It had been a while, but fun and excitement seem to be returning to the Coors Events Center.
Speaking today on the weekly Big 12 men’s basketball coaches teleconference, Colorado’s Jeff Bzdelik said “the most disappointing” part about losing at home Saturday to a ranked Kansas State team was that CU “didn’t reward our fans.”
The near-sellout crowd of 10,852 provided for the 17th-largest attendance in the 31-year history of the CEC. Arena capacity is listed at 11,064.
“I want to applaud our fans, our students, our alumni for the great energy that they provided us in a couple of Big 12 home games,” Bzdelik said during the teleconference. “They have been absolutely awesome. If we can continue to attract that kind of environment in Coors (Events Center), we’re going to have a lot of fun in that building.”
Bzdelik said in September and October he would typically visit with two or three groups a week, both on campus and elsewhere in the metro area, to drum up interest.
“I wanted to let people know about this basketball team and their will and their passion to get better,” Bzdelik said.
“(Also) there are a group of people behind the scenes to get the message out that this is a young, exciting and growing basketball team,” he added. “So it’s getting better, both with our support and with our fan base and with our talent level and with our improvement on the court. We just have to continue that.”
After Saturday’s game, CU junior Cory Higgins, who scored a game-best 30 points, called it “the best ‘pro-Colorado” crowd since I’ve been here.”
Higgins was obviously referring to the big crowds drawn for CU home games against Kansas that include thousands of Jayhawk fans. On Saturday, the crowd was comprised almost entirely of CU fans, with only a sprinkling of 100 or so Kansas State supporters.
Footnotes
Colorado (10-7, 1-2 Big 12) plays both of its games this week on the road: at Oklahoma State on Wednesday, at Texas A&M on Saturday. CU’s Marcus Relphorde, a 6-foot-7 junior forward, was voted Big 12 co-rookie of the week earlier today. Relphorde, who played last season at junior-college power Indian Hills in Iowa, averaged 17.5 points and five rebounds in games against ranked opponents Baylor and Kansas State. Relphorde shared the award with Iowa State 6-7 forward Marquis Gilstrap, who also is a junior-college transfer.
Tom Kensler: 303-954-1280 or tkensler@denverpost.com
