Colorado @ Colorado St. preview
Moby Arena
Last Meeting ( Nov 30, 2016 ) Colorado St. 72, Colorado 58
Colorado takes its 6-0 record on the road Saturday for its first true road test of the season: A trip north to Fort Collins and a game against rival Colorado State. Oddly, though, the visiting team in the series has won four straight – a streak the Buffaloes have a chance to continue.
The Rams have won two straight in Boulder, including last season’s 72-58 victory, but Colorado has prevailed in its last two games in Fort Collins, with the most recent being an 88-77 win in 2015. “I don’t know why it is, but homecourt advantage is not a real thing when it comes to this game,” Colorado senior forward Tory Miller-Stewart told the school’s athletics web site earlier this week. “My freshman year, I thought there’s no way we lose at home, and we do. Sophomore year, we go up there and we beat them fairly handily. Last year, they come down here, and you think we had ’em. We hold them under 40 percent (shooting) and outrebound them by plus eight – and they still win.” Colorado State has won all three of its home games so far, but Colorado will be the lone Power Five conference team to pay a visit during the regular season.
TV: 1 p.m. ET, AT&T Sports Network
ABOUT COLORADO (6-0): The Buffaloes wanted senior swingman George King to step up his game as the team’s most experienced returning player, and he has so far, leading the team in scoring (16.0 points per game) and rebounding (8.8) while shooting 60.0 percent from the field. In his most recent outing, King scored a game-high 25 points and grabbed a career-best 15 rebounds in Sunday’s 81-69 win over visiting Air Force. Freshman point guard McKinley Wright (15.7 points) and shooting guard Namon Wright (12.7), a transfer from Missouri, are also scoring in double figures, and the former also has a team-most 25 assists, seven steals and six blocked shots.
ABOUT COLORADO STATE (3-4): Coach Larry Eustachy’s Rams have dropped four of five after a 2-0 start, including a 77-67 loss Tuesday night at Missouri State in which the visitors shot 35.9 percent from the floor, including a chilly 4-of-23 from 3-point range. Guard Prentiss Nixon is pacing the team at 15.8 points and has accounted for 16 of the squad’s 41 made 3-pointers. Senior forward Che Bob (12.9 points), guard J.D. Paige (10.7) and forward Deion James (10.7) also own double-digit averages, while the 6-foot-6 Bob (9.7 boards) and 6-foot-11 center Nico Carvacho (9.0) are the leading rebounders.
TIP-INS
1. Colorado shot 38.5 percent, including 3-of-19 from long range, in scoring a season-low 58 points in last season’s home loss to Colorado State.
2. McKinley Wright has scored in double figures in all six games this season, becoming the first Buffaloes freshman to do so since current Utah Jazz guard Alec Burks in 2009-10.
3. Both teams have been strong on the glass with Colorado owning an average rebound margin of plus-9.5 and the Rams sitting at plus-5.7.
PREDICTION: Colorado 74, Colorado State 71