BOULDER — While the Buffs were taking Iona to the woodshed, Shelby Harris was busy saving Vic Fangio’s bacon. As the Broncos were putting the final touches on Drew Lock’s fourth win in five starts, Tad Boyle racked up his 200th career victory for the Buffs, a 99-54 win in which CU drained a school-record 17 3-pointers.
Out of sight …
“Yeah, we kind of put ourselves in that position,” Buffs point guard said with a shrug. “We let the Northern Iowa game slip (away). Thatap part of the reason. But we bounced back. We showcased that we can play with some of the top teams in the country.”
Itap funny: During an 11-2 run through the nonconference, CU often seemed to play its best basketball — in Shanghai against Arizona State, in Vegas, in Chicago against Dayton — when the fewest local eyeballs could catch the Buffs in full flight. Which can be problematic when you’re trying to sell college hoops to a pro town that knocked you down the pecking order ages ago.
“I would say, if I was in a fan’s shoes, and I haven’t come out to see the play this year, I’m missing out,” Boyle said Tuesday as the Buffs wrapped up practice in advance of a visit from the fourth-ranked (11-2) on Thursday night in the Pac-12 opener for both. “Or if I’m a basketball fan. If you’re a hockey fan or you don’t care about basketball, like, whatever.
“Whether you haven’t caught us here at the Events Center or watched us when we’re not (home), this is a team that is deserved of fans’ attention along the Front Range.”
Attendance on Regent Drive is actually up over this time a year ago, although itap by just 48 heads per game. CU finished off its nonconference slate to an average of 6,480 at the Events Center, or 58.6 percent capacity. After six home nonconference contests a year ago, the Buffs drew an average of 6,432.
On the plus side, itap the first time home attendance for preleague play has increased over consecutive seasons at CU since 2014-15. Less encouraging? Itap still down roughly 3,000 people per contest off that nonconference average of 9,495 five years ago, when the Buffs were drawing at 85.8 percent of capacity.
A CU spokesman said they’re hoping for a crowd for Thursday in the neighborhood of the 9,379 who turned up for the USC game last March, even with the students still out on holiday break. Which could be the best thing that ever happened to McKinley and Boyle.
Or the worst.
“I thought when we were ranked in the previous games, we were playing with a certain type of pressure on us,” burly CU forward said. “Just extra (pressure) making plays. I think that without the rankings, we calmed down and played to our level.”
Now Battey wants to make something else clear: The stinkers at Kansas and at home to Northern Iowa — both the Jayhawks and Panthers should be dancing come March — weren’t about stage fright. They were about missing a sense of urgency. Desperation. Hunger.
“You just expect to win (when you’re ranked), I think,” Battey continued. “Thatap not how basketball works. Thatap not how any sport works. Whether there’s a number by your name or not, you have to come out and really perform and lock in.
“I know we’re somewhere near the rankings now. I hope that, going forward, when we get back in, we don’t let that get in our heads, don’t let that become a distraction.”
They’re No. 26 unofficially — tops among the Others Receiving Votes Club — going into Thursday night, knocking on that door again. Beat Dana Altman’s Ducks, and you’ve got victories over two top 15 opponents in two weeks on the books. And the kind of tailwind that should punch your ticket to the NCAA Tournament even if you play .500 ball the rest of the way.
The Pac-12 built up enough good juju in November and December that the league had five teams enter New Year’s Day ranked among the NCAA’s NET top 50, with a whopping nine schools among the top 75. Perspective: On Selection Sunday 2019, the league featured just one NET top 50 squad (Washington) and only four programs in the top 75.
“People jump on the bandwagon. There’s nothing wrong with that,” Boyle noted. “But we have to make that happen. Itap not going to happen for ܲ.”
Out of sight …
“I think Boulder, the Denver-Boulder area, is a college basketball town,” Battey said with a grin. “If you win.”