After a heartbreaking 65-64 loss against Colorado State in Fort Collins, the Colorado Buffaloes are ready to get back on the hardwood tonight as they take on the Fresno State Bulldogs at the Coors Event Center at 7 p.m. After a 4-3 start with losses to Wichita State, Maryland and the Rams, the Buffs have a chance to pad their record before heading into the meat of the Pac-12 Conference schedule and the progress and improvement that takes place over the next few weeks will determine if this team has a shot at postseason play.
The Bulldogs enter tonight's game with a 4-4 record and are coming off of a 30-point obliteration of Utah in Fresno. Lest you get worried about this FSU team, make sure you take into account how awful the Utes are and the Fresno losses against Stanford, Manhattan, Texas-San Antonio and North Dakota State. The Bulldogs are led by sophomore guard Kevin Olekaibe, the Las Vegas native who is averaging 21 points and three and a half rebounds in 33 minutes a game. He will be the number one priority for the Buffaloes defense and the Dogs will only go as far as he can take them. Senior guard Jonathan Wills will help pick up an slack for Olekaibe, but while he is averaging 11 points and almost six rebounds per game, he isn't the scoring threat that the young sophomore is.
For the Buffaloes, tonight is expected to be the much anticipated debut of true freshman Damiene Cain. If the 6'7, 245 lb. forward can make a similar impact as fellow freshmen Spencer Dinwiddie and Askia Booker have, the Buffaloes should receive some much needed front-line support. Coach Tad Boyle had the entire team shoot at least 500 free throws a piece since the awful 13-29 performance against the Rams and Andre Roberson has said that he is looking forward to erasing his one point (he did have 12 rebounds though) effort against the Rams.
This is the first of two games in the next three days for Colorado who face Wyoming on Friday. The game tonight is not televised, but is available through the BuffsTV subscription that is available at CUBuffs.com.