during the time he was at the former school.
But, he admitted, such a scenario will not occur.
TIPOFF: Thursday's game is set to begin at 7 p.m. at the CU Events Center.
THE SERIES: Colorado holds an all-time 12-7 edge in the series, including a two-game sweep last year and a win in their first meeting this season. CU is 6-2 against the Trojans in Boulder, but both of USC's wins in Boulder have come in the last three seasons.
BROADCAST: The game will be televised by ESPN2 with Dave Feldman and Adrian Branch. 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:Â The Buffs play their final home game of the season Saturday, when they play host to UCLA at 2 p.m. at the Events Center. CU then closes the regular season with three straight road games, beginning with a pair next week in the Bay Area. Colorado plays at Cal on Thursday, Feb. 27, then heads to Stanford on Sunday, March 1. The Buffs then wrap up the regular season with a 12:30 p.m. game March 7 at Utah.
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
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