Boyle's Buffs Set For LA Road Swing
January 10, 2023 | Men's Basketball, Neill Woelk
LOS ANGELES — After taking care of business last week on a crucial two-game homestand, Colorado heads west this week for a two-game road trip that could give the Buffaloes a big boost in several critical areas.
Tad Boyle's Buffs open the trip Thursday with a 7 p.m. (MT) game at Southern California (Pac-12 Networks) followed by a 6 p.m. game Saturday at seventh-ranked UCLA (Fox).
While the Buffs (11-6 overall, 3-3 Pac-12) aren't even at the halfway point of the conference season, this is one of those road trips that offers all kinds of opportunity.
One win would adhere to Boyle's minimum standards for conference success — earn at least a split on the road and protect your home court.
But two victories would be huge in terms of the Buffs NET rating, their NCAA Tournament resumé and their place in the conference standings.
The Buffs are currently sitting in the low 60s in the NET, one of the key measuring sticks of the NCAA Tournament selection committee. They are also currently sitting in seventh place in the Pac-12 standings, well out of the top four spots that give a team a first-round conference tournament bye.
But two wins would improve those numbers significantly — especially one at UCLA's Pauley Pavilion against the league-leading Bruins (14-2, 5-0).
The Bruins, though, aren't the Buffs' major concern at the moment. Rather, all their attention is focused on the front end of the West Coast trip, Thursday's meeting with the Trojans (11-5, 3-2). Andy Enfield's team has had an up-and-down season thus far, but they are coming off a narrow 60-58 loss last week to UCLA, and they do own victories over Washington and Cal, two teams that have beaten Colorado this year.
Aside from the shocking loss at Cal, the Buffs have been playing some of their best basketball of the season over the last month. They have won two in a row, including last weekend's sweep of Oregon and Oregon State, and seven of their last eight.
But now the schedule gets tougher.
"We're coming off a pretty good stretch of games minus the Cal debacle and so now it's time to put up or shut up," Boyle said. "Can we beat the upper half of the league? We have 14 league games left and nine of them are against opponents that are above us in the standings. These are two of them. Every game is important when you get into league play, but if we could find a way to win on Thursday, it really helps our chances as we go down the stretch."
The Buffs have been getting solid production in a variety of areas from several different players in their recent hot stretch. Forward Tristan da Silva earned Pac-12 Player of the Week honors this week after averaging 23.5 points, 6.0 rebounds, 2.5 steals and 2.0 assists in the sweep of the Oregon schools. Guard KJ Simpson is the Pac-12's second-leading scorer (17.9 points per game) while fellow guard Julian Hammond III had 16 points in the win over Oregon.
Meanwhile, Luke O'Brien came off the bench to grab 20 rebounds in the two games while J'Vonne Hadley continues to be one of the Buffs' most consistent players. The junior forward who spends much of his time in the paint is ninth in the league in shooting percentage (.552) and fourth in the league in offensive rebounding (nearly three per game).
QUICK LOOK USC (11-5, 3-2): The Trojans own wins over Brigham Young and Colorado State, but also lost to Tennessee (who CU beat) and Washington State.
Still, they are a talented bunch that is capable of playing at a high level. Guards Boogie Ellis and Drew Peterson combined are averaging nearly 30 points per game while big man Joshua Morgan leads the league in blocked shots, averaging nearly three per game.
But perhaps most importantly, the Trojans are 7-1 at home this year, with their only Galen Center loss coming at the hands of Florida Gulf Coast in the season opener.
"We've got to make good decisions," Boyle said. "They kind of funnel everything to Morgan because they want the ball coming at him and then he contests shots, blocks shots, changes shots and discourages shots."
QUICK LOOK UCLA (14-2, 5-0): The Bruins are perhaps the Pac-12's best chance at a Final Four team. They are 9-0 at Pauley Pavilion this year and have won 11 in a row.
Their two big guns are wing Jaime Jaquez (17 points per game) and point guard Tyger Campbell (13.3 points, 4.6 assists per game). Guard Jaylen Clark is scoring at a 14-point clip and guard David Singleton is averaging more than 10 per game.
But the Bruins truly hang their hat on defense, giving up a paltry 61 points per game, best in the Pac-12. They are outscoring their opponents by 17 points per game and they lead the league in 3-point field goal percentage.
