One piece was missing and Colorado found it

BOULDER — It’s been a long seven days since the last time the Colorado Buffaloes have played a game of basketball.

“The taste was in our mouth all week,” Evan Battey said. “But after tonight it was definitely gone.”

The No. 25 Colorado Buffaloes could have been ranked much higher than 25th had they taken care of a home Sunday contest against Oregon State. It would have helped if they had taken care of business against Northern Iowa, when the Panthers came to town a week earlier.

“This has been the longest week of my coaching life,” head coach Tad Boyle said.

Colorado took down the Utah Utes 91-52, Sunday afternoon at the CU Events Center. The Buffs jumped out to a 21-5 and carried it until the final buzzer.

To win by 39 points against a conference opponent almost everything has to go right, but one aspect of the game stood out above the rest: effort.

“They wanted it more,” Utes head coach Larry Krystowiak admitted after the game.

When Buffs coach Tad Boyle hears that line, it’s going to be music to his ears.

There was a common theme in Boyle’s evaluations of his teams pair of home upset losses. He spoke of “attention to detail,” “focus,” “hustle,” and “energy.” It all tied back to Colorado’s level of effort.

The biggest problem was that the Buffs weren’t responding to the coaches’ talking points. They weren’t sticking to the defensive gameplan, so their opponents found whatever shots they were looking for.

On Sunday, the team handled business the way it was supposed to. For example, Evan Battey was dominant on the boards, pulling in six offensive rebounds in the first half alone.

“Offensive glass is something we’ve been realy preaching to our guys about,” Boyle said. “It was great to see Evan come out and get that done.”

Here’s another example: The Buffs held star Utah forward Timmy Allen to just seven points on 2-of-11 shooting.

Why does McKinley Wright IV think that happened?

“Team effort,” he said. “Our coaches the entire week kept saying his name. We took that as an individual challenge and as a collective challenge to shut their water off.”

The Buffs executed what they needed to execute and they dominated because of it. The question is whether they can replicate that effort.

Now the sights are set on the Arizona schools, as Colorado gears up for a trip down south next weekend and the Buffs can’t afford not to take advantage.

“The way we’re going to make up for the Oregon State game is by going on the road and getting some stuff done,” Boyle said. “That opportunity comes on Thursday in Tempe and then we get another shot on Saturday in Tucson.”