Pac-12 Basketball Preview: Colorado Buffaloes vs. California Golden Bears

This is a pivotal stretch for the Colorado Buffaloes as conference tournament time is creeping around the corner. The Buffs, winners of three-straight, take on the California Golden Bears who have won two-straight.

Some may view this as a trap game for the Buffs, considering the Golden Bears have had a rocky year to say the least. However, California has played some good basketball of late including wins over Oregon State and Oregon on the road.

The Bears, led by Jordan Shepherd, went into Eugene and stunned the Ducks. Shepherd dropped a game-high 33 points on 9-of-15 shooting. Cal’s senior guard also went 13-of-15 from the charity stripe while hauling in seven rebounds to go with four steals.

Colorado is coming off a solid blowout win over Oregon State, led by Jabari Walker and his 13th double-double of the season — his fourth-straight. Walker scored a game-high 24 points while hauling in 15 rebounds.

We are going to keep saying it because this has to be the game plan from here on out for Tad Boyle‘s young Buffs.

Limit turnovers and control the glass.

The Buffs still have some hiccups with turning the rock over but they’ve been a little better of late.

The most recent game against the Beavers is a prime example. Anytime you out rebound a team by a margin of +20 you’ve got the game in your hands, literally.

The Buffs also need contributions from their bench like they did Tuesday night. It was nice to see Luke O’Brien get a career-high in points with 14 and KJ Simpson chipping in 10 points of his own.

Colorado will dodge a bullet Thursday night as California forward Andre Kelly is out for the season after suffering an ankle injury a few weeks back.

In 21 games this season, Kelly averaged 13.4 points and 8.4 rebounds.