The sudden lull in competition sparked by a COVID-19 breakout within the team wasn’t optimal for any of the Colorado Buffaloes.
Freshman Lawson Lovering might be one player who was even more adversely affected by the Buffs’ competitive pause than his teammates.
The 7-foot-1 center from Wyoming has struggled at times through his first 12 collegiate games, but prior to the Buffs’ hiatus Lovering had shown signs of rounding a corner. One of the few CU players who wasn’t forced to the sideline for the bulk of practice this week, Lovering will attempt to regain that momentum when the Buffs get back in action on Monday in a Pac-12 Conference battle at Oregon (8 p.m. MT, Pac-12 Networks).
“I feel more comfortable out there. Itap kind of slowing down and I’m knowing my role out there. That kind of makes it easier,” Lovering said. “I’m just playing. For me, itap more mental than anything. I know I can do all the stuff. I’ve been doing it for a long time. I’m just getting more comfortable and hopefully be able to do more stuff out there.”
Lovering’s contributions might have been subtle, but in the three games prior to CU’s canceled date against Kansas on Dec. 21, he showed signs of turning a corner.
In those three games, Lovering went a combined 6-for-11 with 12 points — four more than he scored over the previous seven games. In CU’s most recent game, a win against Cal State Bakersfield on Dec. 18, Lovering went 3-for-5 with six points and four rebounds. The scoring total matched his season high from the season’s second game against New Mexico, and the rebounding and minutes played numbers were Lovering’s second-best marks so far this season.
“He’s definitely trending in the right direction, there’s no question about it,” CU head coach Tad Boyle said. “He’s going to be a good player. I’ve always said for bigs, itap a bigger adjustment going high school to college than it is for perimeter players. I think Lawson has been a prime example of that. Slowing down and staying on balance are two things for him. And staying low. A lot of times he plays straight up and down, and he gets knocked off balance.
“A 7-footer is not used to thinking that way sometimes. He’s coming. He’s got to continue to finish better. He’s shown flashes of doing that certainly at practice and even in our most recent games. I’m as excited about Lawson as I ever have been. He’s really grown up in the short time he’s been here, and he’s going to continue to.”
While Lovering was one of the few Buffs cleared to participate in practice throughout this past week, he and the rest of the team enjoyed a full-roster workout on Saturday for the first time since Dec. 20. The Pac-12’s willingness to adjust its COVID protocols this week, shortening the mandatory quarantine time for asymptomatic players from 10 days to five, has left the Buffs on track to have a full roster at Oregon, though the team’s collective conditioning and timing might be problematic.
“We’re at full strength,” Boyle said. “Now, I wouldn’t say we’re in midseason form. But we’re at full strength in terms of our numbers. We’ve got some guys who won’t be able to play as many minutes as they normally did based upon what they’ve had to deal with.”
