Junior guard KJ Simpson brings the ball up the court during the game against Pepperdine University on Sunday, Dec. 3, 2023. (Clementine Miller/CU Independent)
The University of Colorado Boulder men’s basketball team (6-2) will travel to Brooklyn, New York to take on No. 15 University of Miami (7-1) this coming Sunday. The Buffs will play at the Barclays Center, the home of the Brooklyn Nets, as part of the National Association of Basketball Coaches Brooklyn Showcase.
Facing only their second power-five opponent and second-ranked opponent of the young season, Miami represents the most daunting obstacle yet for Colorado basketball in 2023. The Buffaloes, despite running through their early season schedule of out-of-conference teams and achieving a 6-1 record against mid-major opponents, have fallen to No. 13 ranked Colorado State University and unranked Florida State University in the past few weeks. Colorado played their opposition close in both games, losing by five and six points, respectively. The Miami game comes as their third and final opportunity to beat a highly-ranked opponent on the road before the Pac-12 regular season begins.
Miami basketball coming into the 2023 season
During last year’s NCAA men’s tournament, Miami basketball reached the final four for the first time in program history. Despite losing two leading scorers from a year ago, Isaiah Wong and Jordan Miller, to the NBA, the Hurricanes return three starters from March’s tournament run.
This season, the three returning starters, guard Wooga Poplar, guard Nijel Pack and forward Norchad Omier, are joined by standout Florida State transfer guard Matthew Cleveland. After a hot start to the season, the departures of Wong and Miller have so far only served to make room for breakout seasons for these four. Poplar and Omier lead the Hurricanes, both average above 16 points per game, and all four are above 13 points per game and 35 percent from three on the season. So far in 2023, Miami’s longtime head basketball coach Jim Larrañaga looks to have a continuation of his most successful season.
Miami storylines to watch out for:
The Hurricanes’ rebounding struggles– Miami plays a fast-paced brand of basketball that takes proper advantage of their superior athleticism. However, in 2023 this Hurricanes team has been equally as undersized as they have been exciting to watch. Indeed Miami unleashes a starting lineup featuring the two tallest players, Omier and Cleveland, both standing at only 6 feet, 7 inches tall. In comparison, the Buffs’ starting lineup will load out three players above 6 feet, 7 inches tall, including Eddie Lampkin Jr. at 6 feet, 11 inches tall. It should come as no surprise that Colorado, No. 21 in Division I, is crushing Miami, No. 148 in Division I, in rebounding margin this season.
Miami plans to lean on dynamic Omier to overcome the size disparity.
“He goes after the ball. They say ‘he can jump, he has great hands,’ but he always goes after the ball,” said coach Larrañaga after Omier’s 13-rebound performance against Notre Dame.
For help on the boards, Larrañaga is looking at Cleveland.
“Me and coach [Larrañaga] had a meeting about how I can be better rebounding, just getting myself mentally prepared for doing that,” said Cleveland. It will be intriguing to see how Miami’s duo will match up against the Buffs’ bigs on Sunday.
Wooga Poplar’s hot start– The expansion of Poplar’s role in 2023 has introduced an offensive rearrangement for Miami. Wong and Miller, the Hurricanes’ leading scorers a year ago, took most of their shots from inside or mid-range during their time with Miami. With them gone, Poplar has taken the lead offensively and done his damage from outside. This exchange has not only increased Miami’s three-point attempts from a year ago by two, but also upped the Canes’ three-point percentage from 36.8 percent to 42.6 percent. Poplar throws up a team-leading 5.1 three-pointers per game at an efficient 53.7 clip.
Efficient scoring has been a key to Miami’s success in 2023, especially considering their lack of size.
“We’re small, which means that we must play very good offense and score the ball regularly,” said coach Larrañaga after Miami’s loss to Kentucky last week. So far, Poplar has been getting the task done for Miami, and it will be up to the Buffs to limit him this weekend.
Colorado stories to watch out for:
Da Silva’s 3-point shooting away from Boulder– In the three games Colorado has played away from the CU Events Center this season, the team has gone 1-2. Taking a quick glance at the stat sheet, the obvious missing piece has been Tristan da Silva’s three ball. To go from a 60% three-point shooter at home to a 0% three-point shooter on the road seems almost impossible, but da Silva has accomplished this feat through eight games.
Da Silva summed it up well after last Sunday’s win over Pepperdine, saying “it’s something about the [CU] Event Center.” It’s not like da Silva’s three-point attempts have gone down in away games, either. They have stayed at 4.0 attempts per game nearly identical to his 4.2 attempts per game at home. A large part of Colorado’s early season success has been the team’s efficiency. The team ranks fourth and eighth in three-point and field goal percentage nationally, and according to head coach Tad Boyle, da Silva plays a central role in that.
“What I love about Tristan’s game is the efficiency. We have to get him more involved in the offense early and we gotta get him shots,” Boyle said.
It will be necessary for da Silva to break out of his away game shooting slump for the Buffs to pull off an upset on Sunday.
Julian Hammond III and the Buffaloes’ depth– Coach Boyle’s trust in guard Julian Hammond to facilitate the offense when KJ Simpson is off the court, and sometimes when he is on the court, has been a real boon to the Buffaloes this season. Embracing his sixth-man role, Hammond is putting together his best and most efficient season of his collegiate career, averaging nearly 10 points per game with 57% from the field and 48% from three.
“I got a lot of confidence in Julian, very efficient, he can shoot the ball well, he can make plays. He’s a big part of our team,” said coach Boyle after the Pepperdine game.
The contributions of bench players like Hammond, Luke O’Brien or RJ Smith set Colorado apart from a notably top-heavy team in Miami. While Colorado has seven players that average above 20 minutes per game, Miami has only five. Additionally, the Hurricanes have four players playing above 30 minutes per game, while Colorado has none. Expect Colorado’s better depth to provide an advantage in Brooklyn.
The Buffs play on Sunday at noon MST. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN2.
Contact CU Independent staff writer Charlie Hewitt at charlie.hewitt@colorado.edu.
