The Colorado Buffaloes are nearing the finish line in the classroom. In basketball terms, though, it’s only the start of mid-terms.
After suffering the first loss of the season at Colorado State, the CU men’s basketball team has been working to get back on track while tackling the end-of-semester exams this week. Once the final test is taken, the Buffs will be able to focus exclusively on basketball while barreling through the final nonconference games of the season, a run that begins Saturday against UTSA (2 p.m., ESPN+).
“We’ve got a long way to go. It’s the early, early part of the season,” CU head coach Tad Boyle said. “A lot of practices. A lot of learning. And we’ve got to get better. That’s what this week is for. The week of finals, it’s tough on the guys, they’re a little stressed. They’ve got a lot on their minds. I get that. But the two hours of their day that they’re on this floor, we’ve got to get better. And I think we did (Tuesday).”
Earlier this season, Boyle described his team’s defense as “too selfish” because the Buffs often weren’t coming off their defensive assignment aggressively enough to offer help defense. Following Tuesday’s practice, Boyle said the defensive foibles that led to 18 3-pointers by Colorado State during Saturday’s loss wasn’t about over-helping while allowing outside shooters to roam free, but instead could be attributed to a number of factors.
“There were three 3s that we gave up — one in the first half, two in the second half — where we had a little indecisiveness. And that’s on me,” Boyle said. “Now, they made 18 3s. So three of those 18 were on the coach because our guys were a little bit unsure of what to do. I’ve got to point the finger at myself just as much as I do any players that might’ve made mistakes. I certainly made that mistake. We’re correcting that this week at practice. We’re working on it, we’ll continue to work on it.
“It’s the other ones. It’s the transition defense, and not understanding the scouting report, and just not executing based on what your job is. We had a lot of guys not do their job on Saturday, and the coach is one of them.”
Finding Malone
Boyle said the Buffs need to get more touches for starting center Elijah Malone.
Malone’s usage and effectiveness often is dictated by matchups, and he has played just a combined 22 minutes in the past two games. That includes just 10 minutes at CSU, but Boyle said the Buffs also aren’t finding Malone enough when there are opportunities to feed the 6-foot-10 post player.
“We gotta get him the ball more on the block when he’s in the game,” Boyle said. “Because he’s a weapon down there. We start the first possession of the second half (at CSU), get him the ball in the paint, backs his guy down, lays it in. Next time down, he’s got the guy on his back, he’s wide open, we don’t get him the ball. That’s gotta change.”
Notable
Saturday’s matchup will be CU’s fifth against UTSA, and the first since Dec. 22, 1995. The Buffs won all four previous games … CU was at No. 45 in Tuesday’s NET rankings.