Colorado 1/15 9:00 ESPN+

[swilsonsp4]

The Buffs are down at the half to WV in Boulder, 40-29. They trailed virtually the entire half.

CO are prone to turning the ball over, and the first half was no different. The Mountaineers, who do force TO's, have given the Buffaloes trouble (11 TO's).

Both teams have played exclusively man-to-man.

[swilsonsp4]

WV started the second half on fire, particularly Javon Smalls, who hit three quick treys to start the second half. However, CO kept chipping away, using a hard full-court man press to wear the Mountaineers, who are short-handed, down. The Buffaloes had multiple chances to take the lead, but couldn't score on those opportunities.

Eventually, between Small (26) and Joseph Yesefu (18), WV pulled away for a 68-60 win.

[Carthage World]

Colorado made a game of it in the second half after going down 14 but couldn't make shots over the final few minutes to give themselves a shot at winning. It was very reminiscent of a UC performance. Their starting center (whose their third-leading scorer) also missed the second half with a back injury. Colorado had no defensive answer for WVU's guards.

Colorado had 3 players get drafted from last year's team and then had the remaining 3 players from their top 6 transfer out. Their rotation this year is made up of guys who were deep bench players last year, a 5th-year transfer from Washington St, a few D2 transfers, and 1-2 true freshmen. They don't have a true alpha in the squad. I'm confident saying they are the least talented team in the Big 12. They're going to look like NKU after the stretch we just had against Arizona, Baylor, and Kansas.

Nonetheless, they're going to see Wednesday as a winnable game and are certainly capable of beating us in a rock fight.

[GoBearcats31]

Still makes no sense University of Colorado goes by CU

[GoBearcats31]

Ken Pom: UC 38, Colorado 86
NET: UC 41, Colorado 84
T-Rank: UC 44, Colorado 88

Knowing very little about CU, objectively this seems to be one of the more winnable road games the rest of the way (though all metrics say CU is better than Kansas State)

Top players:
- Julian Hammond III, 6'2 senior guard averaging 14.3 points, 2.6 rebounds, 3.4 assists (41.4% from three, 93.5% FT)
- Andrej Jakimovski, 6'8 senior forward averaging 11.1 points, 4.8 rebounds (grad transfer after four years at Washington State)
- Elijah Malone, 6'10 268 lb. senior big averaging 10.1 points, 3.5 rebounds (two-time NAIA All-American prior to transferring to DI/Colorado)
- Trevor Baskin, 6'9 senior forward averaging 9.2 points, 6.2 rebounds (transferred in from DII)

Team shoots 77.2% from the FT line

[bearcat1518]

Still makes no sense University of Colorado goes by CU

Same! Googled and found this:

“Around 1924-25 “CU” became the official abbreviation, presumably to distinguish Colorado from the University of California. Coincidentally, other schools in the Big 12 Conference also use this reverse acronym. For example, the Universities of Kansas and Oklahoma are known as KU and OU, respectively.”

[leeraymond]

The Colorado game should be an indicator as to how bad UC is. Both teams are 0-4 in the conference. CU is in last place at 16 and UC is right in front at 15. Remember that UC was picked to finish no lower than 6th. Man, did somebody get that one wrong. At any rate, I HONESTLY do NOT see a win here for UC. Here are the reasons why: 1) CU is scoring 68.5 points/g in the conference. UC is only scoring 55 points/g. CU is shooting it at 43.8 %, UC is shooting at 37.9%. CU hits about 15.3 free throws/g, UC makes only about 5.8 free throws/g. That is a difference of 9.5 more free throws made/g. Likewise, CU is shooting the 3-ball at a slightly higher average, 29% to 26%. These numbers suggest that UC again is in trouble.

Defensively, UC may have a slight chance. CU gives up about 78.3 points/g, UC gives up about 66 points/g. Also, UC is holding teams to 26% from three. CU is holding teams to 35.7% from three. Likewise, UC has a slight rebounding edge at 36/g to 34/g. UC has an edge when it comes to the offensive boards 13/g to 10/g. UC turns the ball over less than CU 13/g to 17/g.

