It wasn’t easy, but Tad Boyle and the Colorado Buffaloes escaped the First Four in Dayton with a 60-53 win over Boise State to advance to the Round of 64. The Buffs got 20 points from senior Tristan da Silva, who returned to Boulder for his senior year after missing the tournament a year ago.
Now, Boyle, who knocked out his old friend Leon Rice to claim the No. 10 seed in the South Region, will need to prepare for a matchup with the seventh-seeded Florida Gators on Friday at 2:30 pm MT in Indianapolis. In a post-game on-court interview with CBS’s Jon Rothstein, Boyle indicated that his staff will need to make up for some lost time.
“I haven’t even looked at them,” said Boyle when asked for his thoughts on Colorado’s upcoming opponent. “We’ll talk to our assistant, we’ve got short prep, which is just the nature of the beast. We’ll get rest tomorrow, get down to Indy, and cram for the Gators”
The quick turnaround will be additional adversity for the Buffaloes, but they may be up to the task. Boyle was effusive in his praise for his team in the discussion with Rothstein.
“We finally played with unbelievable toughness,” Boyle said, “I don’t know how many offensive rebounds they had, they had like 18 last time I checked, but we really started playing tougher on the glass. I mean Boise State is a physical team, they keep coming at you, and we made just enough plays down the stretch.”
Many of those plays were made by KJ Simpson, who struggled, shooting just 6-18 from the field, but finished with 19 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. Colorado was outrebounded by Boise State 41-31 and allowed 19 offensive rebounds, yet managed to win its 25th game of the season, a school record. Still, Boyle wasn’t in an entirely celebratory mood, acknowledging the difficulty of coaching against a longtime friend.
“It’s not fun, I love Leon, I love his family, it’s no fun playing your friends, there’s no doubt about it,” Boyle said.
Now, it’s on to Florida for Colorado, in search of win No. 26 and a spot in the Round of 32, and potentially beyond. This is Boyle’s sixth NCAA Tournament appearance as the head coach of the Buffaloes, and he has never led a team past the first weekend. With da Silva, Simpson, and Eddie Lampkin Jr. all potentially in their final collegiate season, this is clearly Boyle’s best chance.