Junior guard Cory Higgins goes in for a lay-up during a game against Baylor on Jan. 12. Higgins scored 18 points during the game, leading the Buffs to their 78-71 victory. (CU Independent file/Sara Fossum)
If the Colorado men’s basketball team has any hopes of making postseason play for the first time since 2003, they better start sooner rather than later.
So perhaps their upcoming matchup with Oklahoma is just what the doctor ordered.
The Sooners enter Wednesday’s contest on a two-game losing streak, including a 21-point thrashing at the hands of in-state rival Oklahoma State.
Oklahoma has had its share of good moments on the campaign too. On top of convincing wins over Arizona (who CU lost to in overtime at the Maui Invitational) and Missouri (who beat the Buffs by 18 in Boulder), the Sooners beat arch-rival No. 15 Texas, another team Colorado could not conquer, 80-71 before their recent slump. And even if Warren is scratched, head coach Jeff Bzdelik says his team has plenty more to prepare for.
“Tommy Mason-Griffin is playing as well as any guard in this conference,” Bzdelik said. “He’s a real special player, and they’ve got a couple other big-time players, and we’re just going to have to do our best to limit them.”
The freshman guard from Houston has been on a tear recently; Mason-Griffin has scored over 20 points in five of his team’s last seven games, and has eclipsed the 30-point mark twice, including a 38-point outburst against Iowa State. Add on the fact that Griffin is shooting 45 percent from beyond the arc, and you can see why he has Bzdelik worried.
On the flip side, Colorado is riding a four-game losing streak of their own, the most recent defeat coming on Saturday at No. 7 Kansas State 68-51 in Manhattan, Kan. After trailing by only two heading into the half, a combination of poor shooting and turnovers led the Buffs astray and kept them from that elusive road victory.
“We need to share the ball a little bit better, and take care of the ball as well,” Bzdelik said. “Turnovers, offensive rebounds, and fast-break points killed us. We didn’t shoot the ball well in the second half and that allowed them to run on us.”
Junior guard Cory Higgins, who leads the team in scoring with 18.1 points a game, has continued his strong play of late and has extended his double-digit scoring streak to 18 games. But the veteran and team leader knows after two years of sitting at home in March that now is the time to step up if the team wants to take itself to the next level.
“We look at this game as a game that we need to win,” Higgins said. “A couple of wins would put us higher in the Big 12 standings, which would give us a more favorable matchup in the tournament. And there’s no reason we can’t win at the tournament no matter who we play.”
Junior guard Levi Knutson, another player who has been here since the beginning with coach Bzdelik, has had his share of the “moral victories” as well.
Following the team’s overtime loss to No. 1 Kansas, a game in which Knutson scored a season-high 13 points with three treys, the junior sharpshooter sent a mass e-mail to CU students thanking them for their support and promising them the results they deserve. Even though he’s not underestimating OU, Knutson is confident the team will finally turn the corner, especially with the Coors faithful behind them.
“We always have to expect everybody’s best shot because we’re giving everybody our best shot, so we expect a battle,” Knutson said. “Our crowd’s been great this year, give a lot of credit to our fans and the people that have been supporting us here at home, they give us a little extra energy, so I feel like with them behind us on Wednesday we have a good shot to come out and beat Oklahoma.”
Contact CU-Independent Staff Writer David Starcer at David.starcer@colorado.edu.
