Most of the players on the Colorado’s men’s basketball team have never played against Kansas — but that doesn’t mean they won’t be prepared.
CU head coach Tad Boyle will have his Buffs ready to play the No. 9 team in the country on Saturday at noon.
“They are a great basketball team,” Boyle said of Kansas, which also happens to be his his alma mater. Boyle played for the Jayhawks from 1981-85 and is familiar with the intensity of the atmosphere.
Spencer Dinwiddie shoots a free throw during the game against CSU on Wednesday at the Coors Events Center. Dinwiddie is averaging 25.2 points per game in the last three games. (Kai Casey/CU Independent)
“Allen Fieldhouse is a pretty special place,” Boyle said.
The last time the Buffs (7-1) beat the Jayhawks (6-1) in Kansas, Boyle was a college sophomore. On Feb. 10, 1983, the Buffs won 75-74. The Jayhawks went undefeated last season at home, going 16-0.
“It’s going to be a tough atmosphere, just like Colorado,” said junior forward Andre Roberson.
Kansas leads the all-time series with Colorado 122-39 and is 61-7 against the Buffs at the Allen Fieldhouse.
If the Buffs hope to buck this trend in their first meeting since joining the Pac-12, sophomore guard Spencer Dinwiddie will have to build on his career-high 29 points that he scored against Colorado State on Wednesday night in Boulder.
Dinwiddie is averaging 25.2 points per game over his last three games. He won’t have the raucous home crowd of the Coors Events Center on Saturday to push him though.
“It definitely gets us hyped and into the game,” Dinwiddie said of the Buffs’ home crowd after the CSU win.
In the Buffs’ only true road game so far this season, they lost to Wyoming 76-69. Three of their victories this season came at a neutral site at the Charleston Classic earlier this month, a tournament which they won.
“[The Kansas game] is going to make Wyoming look like a cake walk,” Boyle said.
Kansas plays excellent defense and spreads the ball around. The Jayhawks have four different players that average double-digit scoring, led by 6-foot-5 redshirt freshman Ben McLemore’s 14.9 points per game. The other three are all seniors. The Buffs have only one senior on their team.
The Jayhawks also hold opponents to 58.9 points per game on 35.3 percent field goal shooting. The Buffs average 74.4 points per game.
As head coach of the Buffs, Boyle has never won in Kansas, going 0-3 in his career, but he hopes this will be the year.
“The thing I like about our team is that they’re pretty competitive and they like challenges,” Boyle said.
That’s a good thing — because Kansas will be this year’s Buffs’ biggest challenge yet.
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Scott Annis at [email protected].
