The new five-out attack for Colorado faced its toughest challenge of the young season earlier this week in Daytona Beach.
In a win against Richmond the Buffs earned a passing grade, balancing a below-par .426 shooting percentage with 25 free throw attempts (making 21) and a manageable 12 turnovers. Against Florida State, that offense ground to a halt in an overtime loss.
Upon further review, head coach Tad Boyle is of the belief that against the Seminoles his club got away from the back-cutting and off-the-ball movement critical to the system’s success. The Buffaloes will look to get back to the fluid approach that worked wonders during a 3-0 start at home when they return to the Events Center for a Sunday afternoon matchup against Iona.
“The pressure didn’t bother us as much as the switching did against Florida (State). The pressure bothered us against Richmond,” Boyle said. “The pressure should be handled by back-cutting. By attacking under control. And the switching should be attacked by slipping screens and, again, cutting. But our spacing was so bad (against FSU) that we had nowhere to drive the ball.
“The offense is designed to handle both those things, based on a team not being able to do both. We just didn’t handle it.”
The loss against the Seminoles will put the Buffs’ national ranking in jeopardy when the new poll is released on Monday. Yet of far greater concern to CU is the need to put together a sharp outing ahead of a Wednesday trip to Fort Collins to face a Colorado State squad off to a 6-0 start and coming off a 21-point win against No. 8 Creighton.
Not only did the Buffs put up season-lows in field goal percentage (.347) and 3-point percentage (5-for-20) against FSU, along with a season-high 20 turnovers, but the defense has been vulnerable of late as well. Three of the past four opponents (Grambling State, Richmond and FSU) have shot at least 50% after halftime.
“We talked about it after (Grambling State) — that can’t happen,” Boyle said. “Against Milwaukee, guess what? We shot the ball extremely well. Scored 106 points. I said it after Milwaukee, when you make shots it masks problems that you have. And it masked those problems. Against Florida State and against Richmond, we didn’t shoot the ball well and those problems came to light.”
Iona is coming off a memorable 27-8 season under Rick Pitino, winning the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament championship before losing to eventual national champ UConn in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Pitino, though, has moved on to St. John’s, and new coach Tobin Anderson is working with an entirely reshuffled roster. Anderson formerly was the head coach at Fairleigh Dickinson, which made history at the NCAA Tournament by becoming just the second No. 16 seed to knock off a No. 1 seed in the first round with an upset of Purdue.
The Gaels boast one familiar face in graduate transfer Joel Brown, formerly of California. Brown averaged just 6.6 points for the Golden Bears last season but enjoyed a huge game in a win against the Buffs in Berkeley, going 9-for-14 with 21 points.
“We were missing shots and turning the ball over, and when you combine those two it’s real hard to win games,” CU guard Julian Hammond III said. “We’ve just got to take care of the ball and not hurt ourselves. It’s always good to get back home. We had a couple games where we didn’t shoot the ball great, really, and we know there’s going to be games like that. Whether it’s like that again on Sunday, we just have to play defense and attack the rim.”
Iona Gaels at No. 18 CU Buffs men’s basketball
TIPOFF: Sunday, noon, CU Events Center.
TV/RADIO: Pac-12 Network; KHOW 630 AM.
RECORDS: Iona 2-3; Colorado 4-1.
COACHES: Iona — Tobin Anderson, 1st season (2-3, 23-19 overall). Colorado — Tad Boyle, 14th season (276-173, 332-239 overall).
KEY PLAYERS: Iona — G Idan Tretout, 6-4, Gr. (16.8 ppg, .407 3%); G/F Wheza Panzo, 6-7, Gr. (13.6 ppg, .419 3 %); G/F Greg Gordon, 6-5, Jr. (11.4 ppg, 7.0 rpg); G Joel Brown, 6-2, Gr. (6.6 ppg, 4.0 apg, 3.0 rpg). Colorado — G KJ Simpson, 6-2, Jr. (19.0 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 4.4 apg, .409 3%); F Tristan da Silva, 6-9, Sr. (14.8 ppg, 4.8 rpg, .540 FG%); F Cody Williams, 6-8, Fr. (11.0 ppg, 4.3 rpg); F J’Vonne Hadley, 6-6, Sr. (10.0 ppg, 6.6 rpg, .593 FG%); G Julian Hammond III, 6-2, Jr. (9.8 ppg, 3.0 apg).
NOTES: Da Silva needs 14 points to become the 39th member of CU’s 1,000-point club. … The Buffs and Gaels have met just once but it was somewhat recently, with CU posting a 99-54 win at home on Dec. 29, 2019. … Iona is coming off a 1-2 showing at the Gulf Coast Showcase in Florida, losing against High Point and Long Beach State before defeating Buffalo. … The Gaels have held their five opponents to a .339 mark on 3-pointers. … CU center Eddie Lampkin Jr. has posted double-digit rebound totals in two of the past three games (12 against Milwaukee, 11 against Florida State). … CU plays its only true road game of the nonconference schedule on Wednesday with a rivalry battle at Colorado State (7 p.m., CBS Sports Network).