BOULDER – The University of Colorado men’s basketball team will battle 2023 NCAA Final Four participant Miami (Fla.) on Sunday, Dec. 10, at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., as part of the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Brooklyn Showcase.
This will be only the second-ever game between the Buffaloes and Hurricanes on the hardwood. Colorado won the previous contest, 73-66, on Jan. 3, 1957, in Miami. The Buffaloes are 5-12 against current Atlantic Coast Conference teams, with the last meeting coming against Florida State in the second round of the 2021 NCAA Tournament.
The Colorado-Miami contest will be the second of four NABC Showcase games that day at the Barclays Center, and is scheduled to tip off at 12 p.m. MT. Fordham and North Texas tip off the quadruple-header, St. John’s faces Boston College after the Buffs play, and Temple will play Albany to round out the day.
Colorado, with an 18-17 record a year ago, returns 73 percent of its scoring, headlined by All-Pac-12 Conference performers in senior Tristan da Silva and KJ Simpson – and they’ve added a Top-15 national recruiting class that includes McDonald’s All-American Cody Williams.
Miami finished 29-8 in 2022-23 with a No. 3 national ranking in the USA Today Sports Coaches Poll following its run to the national semifinals. Guard Nijel Pack averaged 13.6 points per game, and was the Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA Tournament’s Midwest Region. Forward Norchad Omier averaged 13.1 points and 10.0 rebounds, earning third team All-ACC honors.
Both teams have been in the conversation in various “Way too Early” Top 25 polls for 2023-24.
Colorado returns to the Barclays Center for the first time since November 2016, placing third in the Legends Classic. The Buffaloes dropped an 89-83 decision to Notre Dame in the semifinals before rebounding with a 68-54 decision over Texas.
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Content courtesy of the University of Colorado at Boulder and the PAC-12 Conference.
