 7-5 NR (AP) NR (USA Today) | January 5th, 2009Who: Colorado Buffaloes vs. SMU Mustangs |  4-7 NR (AP) NR (USA Today) |
| Colorado Buffaloes' Top Players | ||||||||
| NAME | PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | FG% | FT% | 3P% |
| Cory Higgins | 17.9 | 6.3 | 2.8 | 1.6 | 0.6 | 52.5% | 82.4% | 38.9% |
| Dwight Thorne II | 11.7 | 3.5 | 1.8 | 1.2 | - | 55.9% | 61.1% | 36.8% |
| Austin Dufault | 9.8 | 3.3 | 1.3 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 41.5% | 74.2% | 25.9% |
| Nate Tomlinson | 9.3 | 2.8 | 3.5 | 0.5 | - | 50.7% | 77.3% | 39.4% |
| Casey Crawford | 7.0 | 1.9 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 51.8% | 69.2% | 43.5% |
| Jermyl Jackson-Wilson | 4.9 | 4.3 | 1.5 | 0.6 | 1.1 | 56.1% | 50.0% | 0.0% |
| Team Averages | 68.3 | 28.3 | 13.3 | 5.3 | 2.3 | 49.2% | 71.0% | 35.0% |
| SMU Mustangs' Top Players | ||||||||
| NAME | PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | FG% | FT% | 3P% |
| Paul McCoy | 15.0 | 3.4 | 2.6 | 2.2 | 0.2 | 55.9% | 69.2% | 51.9% |
| Derek Williams | 11.4 | 2.0 | 3.5 | 1.3 | 0.3 | 38.7% | 58.8% | 30.0% |
| Mouhammad Faye | 9.5 | 3.8 | 0.8 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 51.9% | 75.0% | 33.3% |
| Bamba Fall | 8.8 | 7.2 | 0.4 | 0.8 | 2.9 | 50.0% | 63.3% | 0.0% |
| Papa Dia | 6.1 | 5.0 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 43.5% | 56.5% | 0.0% |
| Robert Nyakundi | 5.3 | 2.6 | 0.2 | 0.7 | 0.1 | 43.1% | 60.0% | 42.3% |
| Team Averages | 66.4 | 34.4 | 11.1 | 8.4 | 4.9 | 45.8% | 60.8% | 37.4% |
The Buffs are coming off a 25 point loss to the Vermont Catamounts in the Rainbow Classic. They will try and rebound against a mediocre SMU team that has won four games this year, all of which have been at home. SMU has played some relatively good teams this year, unlike the Buffs, but have lost to all of them (Northwestern, Texas A&M, TCU and South Florida). Against Vermont, Colorado cited fatigue as a main reason for the loss eventhough Vermont had played the same amount of games and had to travel farther than the Buffs to get to Hawaii? CU shot 40.8% from the field and 31.3% from beyond the arc. The offense wasn't the only problem against the Catamounts. The Buffs allowed a Vermont team who just lost to Colorado State the night before to score 84 points while shooting 57% from the field and a whopping 64% from three-point land.
I never thought I would say this but effort seems to be an issue with a Jeff Bzdelik coached team. Yes, youth, talent and inexperience are the main driving factor to the trouble this year but to lose to Vermont (by a lot) and Montana State already is disheartening to say the least. Conference play is just two games away and that might be a 1 to 2 win outlook. Wins against SMU and Western Colorado in the next three days would be positive momentum going into the Big 12 slate.
Colorado and SMU have had two common opponents this year: TCU and Arkansas-Pine Bluff. The Buffs had the only victory against those two, against APB at home. SMU lost to Pine Bluff by 2, 62 - 64. SMU has only won on it's home court this year (4 - 3), while Colorado is 0 - 2 on the road. Go Buffs!
For more on tonight's game, check out this preview at CUBuffs.com
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