UC has some of the most dismal conference stats in the BIG 12. UC has to be the worst offensive team in the BIG 12. After Saturday's game, UC now has a negative 10.5 scoring margin. Think about this for a second, UC gave up only 54 points and LOST by 14 to Kansas.

I read that Mitchell gave a very passionate speech last week to the team. He stressed that there is a lot more basketball still left to play and that the team must continue to work hard and continue to fight. In life, once you hit the absolute bottom, if you fight hard enough you can only go up. Let's hope that UC basketball hit the absolute bottom with the Kansas loss. Let's also hope that UC basketball will NOT drop below the bottom.

[Bearcats96]

This is no doubt a critical game for CWM and the Bearcats, but lets not pretend like the sky is falling. The loss to KSU was a close loss on the road, the other 3 were all top 10 teams at one point this season. There are still 16 games left in conference play, and frankly this UC team is good enough that 12-14 wins isn't out of the question. The only 2 I don't see us being a factor in is 1) at ISU and 2) at Houston. We've had some poor performances, but that doesn't mean this team doesn't belong. 12-8 in conference and 22-9 overall gets us back to the tourney, IMO. Get this W on Wednesday, get some confidence back, and go on a win streak. The next 9 are very winnable games (none currently ranked).

[swilsonsp4]

Wednesday night's game is very winnable. The Buffs are not deep and do not take care of the ball (#342 in TO ratio per barttorvik.com). There is no one area where they really stand out, aside perhaps in defensive rebounding (#44).

Here's a recap of their home loss to the Mountaineers:

https://www.dailycamera.com/2025/01/...-off-cu-buffs/

They have not come close to selling out the CU Events Center, which seats 11K for basketball. Their largest crowd was about 8,900 for IA State.

[longtimefan]

This is no doubt a critical game for CWM and the Bearcats, but let’s was not pretend like the sky is falling. The loss to KSU was a close loss on the road, the other 3 were all top 10 teams at one point this season. There are still 16 games left in conference play, and frankly this UC team is good enough that 12-14 wins isn't out of the question. The only 2 I don't see us being a factor in is 1) at ISU and 2) at Houston. We've had some poor performances, but that doesn't mean this team doesn't belong. 12-8 in conference and 22-9 overall gets us back to the tourney, IMO. Get this W on Wednesday, get some confidence back, and go on a win streak. The next 9 are very winnable games (none currently ranked).

KU was preseason #1, and while I’m not sure they deserved that, they have elite on ball defenders. UC opened with a brutal 4 game stretch, so now the CU game is critical. But, if they miss open shots like they did the last two games, UC isn’t beating anybody.

[sedz]

Colorado has some strange offensive numbers. As swilsonsp4 noted, they don't take care of the ball, turning it over on over 21% of possessions. But they also have the fifth highest assist rate in the country. Over 65% of their baskets are assisted. It's like they're great passers and terrible passers all at once. It will be interesting to watch them to see what that's all about.

One thing that gives me hope is Colorado doesn't give up many midrange shots. Less than 20% of opponent field goals come from midrange - over 40% come from three and over 40% come at the rim. So maybe we can get some efficient shots despite our scheme.

[Carthage World]

-2.5
134.5 o/u

Vegas predicts a 69-66 UC win.

[GoBearcats31]

This is a "must win" in my opinion.

Could they, in theory, drop this game, and go 15-0 the rest of the way or 12-3? Sure.

But sometimes seasons just spiral out of control and I'm afraid that if they drop this one too there may be no coming back. Right the ship and stack some wins.

Upcoming opponents based on KenPom:
- at 86 Colorado
- 62 Arizona State
- 17 Texas Tech
- at 46 BYU
- at 79 Utah

UC just played #7, #15 and #22 in the last three games. The games get "easier" if they can take care of business at home and not get daunted on the road.

[GoBearcats31]

Chuckie Kempf and King McClure will have the ESPN+ call

[GoBearcats31]

As pointed out by @bearcatbunch on Twitter/X, UC has not won a Big 12 game (across FB, MBB) since the Arizona State football in mid-October.