Colorado Starts Lengthy Road Trip
BERKELEY, Calif. – Six games remain on the schedule for Colorado as the lead-up to the Pac-12 Tournament in Las Vegas enters the final crunch. The Buffaloes will begin the final sprint with its first of four straight road games when they take on California on Friday (8 p.m. MT).
Colorado (15-6, 4-6 Pac-12) is no stranger to prolonged road trips this season. CU previously experienced a four-game road swing thanks to a makeup game at Oregon State (Jan. 17) that was added on the front end of an originally scheduled three-game trip.
"We are excited to embrace the challenge of playing great basketball down the stretch," head coach JR Payne commented.
The Buffs have gone 4-3 on the road this season, with its last game resulting in a 66-62 overtime win at Utah. The team is shooting 40.5% from the floor away from Boulder and has held opponents to just 38.8% shooting on their home courts this season.
Defensively, Colorado has caused problems for opponents all season, ranking 13th in the NCAA in steal per game (11.8) and 10th in turnover margin (6.29). The same holds true in hostile environments. The Buffs are +14 in steals (84-70) and +25 (119-144) in turnovers in their seven road games. The Buffs closed the last four-game wing with 26 points off of Utah's 20 turnovers in Salt Lake City.
"Taking it one game at a time is our utmost priority," Payne continued. "We will continue to focus on going 1-0 on game days."
California (10-6, 1-4 Pac-12) boasts the conferences' leading scorer in freshman Jayda Curry (19.8 pgg). Curry is one of the top freshmen in the nation this season, having won Pac-12 Freshman of the Week five times this season. It will be CU's first time matching up against Curry and the Golden Bears this season. Cal had to postpone the first meeting on Jan. 16 due to COVID issues. Cal has had more postponements (6) than conference games (5) this season.
The second stop on the trip is a visit to No. 2 Stanford on Sunday (1 p.m. MT). The Cardinal snapped CU's 13-game winning streak in the first meeting at the CU Events Center. The loss sent the Buffs on a four-game skid and the team will be looking to return the favor inside Maples Pavilion.
The last two games of the trip feature a return visit to California next weekend. CU will take on UCLA and USC before closing the season with games against Oregon and Oregon State.
Both games this weekend will be on the Pac-12 Networks. Krista Blunk and Drew Shiller will be on the broadcast. Cory Lopez will on the call again for the Colorado Radio Network with pregame coverage starting at 7:30 p.m. MT.