When these teams last met, Colorado stood at 10-3 overall after a solid nonconference showing. Things were looking up for Tad Boyle’s young team consisting of mainly underclassmen despite the loss to Northern Colorado.
That was nearly a month ago.
Since then, Colorado has won only two of their last nine conference games, dropping in the Big 12 standings.
3 keys for Colorado to pick up their fourth conference win
Take care of the ball
Colorado committed 13 turnovers against Arizona State last time, though they forced 14 turnovers and recorded nine steals.
The Sun Devils' 71-63 victory over the Utes Wednesday night came down to ball security. Arizona State committed just six turnovers compared to Utah's 12, which turned out to be a deciding factor in a close game.
Both teams looked sloppy in their conference openers. Colorado coughed up the ball 15 times, while Arizona State wasn't much better with 14 turnovers.
Colorado needs someone outside of Isaiah Johnson to step up
Isaiah Johnson has been Colorado's most reliable and consistent scorer this season, and Barrington Hargress has proven to be a staple in that regard as well.
Colorado has received inconsistent performances from Sebastian Rancik and Bangot Dak all season, prompting Tad Boyle to shake up his starting lineup.
The Buffs will be hoping for a bounce-back performance from freshman forward Alon Michaeli, who has struggled over the past four games off the bench.
Arizona State's three-headed monster will provide the bulk of the scoring
Colorado must keep close watch on Maurice Odum, Massamba Diop, and Anthony Johnson in Saturday night's Big 12 matchup.
Odum leads Arizona State in scoring with 17.0 points per game on 39.4% shooting, and he's not afraid to take some questionable shots.
Diop and Johnson rank second and third on the team in scoring at 13.6 and 13.3 points per game respectively, but after them, there's a significant drop-off.