It was only the first impression. Yet one aspect of it surely drew some ire from head coach Tad Boyle in the film room.
The defense for the Colorado men’s basketball team was a long way from midseason form during a season-opening win against Montana State. Not only did the Bobcats shoot at least 50% in both halves — .540 in the first, .500 in the second and .518 overall — but the new-look Buffs took too many fouls as well.
CU committed 18 fouls but was able to offset some of those miscues by drawing 27 fouls from the Bobcats. That allowed the Buffs to finish with 39 free throw attempts against just 17 for the Bobcats.
Still, that total exceeded the average (16.5) of last year’s CU team that finished last in the Big 12, and it led to a little foul trouble in the front court while CU played without freshman forward Alon Michaeli, who was sidelined by an ankle injury. Freshman wing Jalin Holland committed four fouls in just 15-plus minutes, and second-year guard Felix Kossaras also finished with four fouls.
While Michaeli could make his debut when the Buffs host Eastern Washington on Saturday (2 p.m., ESPN+), Boyle has made playing more disciplined defense one of the priorities of the week.
“We’ve got to play with discipline,” Boyle said. “We’re undisciplined defenders right now. We’re leaving our feet. We’re reaching at the end of drives. We’re just not disciplined. You’ve got to be a disciplined defender to play aggressively, play with energy, but play without fouling.
“Our guys on offense were (complaining) about fouls and at practice. But we’re fouling too much. We’ve got to be better. I told you two weeks ago, four out of 10. Still a four out of 10. A team shoots 52% in your own building, yeah.”
Alumni corner
A few recent former Buffs made their debuts with their new teams earlier this week.
Former four-year Buffs guard Javon Ruffin played 19 minutes off the bench in his debut at Bowling Green and enjoyed a solid shooting performance, going 4-for-6 overall, 2-for-4 on 3-pointers and 3-for-3 at the free-throw line before finishing with 13 points and three steals. Assane Diop drew a starting assignment in his first game for San Diego. In a busy 14 minutes, Diop went 3-for-5 with six points, eight rebounds, four assists and three turnovers.
Former CU guard RJ Smith came off the bench in his first game at DePaul, going 1-for-3 with two points in 14 minutes in a win against Chicago State. And Harrison Carrington, who received a scholarship last year at CU after joining the program as a walk-on, played 19 minutes off the bench in his debut at UC Irvine, going 6-for-7 with 15 points and seven rebounds in a rout of Bethesda.
Notable
The matchup at CU will be the third of four consecutive road games to start the season for Eastern Washington. The Eagles opened the season with a six-point loss at No. 12 UCLA before suffering an eight-point loss Wednesday. … One of CU’s Big 12 rivals already suffered a significant injury setback, as TCU lost starting 6-foot-9 forward Malick Diallo to a torn ACL during a narrow season-opening win against New Orleans. … The Buffs had lost seven consecutive games when shooting less than 70% at the free-throw line before defeating Montana State with a .692 mark (27-for-39).