When the Colorado Buffaloes men�s basketball team takes the floor to battle the top-ranked team in the nation, it will be the fourth and final Kansas-Colorado match-up in Boulder for senior guard Dwight Thorne II.
Thorne, as well as the rest of his teammates, said he thinks this game might be different than ones in years past.
�I think maybe for the first time we might actually have more fans here for us,� Thorne said, smiling ear to ear.
Kansas (20-1, 6-0 Big 12) has yet to be conquered in the conference this season, and boasts impressive wins over Missouri (16-5) and no. 20 Baylor (16-4), both of them probably national tournament-bound.
And as for the players on the floor, the Jayhawks may have the deepest team in the country.
For starters the team has not one, but two preseason All-Americans in senior guard Sherron Collins (15.5 points per game) and junior center Cole Aldrich (11.6 points and 10.3 rebounds per game). That inside-outside combination, coupled with the Morris brothers (starter Marcus and reserve Markieff), high-flying freshman sensation Xavier Henry (second on the team with 13.7 points per game) and the sharpshooting Tyrel Reed make up a difficult defense.
For CU head coach Jeff Bzdelik, it starts down low in the paint.
�You got to make [Aldrich] take contested shots and jump shots and not dunks or power moves where he shoots a high percentage,� Bzdelik said.
Thorne said it would also come down to controlling parts of Jayhawks offense.
�The guys inside are going to be the main focus on offense,� Thorne added. �If they�re clicking, it makes the outside game easier, so they�ll probably try to get the ball to Sherron. We just have to try and control either of those aspects of the game.�
For junior guard Cory Higgins, the task of stopping a KU attack that averages almost 85 points per game can�t be pinpointed on one player or another.
�They are a pretty balanced team,� Higgins said. �You just have to be solid and not key in on this guy or that guy because all of them can hurt you.�
Yet the Jayhawks are still human. They lost to a Tennessee team that was without forward Tyler Smith, one of their best players, due to a suspension. They squeaked out an 81-79 overtime victory over Kansas State this past weekend. They also had down-to-the wire finishes with Memphis, Baylor and Cornell, the first of which was at a neutral site and the latter two being at Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence, Kan.
Add that to the fact that the Buffs are an impressive 10-1 at home and are already battle-tested in the Big 12 with games against No. 9 Texas, No. 10 Kansas State and No. 20 Baylor.
The �Rock Chalk� faithful may not be able to etch the outcome in stone just yet.
�It�s not about them, it�s about us,� Higgins said. �We�ve got to run our stuff, stay aggressive and not be psyched out by the name on the jersey. We�ve got to play like the players that we are.�
Perhaps the biggest x-factor on the Colorado sidelines is the status of guard Alec Burks, who sprained his knee in the first few minutes of the team�s loss to Iowa State on Saturday. Burks was donning a brace at Tuesday�s practice, and according to Bzdelik, he will be a game-time decision.
�It feels good to me,� Burks said, with no real signs of a hobble as he moved. �It�s a pretty big brace, and I hope it doesn�t hinder me, but no matter what I�m going to play through it.�
He might have to if the Buffaloes hope to conquer Kansas for the first time since Jan. 22, 2003. On that Wednesday night Colorado beat the then sixth-ranked Jayhawks 60-59 to snap a 27-game losing streak against KU. CU�s Stephane Pelle (27 points) and David Harrison (11 rebounds) outdueled current NBA players Kirk Hinrich and Nick Collison to shock the �Rock Chalk� faithful.
A semi-healthy Burks and a sellout crowd might be just the recipe for that to happen again.
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer David Starcer at david.starcer@colorado.edu
1 comment
close game