Sebastian Rancik has struggled with his shot lately. Yet he certainly hasn’t struggled to find a way to make an impact.
The sophomore forward continued his recent surge on the glass as the Colorado men’s basketball team posted an 83-69 victory against Oklahoma State on Saturday at the CU Events Center.
Rancik was unable to shake a recent shooting slump. Yet he more than made amends on the glass, finishing with 10 rebounds to help CU keep pace with a Cowboys team that outrebounded the Buffs 39-36.
“If we can get that stretched out to eight games and 10, and 15 and 18, now you’ve got a guy that thatap part of his identity and who he is,” CU head coach Tad Boyle said. “Sebastian certainly here recently is, ‘How do I help my team win when I don’t shoot the ball well?’ And if all of our players can have that mentality — because it might be defense, it might be rebounding, it might be just getting the ball moved and finding the open man — he’s helping us win in different ways without necessarily shooting it the way he’s capable of shooting it.
“I think we have the kind of team where if our top six, seven guys that are playing well on any given night, we can beat anybody. We’re pretty dangerous.”
Since getting shut out on the boards during a 19-point loss at Baylor — Rancik’s first rebound-less game since the season opener — Rancik has been on a rebounding tear, posting the first three double-digit rebounding totals of his career over the past four games.
Rancik bounced back from the loss at Baylor with his first career double-double, recording17 points with 11 rebounds in a win against Arizona State. He finished with 10 rebounds last week at BYU and added another 10 against OSU.
Rancik is averaging 5.6 rebounds on the season, a close second on the team behind Bangot Dak’s 6.6 per game. Yet the recent surge, even with the rebound-less outing at Baylor, has nudged Rancik ahead of that curve in Big 12 play (5.7 per game). After collecting just eight offensive rebounds through the first 11 Big 12 games, Rancik has grabbed 10 offensive rebounds in the past four games.
Since the double-double against ASU, Rancik has shot just .231 overall (6-for-26) with a 2-for-17 mark on 3-pointers. The Buffs, though, have other capable scorers, as Dak (17 points), Barrington Hargress (16) and Alon Michaeli (12) led the offense against Oklahoma State. CU (15-12, 5-9 Big 12) has far fewer players who can take over a game on the glass.
The victory against OSU was the Buffs’ third in a row at home, and they will have an opportunity to extend that streak at home against Kansas State on Wednesday (7 p.m., Fox Sports 1). The Wildcats are 0-7 in Big 12 road games and are coming off a 28-point road loss against JT Toppin-less Texas Tech. K-State also is working under interim head coach Matthew Driscoll after the firing of Jerome Tang last week, although the Wildcats knocked off Baylor at home in Driscoll’s first game in charge.
“We definitely understand that this is a great league, and we want to be able to play our best basketball down the stretch,” Hargress said. “Thatap what we’re trying to do. We’re trying to focus on every week getting better so that we’re putting ourselves in position to be winning these tough league games.”
