Defense and rebounding have been synonymous with the Tad Boyle era at Colorado.
Yet they certainly haven’t been traits that describe his 16th Buffaloes team.
CU’s latest setback — its fifth defeat in a row — followed a familiar blueprint that is turning a once-promising outlook into a path more closely traveled by the Buffs team that finished last in the Big 12 last season.
The Buffs have plenty of offense. More than enough to compete with anyone in one of the toughest men’s basketball conferences in the nation. But the Buffs can’t stop anyone. Their defense struggled to slow the Big Sky teams that filled the nonconference schedule. And against Big 12 competition, opposing attacks are putting up numbers rarely seen during Boyle’s 16 seasons in Boulder.
The Buffs will be hard-pressed to end their defensive struggles, and their losing streak, when they resume Big 12 play Thursday at No. 9 Iowa State (5 p.m. MT, Fox Sports 1).
“For a coach that prides himself on being able to coach defense, and have had teams here — I’m not saying every team. My first team I coached (in 2010-11), we were awful defensively,” Boyle said following Saturday’s home loss against Central Florida. “We could win this (UCF) game 100-96 or 95 because we were really gifted scoring. This team is, too, not to the extent that team was.
“But we’ve had, generally speaking, teams that will compete on that (defensive) end of the floor. That’s why we’ve had success. Not every team. We had two teams with losing records that weren’t very good defensively. Yeah, it’s frustrating. It’s really frustrating. Sometimes I feel it means more to me than it means to them on that end of the floor. Offensively, these guys, I have no issues with. I really don’t. But we can’t stop anybody.”
There have been several ugly defensive performances this season, but the effort against UCF might have established a new low for the Buffs.
In 19 halves of basketball prior to Saturday’s loss, opponents had posted a field goal percentage of .600 just twice, with Northern Colorado doing it in the second half of a Dec. 28 CU loss and Eastern Washington doing it in the second half of the second game of the year in Boulder. UCF topped that mark on both halves, becoming the first opposing team in 12 years to finish with a shooting percentage of at least .600 at the Events Center.
Boyle said he felt as if the Buffs had shown signs of making defensive strides during the recent two-game trip at Cincinnati and West Virginia. But UCF became the seventh team in 20 games to shoot at least 50% against the Buffs.
“(UCF) was a step backwards, for sure,” Boyle said. “But I thought against even West Virginia, and even Kansas, that stretches, I felt like we were making some improvement. But (Saturday) it was like, not so much. It’s just that grit that’s pound-the-table, get in the huddle like, ‘Guys, we’ve got to fix this.’ I feel it coming from our coaching staff. But I don’t feel it coming from our players.
“We’ve got some coaches on our staff that have been around, that are really good. But we’re just not good enough on that end of the floor yet. We’ve got to make that jump. And until we do, these losses will keep mounting up.”
CU owns a defensive field goal percentage of .458, with a defensive 3-point percentage of .371. Both marks are on pace to be the worst of Boyle’s tenure, with his first CU team of 2010-11 still owning the previous low in overall defensive field goal percentage at .448. While plenty of basketball remains, a Buffs team that hasn’t shown signs of making strides defensively still has to face several of the top offenses in the Big 12. Including Thursday’s date at Iowa State, the Buffs still have games remaining against the top six scoring offenses in the league.
“We’re trying to figure out consistency,” CU guard Barrington Hargress said. “It’s a big thing in this league. Defense is the thing that’s going to win you games. We’re trying to find it consistently for 40 minutes and playing that type of basketball for 40 minutes. We do it in spurts. Just because we’re considered a young team, that doesn’t mean we can’t learn how to play good basketball for 40 minutes. That’s what we’ve got to get to.”
