One team will feel the pain of its first loss of the season when Colorado takes on Cal Baptist on Monday night in Boulder, Colorado.
The Buffaloes and Lancers have each won seven straight to start the season. Colorado is battling to its first 8-0 start since the 1949-50 campaign, while the 7-0 stretch is Cal Baptist’s best start in its eight seasons at the Division I level.
Colorado just won the Acrisure Holiday Classic tournament title, beating San Francisco 79-69 in Thursday’s first round and Washington 81-68 in Friday’s championship game in Palm Desert, California.
“When our team puts the name Colorado in front of the name on the back of their jersey, really good things can happen,” Colorado coach Tad Boyle said. “And you can win championships. It’s a small championship, but each of these tournaments played around the country gives you an opportunity to compete for a championship. That’s something we enjoy.”
Bangot Dak had 15 points and 11 rebounds against Washington for his first career double-double and also blocked three shots while earning tournament MVP honors.
Dak is averaging 12.6 points and a team-high 7.4 rebounds. He also leads the club with 12 blocked shots.
Isaiah Johnson is averaging a team-high 14.9 points and Sebastian Rancik ranks second with 13.1 points per game.
The Lancers are playing the second leg of a four-game road trip that will conclude with games at No. 9 BYU and Utah.
Cal Baptist opened things up with a 75-69 win Saturday night over Oregon State. Martel Williams scored 19 points and Devon Malcolm added 16.
Lancers coach Rick Croy avoided saying that beating the Beavers represented a breakthrough victory for the program.
“It’s more of a stamp than a statement,” Croy said. “We continue to assert that it’s team first. A lot of different guys stepped up. We knew there were going to be storms. There were certain sequences that, if we weren’t tied together, could have caused us to break down.”
Dominique Daniels Jr. leads Cal Baptist in scoring (17.8) and assists (4.5). Williams is averaging 15.7 points and has made a team-high 11 3-pointers.
Five Lancers average more than five rebounds per game and the team ranks fourth nationally with a plus-14.3 rebounding margin. Colorado (plus-6.8) also ranks well in this category.
Boyle is certainly nervous about the task of managing the Lancers.
“Because Cal Baptist is a good team,” Boyle said. “They are well coached. They have good players. We can’t take anything for granted.”
–Field level media
