It was solely the primary impression. But one facet of it absolutely drew some ire from head coach Tad Boyle within the movie room.
The protection for the Colorado males’s basketball workforce was a great distance from midseason kind throughout a season-opening win towards Montana State. Not solely did the Bobcats shoot at the least 50% in each halves — .540 within the first, .500 within the second and .518 total — however the new-look Buffs took too many fouls as properly.
CU dedicated 18 fouls however was in a position to offset a few of these miscues by drawing 27 fouls from the Bobcats. That allowed the Buffs to complete with 39 free throw makes an attempt towards simply 17 for the Bobcats.
Nonetheless, that whole exceeded the typical (16.5) of final 12 months’s CU workforce that completed final within the Large 12, and it led to a bit of foul bother within the entrance courtroom whereas CU performed with out freshman ahead Alon Michaeli, who was sidelined by an ankle harm. Freshman wing Jalin Holland dedicated 4 fouls in simply 15-plus minutes, and second-year guard Felix Kossaras additionally completed with 4 fouls.
Whereas Michaeli may make his debut when the Buffs host Jap Washington on Saturday (2 p.m., ESPN+), Boyle has made enjoying extra disciplined protection one of many priorities of the week.
“We’ve received to play with self-discipline,” Boyle mentioned. “We’re undisciplined defenders proper now. We’re leaving our toes. We’re reaching on the finish of drives. We’re simply not disciplined. You’ve received to be a disciplined defender to play aggressively, play with power, however play with out fouling.
“Our guys on offense have been (complaining) about fouls and at follow. However we’re fouling an excessive amount of. We’ve received to be higher. I instructed you two weeks in the past, 4 out of 10. Nonetheless a 4 out of 10. A workforce shoots 52% in your individual constructing, yeah.”
Alumni nook
A number of current former Buffs made their debuts with their new groups earlier this week.
Former four-year Buffs guard Javon Ruffin performed 19 minutes off the bench in his debut at Bowling Inexperienced and loved a stable capturing efficiency, going 4-for-6 total, 2-for-4 on 3-pointers and 3-for-3 on the free-throw line earlier than ending with 13 factors and three steals. Assane Diop drew a beginning project in his first recreation for San Diego. In a busy 14 minutes, Diop went 3-for-5 with six factors, eight rebounds, 4 assists and three turnovers.
Former CU guard RJ Smith got here off the bench in his first recreation at DePaul, going 1-for-3 with two factors in 14 minutes in a win towards Chicago State. And Harrison Carrington, who acquired a scholarship final 12 months at CU after becoming a member of this system as a walk-on, performed 19 minutes off the bench in his debut at UC Irvine, going 6-for-7 with 15 factors and 7 rebounds in a rout of Bethesda.
Notable
The matchup at CU would be the third of 4 consecutive highway video games to start out the season for Jap Washington. The Eagles opened the season with a six-point loss at No. 12 UCLA earlier than struggling an eight-point loss Wednesday. … One in every of CU’s Large 12 rivals already suffered a big harm setback, as TCU misplaced beginning 6-foot-9 ahead Malick Diallo to a torn ACL throughout a slim season-opening win towards New Orleans. … The Buffs had misplaced seven consecutive video games when capturing lower than 70% on the free-throw line earlier than defeating Montana State with a .692 mark (27-for-39).
