It was a scattershot opening to the season that was the biggest culprit in relegating the Colorado men’s basketball team to the NIT last year.
The entire uneven run through the first few weeks of the season was encapsulated in the Buffaloes’ first trip to Grambling State.
In a sparsely attended contest in Louisiana, a mistake-prone Buffs squad ran into a fired-up Grambling State team, and the combination proved frustrating to CU in an 83-74 defeat.
Payback has never been a big motivating point for CU head coach Tad Boyle as he gets rolling on his 14th season with the Buffs. But for the players on the floor last year during an ugly outing that featured 19 turnovers and a 5-for-21 mark on 3-pointers, the tone is a little different as Grambling State visits the Events Center on Friday night.
“We’re all pretty amped up for this game just because of what happened last year,” CU forward J’Vonne Hadley said. “We know that we need this game. We know that we need to win the games we’re supposed to win. Just go out there and take care of business because last year some of those games that we were supposed to take care of business, we didn’t, and it came back to bite us in the end. We know that we can’t have those same hiccups here. And it starts (Friday) night.”
The Buffs opened a promising season on Monday with a 75-57 against Towson, and CU is attempting to take advantage of a favorable opening two weeks of the season. After Friday’s game, the Buffs host Milwaukee on Tuesday but do not play another game after that until a Nov. 20 date against Richmond in the first game of the Sunshine Slam in Florida.
Last year, like the year prior, it was a slew of November losses that played the most glaring roles in seasons that eventually ended with NIT berths. Grambling’s return visit provides CU with a readily available example of how critical otherwise nondescript November games are for a team harboring NCAA Tournament aspirations.
“They are very important,” Boyle said of the November slate. “Little opportunities turn into big opportunities. And Grambling is a little opportunity. It’s not a little game. But in the scope of things, it’s one game out of 30-plus games. We have to be ready to play. And it’s not like you have to win every one of those, but if we lose to Grambling (Friday) night, our margin of error once we get into league play shrinks significantly.”
The loss at Grambling was an early lowlight for the Buffs a year ago, but it turned out to be a stellar season for the Tigers. GSU earned a share of the SWAC regular season title and was a three-point loss in the conference championship game away from earning an NCAA tourney berth.
Grambling lost its top three scorers from that team in Cameron Christon, Carte’are Gordon and Shawndarius Cowart, a trio that combined to go 15-for-28 from the field while scoring 40 of the Tigers’ 83 points against the Buffs.
“Coach always reiterates defense and rebounding. They have a transition game and we’ve got to try to run him out of the gym,” Hadley said. “Them coming from a different level than us, that’s always our advantage at altitude. And just winning the rebounding battle. We win the rebounding battle, we run transition, and take care of the ball and move the ball, we’ll be good.”
Grambling State Tigers at CU Buffs men’s basketball
TIPOFF: Friday, 6 p.m., CU Events Center.
TV/RADIO: Pac-12 Mountain; KOA 850 AM and 94.1 FM
RECORDS: Grambling State 1-0; Colorado 1-0.
COACHES: Grambling State — Donte’ Jackson, 6th season (100-87 overall and at Grambling). Colorado — Tad Boyle, 14th season (273-171, 329-238 overall).
KEY PLAYERS (2022-23 stats): Grambling State — G/F Jourdan Smith, 6-7, Sr. (8.2 ppg, 4.9 ppg, .448 3%); G Tra’Michael Moton, 6-1, Gr. (7.2 ppg, 2.7 rpg); F Jalen Johnson, 6-8, Gr. (6.4 ppg, 3.1 rpg, .542 FG% at Milwaukee). Colorado — F Tristan da Silva, 6-9, Sr. (15.9 ppg, 4.8 rpg, .496 FG%, .394 3%); G KJ Simpson, 6-2, Jr. (15.9 ppg, 3.8 apg); F J’Vonne Hadley, 6-6, Sr. (8.0 ppg, 5.9 rpg, .525 FG%); F/G Luke O’Brien, 6-8, Sr. (6.2 ppg, 5.6 rpg); G Julian Hammond III, 6-2, Jr. (6.9 ppg, .333 3%).
NOTES: This is CU’s final game in the Pac-12’s well-meant but ill-timed home-and-home scheduling agreement with the HBCUs of the Southwestern Athletic Conference. The event will dissolve after this year with the breakup of the Pac-12. … Grambling State coach Donte’ Jackson posted win No. 100 with the Tigers in Grambling’s season-opening win against North Texas-Dallas on Monday. … The Tigers had four players score in double figures in their opening win, including Johnson (18), Smith (16) and Moton (15). Johnson, who made his Grambling debut after transferring from Milwaukee, also had 10 rebounds. … Grambling State visited CU once previously, with the Buffs posting a 93-87 win on Dec. 29, 2007. Five Buffs players scored double-figure points in that game, led by 25 from Richard Roby. … CU’s season-opening three-game homestand concludes on Tuesday against Milwaukee (7 p.m., Pac-12 Network).