High-Scoring Buffs Prepare For Saturday Visit From Rival Rams

BOULDER — By the strictest of definitions, Saturday's Colorado-Colorado State game is "just" another non-conference game for both schools.

It is not a league game. There is no trophy involved. It does not count any more (or less) in the standings than any other contest.

But both teams also know that whoever wins has bragging rights for a year — and for the last two years, it has been Colorado players who have had to listen to CSU talk about a win.

It's something that obviously doesn't sit well with Colorado head coach Tad Boyle. Following CU's 93-69 win over Portland on Wednesday, Boyle opened his press conference with this: "It's a great win for us, especially as we head into the Colorado State game on Saturday."

Clearly, there's no doubt who is on Boyle's mind as the two teams get ready to meet for the 128th time in their series history Saturday at 1 p.m. at the CU Events Center (Pac-12 Mountain).

While 4-1 Colorado holds a dominant 89-38 edge in the all-time series, it hasn't gone as well for the Buffs in recent years. CSU has won two in a row and three of the last four, with Boyle just 4-4 overall against the Rams.

Neither has home court been an advantage for Colorado. CSU has won the last two games in Boulder, with Colorado's last win at the Events Center coming in 2012.

But Boyle is hoping for a big home-court advantage Saturday, and Wednesday night he delivered a message to Buffs supporters.

"We're playing the game for our fans," Boyle said, "so I hope our fans understand that, appreciate that, show up. I know there will be some CSU fans down here cheering for the Rams. We need to have this place rocking at 1 o'clock."

Boyle has no concerns that his players will be prepared.

"Our players will be ready Saturday at 1 o'clock, I can guarantee you that, emotionally and mentally," Boyle said. "We just have to make sure we don't get too keyed up for this game. It's a rivalry game, we know we're going to get CSU's best shot. We always do, we always have. We have to be able to handle that and keep our emotions in check and play Colorado basketball. We don't have to do anything special, just be who we are and play the way we're capable of playing. It should be a great game."

CU players are making sure they aren't issuing any bulletin board material that might inspire the 4-3 Rams, who are having a few growing pains under first-year head coach Niko Medved.

"We're ready for it," CU point guard McKinley Wright IV said. "That's all I'm going to say. It's going to be fun Saturday."

EXPLOSIVE OFFENSE: Five games into the season, the Buffaloes are proving to be an entertaining team, explosive offensive team.

Already this year, CU has matched last year's total for 90-point games, racking up their third of the year Wednesday night's win over Portland. The Buffs are averaging 85.8 points per game — second-best in the Pac-12 — and have had eight players hit double-digit scoring at least once this season.

"We have a lot of different weapons," Boyle said after Wednesday's win. "I said this early, I wasn't too concerned about our offense. What I'm concerned about is our execution of our offense and our ability to stay unselfish and not think about how many shots am I getting, how many points am I scoring. If we can keep that out of our mindset, this team is going to be fun to watch."

In Boyle's eight-plus seasons in Boulder, 90-point games have by no means been a regular occurrence. The most 90-point games by a Boyle-coached team came in his first year in Boulder, when the Buffs hit the number eight times in 2010-11. They have managed at least one each year since, but in the previous two years combined, they scored 90 only five times.

Still, while the Buffs don't hit 90 points very often, it is almost always a good sign when they do. Under Boyle, Colorado is an outstanding 32-2 when scoring at least 90 points, with the only losses an overtime defeat at Washington State in 2015 and a loss at Iowa State in 2011.

"We're not going to score 90 every night, we're going to play against better defensive teams," Boyle said. "But we can be explosive."

The Buffs certainly lived up to that billing in Wednesday's win. After a close game for the first 26 minutes, Colorado exploded with a 16-1 burst that blossomed into a 28-4 run, turning a 51-51 tie into a runaway.

But while the offense provided the glamour, it was the defense that provided the grit — and the foundation for the offensive explosion. In the time it took the Buffs to put together their 16-1 run, they held the Pilots without a field goal for four minutes. Over the nine-minute, 28-4 surge, Colorado held Portland to 1-for-12 shooting from the field while also forcing six turnovers.

That means the Buffs allowed Portland just one basket and a free throw in 18 possessions. Those defensive stops led to a host of transition baskets, with Colorado finishing the game with 25 fast-break points.

"Once we get stops, we get out in transition and that's when we're at our best," McKinley Wright said. "We're trying to focus on defense this year. We're one of the best teams in the country when we get out and run."

SATURDAY BROADCAST: Originally scheduled to be broadcast by the entire Pac-12 Network, Saturday's game has been pushed to Pac-12 Mountain because of the rescheduled Cal-Stanford football game. Guy Haberman and Don MacLean will handle the call for the television broadcast, with Mark Johnson and Scott Wilke taking care of the KOA radio broadcast.

Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu