Colorado sophomore Sebastian Rancik challenged by assistant coach

The Colorado Buffaloes made it a clean sweep Saturday night, taking down Arizona State 78-70 to win both matchups against the Sun Devils this season.

Tad Boyle is testing lineup combinations to maximize his young Colorado team's potential, including bringing sophomore forward Sebastian Rancik off the bench.

The 6'11 sophomore dominated Arizona State with 17 points and a season-high 11 rebounds in the win.

After the game, Rancik noted assistant coach Danny Manning challenged him on rebounding.

Manning reunited with his former Kansas teammate Boyle in May 2024, joining Colorado's coaching staff. The two played together for the Jayhawks during the 1984-85 season, bringing their relationship full circle decades later.

Manning won the 1988 NCAA title with Kansas, earned Naismith Player of the Year honors, became an NBA All-Star, and later coached at Tulsa and Wake Forest.

The challenge he presented Rancik was encouraging. At his size, he should average well over five rebounds per game, and Colorado needs that production.

Colorado doesn’t necessarily have a size issue, it's an experience problem. Elijah Malone isn't getting the floor time you'd expect, which means the rebounding load falls on guys like Rancik, Bangot Dak, and Alon Michaeli. They've also got freshman Fawaz Ifaola in the mix, though he's still finding his footing at this level.

In Saturday's postgame presser, Boyle praised his guards' rebounding contributions, noting Josiah Sanders and Isaiah Johnson each pulled down three boards.

Colorado dominated the boards with a +10 rebounding advantage (34-24) over Arizona State—a welcome change after their conference struggles in this area.

The moment this team commits to crashing the boards, they'll find themselves exactly where they want to be.