The Colorado Buffaloes men’s basketball team plays its first home game of the 2015-16 season on Friday, fresh off one of the most challenging two-game starts in recent memory.
The Buffaloes return to Coors Event Center after beginning the season with two games away from the Coors Events Center for the first time since 2003-04. In those two games, Colorado went 1-1, falling in the opener to AP No. 7 and back-to-back Big 12 champ Iowa State, then rallying for a 91-84 win at Auburn after trailing by as much as 15.
The start, says Jimmy Wood, a CU contributor for Rivals, has raised expectations for a Buffs team that finished a disappointing 16-18 on the year and ninth in the Pac-12.
Wood joined The Press Box Insider on Mile High Sports AM 1340 in advance of the Buffs’ home opener against Portland said the resilience CU showed against Auburn is a good indicator that this year’s team is improved from the one that handed head coach Tad Boyle his first losing season in Boulder last year.
After falling behind by 15 in the first half, Woods thought “this is where this team folds, they did it all last year, and all the sudden they had the fortitude. They kept fighting, they got it down to four points at the half, and then all of a sudden the second half came around and they pushed the lead out themselves to 15. You saw a team that took a shot, then hit back twice as hard on the road in a crazy environment for the tipoff marathon.”
What was the real key to the turnaround and the positivity looking ahead? As the CU sports information department pointed out, Wood says sophomore guard George King now as many points through two games as he had in all of 2013-14 before taking a redshirt year in 2014-15. In the game against Auburn, King scored 27 and hit on four of six attempts from three-point range.
Entering the season, Wood expected sophomore guard Dom Collier to step up and replace departed guard Askia Booker and have the Buffs in the running for an NIT-worthy finish. But with the early emergence of King, not to mention the senior leadership of Josh Scott, Wood now echoes the sentiments of Boyle, who thinks “this team could be dangerous.”
Two games isn’t any guarantee for long-term success, but the Buffs’ strong performance against two quality opponents away from Coors Event Center has the CU faithful feeling optimistic. Could a run to the NCAA Tournament be in play for the Buffs? It might not be outside the realm of possibility.
Listen to the full conversation, including a breakdown of the upcoming home schedule, in the podcast below…
Catch The Press Box Insider every weeknight from 8p-10p on Mile High Sports AM 1340 or stream live any time for the best local coverage of what’s new and what’s next in Colorado sports.
