SEATTLE — Tad Boyle will miss his walks around the Stanford campus. Visits to the arenas at California and Washington, maybe not so much.
On Wednesday night, the Colorado men’s basketball team makes the second of seven final visits to foes who no longer will be conference rivals next year, as the Buffaloes visit Washington in a late battle in Seattle (9 p.m. MT, ESPNU).
Outside of Arizona, which, along with Arizona State and Utah, is headed to the Big 12 alongside Colorado, no Pac-12 venue has been less hospitable to the Buffs than UW’s Alaska Airlines Arena.
CU’s lopsided loss at Arizona three weeks ago ran the Buffs’ record to 0-12 at UA’s McKale Center since joining the Pac-12, but the Wildcats typically are a top-25 team. The Buffs have struggled at two other arenas that are the homes to teams that more often than not have been powerhouses during the Pac-12 era, going 2-8 at UCLA and Oregon heading into those final visits next month.
The struggles at a few other Pac-12 venues have been more difficult to explain, Cal and Washington tops among them. The loss at Cal two weeks ago left CU with a 2-9 road mark against the Golden Bears during Pac-12 play. CU takes a 1-9 mark in league play at Alaska Airlines Arena going into Wednesday’s game against the Huskies.
During the Pac-12 era, the Buffs have gone 4-5 at Washington State going into Saturday’s game in Pullman. CU also is 2-10 at Utah and 4-7 at Arizona State but has posted .500 or better marks at three other league venues — Oregon State (5-5), USC (6-3) and Stanford (7-3). The Buffs do not visit Stanford during the final Pac-12 campaign.
“I’m going to miss Stanford and we don’t even go there this year. Thatap one of my favorite campuses,” Boyle said. “One of my favorite things to do on the road, especially on game day, is go for long walks and I love to walk the campuses. Seattle is a little tough because we usually stay downtown, so I don’t get to spend a lot of time on their campus.
“In the broad sense of things, I’m sad that the Pac-12 has disintegrated. I wish that weren’t the case. But you’ve just got to accept reality and move on, and thatap what we’re doing.”
Surge time
CU standout freshman Cody Williams still was sidelined with his injured left wrist when the Buffs defeated Washington 73-69 at home on Dec. 31. But he watched his shorthanded teammates (CU also played without Tristan da Silva) hold the Huskies to a .281 shooting percentage in the first half, and Williams understand itap that defense that hold the key for the Buffs to make a run.
“Honestly, itap just a mentality thing. If we want to be a great team, we have to come out with that mindset that whoever is in front of us, we’re going to compete for 40 minutes regardless,” Williams said. “I think the mental flip just has to switch for us so that way we know to go out there for 40 minutes, execute for two halves offensively and defensively and kind of really just dig in to the game plan.”
Notable
Da Silva is 28th on CU’s all-time scoring list (1,166) and needs just five points to tie Jamahl Mosley for 27th. With 14 points, da Silva can jump all the way to 25th-place. … KJ Simpson needs four assists to match Chauncey Billups for 15th on the all-time assists list. … After a run in which he didn’t attempt a free throw in three of four games, Simpson went 9-for-9 at the line during last week’s home sweep against Oregon and Oregon State. … UW is coming off a 1-2 run on the road in which it shot just .284 (23-for-81) on 3-pointers. In three consecutive home games prior to that road run, the Huskies shot .431 from the arc (25-for-58). … Dave Feldman and Corey Williams will call the game on ESPNU.
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