Pac-12 Preview Game 22: Oregon Ducks vs. Colorado Buffaloes

The Colorado Buffaloes men’s basketball team is reeling right now. After dropping four of their last five conference games, they have a tough one at the Coors Event Center with the Oregon Ducks coming to town. On the bright side, Oregon is the lone team Colorado defeated in that five game stretch.

Colorado head coach Tad Boyle will not being coaching Thursday night’s game after testing positive for COVID-19. Associate head coach Mike Rohn will take over the head coaching duties.

The Colorado Buffaloes have a lot of issues to fix. The offensive side needs to clean up the sloppy play and careless turnovers while the defensive side needs to limit second chance points by cleaning up on the defensive glass.

Colorado, on the third and final game of their three-game road trip, got embarrassed by the Washington State Cougars on Sunday night. The Cougars blew the Buffs out of the water with a 70-43 blowout win in Pullman, Washington. The Buffs shot just 28.6% from the field while letting the opposition shoot 49.1%.

The Buffs overcame a bad start the last time these two teams met. Oregon got off to a hot 15-2 run to start the ball game, but Jabari Walker and Colorado outscored Oregon 45-36 in the second half. Walker finished with 24 points and 11 rebounds, shooting a near perfect 9-of-11 from the field.

Four of Oregon’s starting five scored in double figures, led by Quincy Guerrier scoring a team-high 24 points, Will Richardson with 17, De’Vion Harmon with 14, and Jacob Young with 11.

The Buffs out-rebounded Oregon 30-22 in that game but also turned the ball over six more times (17-11). It’s going to sound like beating a dead horse here but these are the two areas of the game where Colorado has to focus on and execute if they want a shot at sweeping the Ducks in conference play.

Oregon is coming off a 22-point win at home over the Oregon State Beavers, sweeping the season series against their in-state rivals. The Ducks shot 55.4% from the field while holding the Beavers to just 30.8%.