As Colorado men’s basketball coach Tad Boyle has said, “The price of poker in going up” for his team after last week’s 28-point victory over Fort Lewis to open the season.
Colorado plays tonight (5:30 p.m., ESPNU) against Wichita State in the fifth annual Puerto Rico Tip-off in San Juan.
The tournament features an exceptionally strong field, with Colorado and Wichita State (1-0), the reigning National Invitation Tournament champion, joined by Alabama, Maryland, Purdue, Temple, Iona and Western Michigan.
Colorado will face Alabama or Maryland on Friday. Boyle is familiar with both. Alabama defeated CU in an NIT semifinal at New York’s Madison Square Garden last spring and then lost to Wichita State for the NIT championship.
Maryland, a traditional power in the Atlantic Coast Conference, has a new coach who happens to be one of Boyle’s closest friends — former Texas A&M coach Mark Turgeon. Before his stint with the Aggies, Turgeon coached at Wichita State, where Boyle served as his assistant.
“I’m excited,” CU senior forward Austin Dufault said before the team departed for Puerto Rico. “There will be a lot of good teams down there, and I’m looking forward to us showing what we can do.”
Wichita State returned three starters off last season’s 29-8 team. The Shockers have athletic guards in 6-foot-5 Toure Murry and 6-4 David Kyles. Both are considered potential all-Missouri Valley Conference players. The roster also includes two 7-footers.
Boyle wishes his team had another tuneup game before facing such talented opposition.
“We’re going to face some tougher defenses (in Puerto Rico) and more potent offenses, bigger bodies,” Boyle said. “I would rather ease into a season, but we don’t have that choice.”
Colorado will return to play Wednesday at Air Force, hosts Georgia on Nov. 28 and then travels to Colorado State on Nov. 30.
“The next two weeks, we’re going to learn a lot about our team,” Boyle said.
Tom Kensler: 303-954-1280 or tkensler@denverpost.com
