Tad Boyle has been through the repetitive cycle of the basketball season enough times to know it’s best to soak in the few, fleeting slow moments whenever possible.
Boyle did just that this past week as he, along with the entire Colorado men’s basketball team, enjoyed a few days to rest and recover over the holiday.
Yet on Christmas night, with the Buffaloes ready to reconvene in Boulder, Boyle retired to his home office to review the video of CU’s pre-break defeat against Stanford. Needless to say, Boyle’s holiday cheer was abruptly buried by lumps of coal.
“I wanted our players to enjoy their friends and family,” Boyle said. “And I wanted to be a good husband, a good father, a good son. Then on Christmas day about 3:30 I went to my office and watched the rest of the film and got pissed off all over again. Came to practice that night and felt like the Grinch.”
The Buffaloes were forced to chew on their worst performance of the season during the down time after suffering a 77-68 loss against Stanford in Phoenix. CU looks to get right in the nonconference finale on Sunday, as the Buffs host Northern Colorado in the final test before the start of Big 12 Conference play.
“Especially knowing that we beat ourselves and they didn’t beat us, that’s the worst part,” CU forward Sebastian Rancik said. “Eventually you have to put the game behind you and focus on getting better every day. We’ll see if it was an eye-opener for this group (Sunday). We all came back in pretty good shape and coach has put us through some pretty tough practices. I think we’ve improved on what we needed to improve on.”
Boyle said CU intentionally scheduled a final nonconference game after the holiday hiatus in order to ramp up the competitive juices ahead of league play. It’s the opposite of last year, when the Buffs returned from their brief holiday break to face nationally-ranked Iowa State in the conference opener.
Northern Colorado visits the CU Events Center for the fourth consecutive season with a team that profiles similarly to the team that handed the Buffs their other defeat, Colorado State. Like CSU, Northern Colorado shoots a lot of 3-pointers, averaging 28.8 attempts per game, and the Bears generally shoot them well, bringing a .371 3-point percentage to Boulder.
Four of the Bears’ regular starters are shooting at least 35% from the arc, including Quinn Denker (.367), Zach Bloch (.519), Ibu Yamazaki (.361) and Brock Wisne (.423). CU might face a similar situation with Denker, UNC’s leading scorer, as the Buffs did with Stanford and its leading scorer, freshman Ebuka Okorie. Okorie had missed two consecutive games due to an injury before dropping 32 points against the Buffs. Denker has also missed the past two games due to a hand injury.
Boyle had high praise for Wisne, a native of Thornton who starred at Horizon High School as well as Colorado Prep, the same program that developed CU freshman Josiah Sanders. Wisne has shot .650 (26-for-40) while averaging 28 points in the past two games.
“They bring in a lot of things that CSU brought, which is the ability to shoot the three from a lot of different spots on the floor, a lot of different positions, a lot of different guys on their team,” Boyle said. “Brock Wisne, just watching them on film, he’s one of the most improved players in America, in my opinion. He is a good, good post player. He can score on the block, he can pass the ball, he can shoot threes. He’s turned into a hell of a basketball player.”
Northern Colorado Bears at CU Buffs men’s basketball
TIPOFF: Sunday, 1 p.m., CU Events Center.
TV/RADIO: ESPN+/KOA 850 AM and 94.1 FM (93.5 FM in Greeley).
RECORDS: Northern Colorado 9-3; Colorado 10-2.
COACHES: Northern Colorado — Steve Smiley, 6th season. (98-74 at UNC and overall). Colorado — Tad Boyle, 16th season (322-206, 378-272 overall).
KEY PLAYERS: Northern Colorado — G Quinn Denker, 6-3, Gr. (17. 3 ppg, 6.1 apg, 3.4 rpg, .527 FG%); F Brock Wisne, 6-9, Sr. (16.8 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 2.9 apg, .619 FG%); G Zach Bloch, 6-2, Gr. (13.2 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 2.8 apg, .519 3%); F Ibu Yamazaki, 6-7, Jr. (9.0 ppg, 3.5 rpg, .361 3%); C Egan Shields, 6-10, Jr. (7.9 ppg, 5.9 rpg, .682 FG%); F Ring Nyeri, 6-8, So. (6.8 ppg, 6.0 rpg, .500 FG%). Colorado — G Isaiah Johnson, 6-1, Fr. (14.8 ppg, 2.6 rpg, 2.3 apg, .551 FG%, .444 3%); F Sebastian Rancik, 6-11, So. (13.2 pg, 5.5 rpg, 2.3 apg, .378 3%); G Barrington Hargress, 6-1, R-Jr. (13.0 ppg, 4.9 apg, .583 FG%, .625 3%); F Bangot Dak, 7-0, Jr. (11.1 ppg, 6.9 rpg, 2.2 apg, .495 FG%); F Alon Michaeli, 6-9, Fr. (10.4 ppg, 4.8 rpg, .500 FG%); G Felix Kossaras, 6-6, So. (7.2 ppg, .566 FG%); C Elijah Malone, 6-10, Gr. (6.8 ppg, 4.3 rpg, .582 FG%).
NOTES: CU leads the all-time series 25-18, with an 18-8 advantage in Boulder. The Buffs have won the past 13 matchups, including a double-overtime win in Boulder last year. … The programs played only once between the 1937-38 season and the 2003-04 season, and the Bears’ last win in the series happened on Feb. 18, 1936. … UNC is coming off consecutive defeats, which included a competitive 101-90 loss at the-No. 19 Texas Tech on Dec. 16. … Malone scored a CU career-high 27 points in the Buffs’ home win against UNC last year. Limited lately by a shoulder injury, Malone has averaged just 4.3 points over the past six games. … Boyle posted a 56-66 record in four seasons as UNC’s head coach, going from 4-24 in 2006-07 to 25-8 in 2009-10 before taking the job at CU. … CU begins Big 12 Conference play on Saturday at Arizona State (3 p.m. MT, ESPN2). The Buffs host the following two Big 12 games against Utah (Jan. 7) and No. 15 Texas Tech (Jan. 10).
