Colorado
Utah
Buffs Gear Up For Pac-12 Tournament
March 13, 2024 | Men's Basketball, Neill Woelk
BOULDER — After two critical road wins last weekend, the Colorado men's basketball team finds itself on the right side of the NCAA Tournament bubble, with the majority of bracket predictions having the Buffaloes as at least one of the "last four" teams in.
Now Tad Boyle's Buffs, owners of a six-game winning streak, have to make sure that bubble doesn't pop this week at the Pac-12 tournament in Las Vegas.
The Buffs, the No. 3 seed, open play Thursday with a 9:30 p.m. (MT) game at T-Mobile Arena against the winner of Wednesday's Arizona State-Utah matchup.
One more win would be a huge boost to Colorado's tourney resumé. A loss, however, would put the Buffs in a precarious position and leave them playing the waiting game until Sunday's bracket announcement.
There is, of course, one way Colorado can guarantee an NCAA berth — win the conference tournament. Boyle's Buffs won the first-ever Pac-12 tourney in 2012 to earn a bid and there would be some synchronicity involved if the Buffs could bookend that title with a championship in the last Pac-12 tournament.
But the Buffs haven't spent the week looking forward to Saturday's championship game — or even the Friday semifinals.
All that's on their mind is Thursday night's game.
"Win or go home," Boyle said after last weekend's win over Oregon State. "You're in the Pac 12 tournament, you lose, you're done. You get to postseason play, you lose, you're done."
The Buffs are also expecting to be closer to full strength for Thursday's game. Boyle said standout freshman Cody Williams, who has missed the last four games with an ankle injury, has practiced two days in a row and could be available Thursday.
"He's an extremely talented guy who's come in and been a great teammate," Boyle said. "He can affect the game in a lot of different ways. He can pass the ball, he can obviously shoot the ball, he can score the ball in transition. He's a good defender. He's got great length … It's been an up and down year for him, no doubt. But it's good to have him back out. We'll keep our fingers crossed he'll be in uniform on Thursday."
Boyle also said reserve guard Julian Hammond III, who has missed the last five games with a knee injury, is still a question mark.
No doubt the Buffs will be watching Wednesday night's game closely. CU split with both of their possible opponents this year, getting victories at home and losing on the road.
"Our players have done a great job this year of digesting scouting reports quickly," Boyle said. "We'll have 24 hours to prepare and they'll have a short prep for us because they will have just played. But this late in the season, league play, you've played each other twice. They know us, we know them. There won't be a lot of surprises."
Despite being short handed for the last few weeks, the Buffs are still playing their best basketball of the season.
Guard KJ Simpson, named first team All-Pac-12 this week, has been an ironman in the stretch. Simpson has played at least 35 minutes in every game of the win streak, including back-to-back 40-minute stretches and a 48-minute stint in CU's double-overtime victory at USC. Senior forward Tristan da Silva has shot 55 percent from the floor (33-for-60) over the last four games while averaging more than 20 points per gamer. Big guard J'Vonne Hadley — last week's Pac-12 Player of the Week — has been a do-everything guy, averaging 16 points and eight rebounds per game over the win streak, and big man Eddie Lampkin Jr. has scored in double figures four of his last five games, including a 17-point, 11-rebound double-double against Oregon State.
Now Boyle wants his team to step up its defense one more notch.
"We've gotten better defensively," Boyle said. "We're still not where we can be, where we need to be, but we've gotten better, we've shown improvement in that area. And, our turnovers have come down significantly."
Offensively, CU has been outstanding, scoring more than 80 points in four of the last six games.
"This team has been a really good offensive team all year long," Boyle said. "Very efficient, very unselfish. We put a lot of points on the board. But we have to prepare ourselves for maybe a game that is going to come in March at some point where you're not scoring. You have to rely on your defense, have to rely on your grit and your toughness. I hope that game doesn't come but we have to be ready for that."
While the reward for a top-four finish in the league standings is a first-round tournament bye, the downside is that the Buffs' opponent will have a game under their belts and the chance to become accustomed to the T-Mobile Arena court and baskets.
"I've always felt like playing the first round game is an advantage for you on Thursday," Boyle conceded. "But you get into Friday and Saturday and it becomes a disadvantage. I just talked to the team. I said, 'Look, whoever we play on Thursday night is going to have a game under their belt. They're gonna be feeling good about themselves because they just won the night before and we have to keep our edge mentally and emotionally and understand it's not going to be easy whoever we play.' We have to be locked in and ready. When our team is locked in and ready, I like our chances."
Williams' likely return will no doubt be a boost for the Buffs, especially if they can extend their stay in Las Vegas and play two or three nights in a row.
"It's nice to have everybody in uniform," Boyle said. "I don't know if we'll have Julian or not. …But when we get everybody healthy and going in the same direction we're an NCAA tournament team that can win some games in the tournament. But we've got to get there."
