Tad Boyle admits it’s harder to attain in February when there are not any extra surprises amongst convention foes.
That’s not probably the most encouraging signal for a Colorado males’s basketball workforce that already has struggled to attain in Pac-12 Convention play.
The Buffaloes had been capable of stem the downward spiral of 5 losses in six video games by rallying previous California within the second half of a 59-46 house win on Thursday night time. CU will be taught quickly sufficient if it was a short lived treatment or the beginning of a remedy for the stretch run when Stanford visits on Sunday (5 p.m., FS1).
On a number of events in the course of the current slide, notably in street losses towards USC, UCLA and Oregon State, the Buffs for probably the most half performed sturdy sufficient protection to win, solely to look at their struggling offense fall quick.
In every of CU’s previous 4 wins, all at house, the Buffs have held their opponent to 55 factors or much less. In three of these wins — Oregon, Oregon State and Cal — the foe did not high 46. It’s the kind of protection Boyle usually has strived for throughout his 13 seasons at CU, however the lack of scoring punch past the Buffs’ high weapons is making Colorado’s probabilities for fulfillment completely depending on the protection.
“I feel (Cal) scored 80 the primary sport or one thing like that, and the primary half (on Thursday) we solely shot 25% and we had been solely down by three,” CU ahead Luke O’Brien mentioned. “Which is a big credit score to our protection. Coach talked about that, and we had been going to get our photographs within the second half and so they had been going to fall. We simply stored battling on protection and that’s the rationale we had been capable of pull it out.”
The Buffs’ defensive surge has pushed them into second in convention video games in scoring protection (62.5), fourth in defensive 3-point share (.309) and fifth in complete defensive area purpose share (.421). 4 of CU’s remaining seven common season video games are towards groups ranked within the high 5 in league video games in scoring, together with Stanford (68.6 in convention video games, which ranks fifth).
Whereas aggressive defensively, the Buffs’ struggles offensively may deepen if ahead J’Vonne Hadley misses prolonged time. Hadley, CU’s high rebounder and third-leading scorer, was injured early towards Cal and didn’t return. Late Friday afternoon Hadley indicated the harm to his proper hand could possibly be season-ending, posting through social media “God Acquired Me. Until Subsequent Yr 13. About to be one of the best chapter but.”
The Buffs have struggled to attain past their high two scorers, Tristan da Silva and KJ Simpson.
Javon Ruffin returned from a four-game harm absence towards Cal, but it surely may take time for him to regain the shape that produced two of his 4 double-digit scoring video games simply earlier than getting sidelined. O’Brien contributed 9 invaluable factors off the bench towards Cal, however he scored simply 5 factors complete within the earlier three video games. Julian Hammond III scored a career-high 18 factors towards Washington on Jan. 19, however in his different six most up-to-date video games he has scored a mixed 16 factors. Nique Clifford was held scoreless towards Cal for his third shutout up to now seven video games. But in maybe a microcosm for the Buffs generally this season, Clifford additionally produced among the best video games of his profession in that span, with a career-high 17 factors, three rebounds, three steals and just one turnover in 28 minutes at Oregon.
Hadley entered the Cal sport averaging 8.3 factors and 6.1 rebounds. The junior faculty switch bought off to a quick begin, scoring in double figures in 5 of his first 9 video games regardless of lacking two video games attributable to a shoulder harm, however he hit double figures simply twice in 12 video games going into Thursday’s win towards Cal.
“We’ve simply bought to play smarter,” Boyle mentioned. “In February in league play, everyone is aware of what you’re doing. We all know what Cal’s doing. We’re going to know what Stanford’s doing on Sunday. Stanford’s going to know what we’re doing. You’re scouted. Your gamers are scouted. It will get increasingly troublesome to attain in February in league play as a result of there’s a lot information on the market.”