BOULDER — Tad Boyle liked seeing his team run against Stanford.
“I loved the pace of the game because playing at altitude, it gives us a major major advantage,” Boyle told reporters Tuesday. “That’s a different situation than I would want if we’re playing at Stanford.”
So what would he want if they were playing in Palo Alto?
“If we’re playing at Stanford, I’m saying ‘No, no. We’re going to run but we’re not going to take those shots that we took in the Events Center last Saturday against those guys,'” Boyle said.
Colorado has increased the pace this season. According to hoop-math.com, the Buffs have taken a shot within 10 seconds of gaining possession of the ball on 31.6% of their possessions so far this season. That’s the 89th-most out of 347 Division I programs. It’s also the most of any Pac-12 school.
In previous years, Colorado has hovered around 150th in the nation. Last year, when the Buffs ranked 152nd, teams like USC, Oregon and Arizona State ranked higher.
“What this team is doing is they’ve committed to running,” Boyle said. “In the past, they’ve talked about running, we’ve been interested in running; sometimes we would, sometimes we wouldn’t. This team is committed to it.”
Colorado outscored Stanford 9-2 in fast break points. In the previous game, against Cal in Boulder, Colorado won the fast break battle 13-4. In Colorado’s other home Pac-12 game, the first of the season against Oregon, Colorado won fast break points 26-9.
Outside of Arizona outscoring Colorado 18-0 on the break, Colorado has edged out league opponents on the road 25-24.
(Is it just a coincidence that Colorado hasn’t lost at home but is .500 on the road?)
Part of the reason for Colorado’s success is its 55.1% effective field goal percentage in transition. While that mark only ranks 154th in the country, Colorado finished 325th in the same metric last year and 216th in the previous season.
It’s still early but Colorado’s commitment to getting out and running—and placing a special emphasis on doing so at home—seems to be paying off.
“We want a track meet at home, especially against teams that are coming from sea level,” Boyle said.
