Colorado gains postseason confidence from battle against No. 2 Arizona

When the upset bid fell short, it left the Colorado men’s basketball team with a 7-11 league mark in the second season back in the Big 12.

Head coach Tad Boyle said recently even a seven-win conference season isn’t at all where the program expects to be. Still, given the depths of last year’s lows and the number of freshmen the Buffs have leaned upon this season, the jump from last year’s last-place 3-17 Big 12 mark is substantial.

Even with Saturday’s near-upset that turned into an 89-79 defeat against No. 2 Arizona, and also despite a few road clunkers, the Buffs have put together some of their best all-around efforts of the season in recent weeks. One of those performances occurred in a Feb. 21 home win against Oklahoma State, which the Buffs will face again on Tuesday night in the first round of the Big 12 tournament (7:30 p.m. MT, ESPN+).

“I like the effort that we played with, the toughness that we played with,” Boyle said following the loss against UA, which ended a run of four consecutive home wins for the Buffs. “(Arizona’s) the Big 12 champion for a reason. I’ve coached 15 years now against Arizona. I’m not saying it’s the most talented team they’ve ever had, but I think it’s the best team they’ve ever had.”

While the Buffs and Cowboys close the opening day of action, the tournament tips off at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri, between 12th-seeded Arizona State and No. 13 Baylor. Ninth-seeded Cincinnati then takes on last-place Utah before 10th-seeded BYU battles No. 15 Kansas State. All first-round games will air on ESPN+.

The winner between the Buffs (17-14, 7-11 Big 12) and Oklahoma State will take on sixth-seeded TCU on Wednesday (7:30 p.m. MT, ESPN2 or ESPNU). CU also defeated TCU at home on Feb. 1, but the Horned Frogs have won eight of nine games since to earn a first-round bye.

Arizona clinched the top seed as the Big 12’s regular season champ even before defeating the Buffs, while the top four seeds were rounded out by Houston, Kansas and Texas Tech. The top four seeds received double-byes into Thursday’s quarterfinals.

The Buffs might not have competed for the conference crown, but they were steady in their results, going 6-1 against the teams seeded behind them in the Big 12 bracket while struggling to a 1-10 mark against the teams ahead of them. Saturday’s loss against the Wildcats added to that latter ledger, but it also served as a confidence-booster for the Buffs. CU was routed by several of the Big 12’s best on the road, but they led Saturday’s game for six-plus more minutes than an Arizona squad widely considered a Final Four favorite.

“At least we know we can compete with the best team in this league,” Boyle said. “Now, we didn’t prove that in Ames, Iowa, or Houston, Texas, or Waco, not that Baylor’s at the top of our league. But we did (Saturday), and Arizona won this league just 17 games into it. They’re a hell of a team.

“No moral victories for sure, but I do think our guys can take some positive things out of this that we can take to Kansas City with us. One of those is the confidence we can play with anybody in this league when we put our minds to it. We’ve got to put our minds to it, we’ve got to execute our game plan on both sides of the ball.”

from The Denver Post https://ift.tt/FzEN0SP