The Buffs almost had them.
The Colorado Buffaloes’ summer tour of Australia continues to be a success story, even if they lost to the Boomers national team earlier today.
The third game of a four-game tour, the Buffs previously defeated the Hoop City training academy and followed that up with a win over the Gold Coast Rollers of the NBL1. CU won both games comfortably, thanks to big performances from Sebastian Rančík and some of the true freshmen.
Those were warm-up games meant to prepare the Buffs for their marquee showdown with the Australian national team. The Boomers are without NBA talent such as Dyson Daniels and Josh Giddey, but they’re still loaded with NBL stars, former college players and top prospects. This is the team that should be favored in next week’s FIBA Asia Cup.
While the Boomers led for the most of the game, and ended up with the 93-87 win, the Buffs were right there with them from start to finish. Veterans Barrington Hargress and Elijah Malone looked comfortable and helped organize an otherwise youthful CU team. Rančík did well creating his own shots, although the efficiency wasn’t as good as earlier in the week.
We know what those guys will do. (Bangot Dak, as well, but he’s recovering from knee surgery.) The real question is how good are the true freshmen and what will they contribute this season. And that’s what we should be most excited about because they played fantastic.
Isaiah Johnson wasn’t the highest rated recruit, as the six-foot-nothing point guard barely made 247 Sports’ top 300, but the man can play basketball. Tad Boyle raved about his ability to learn quickly and his fearlessness in competition, attributes that have been proven in Australia. He shined brightly today, scoring a team-high 19 points, shot 3/4 from beyond the arc, and showed craft drawing fouls and getting to the line.
Jalin Holland and Josiah Sanders have also looked great, even if the latter didn’t produce much today. Holland has been stat-sheet stuffing, getting steals and rebounds, running in transition, and converting most of his inside shots and corner threes. If Holland is a 3-and-D wing, Sanders is a scoring guard who excels getting into the paint to create shots for himself and others. Both should play a lot minutes this season.
Felix Kossaras, a sophomore, had a strong game as well. He’s a big, strong guard who plays with intelligence and poise. He won’t take too many shots, but he’s solid and will contribute in other ways. He’s probably the Buffs’ fifth starter, alongisde Hargress, Rančík, Dak and Malone, unless one of the freshmen steals the job.
The box score to this match can be found here on the FIBA website. Highlights can be found on the @CUBuffsMBB Instagram story and Twitter feed.
Next up for the Buffs is a trip to New South Wales where they take on the Sydney Kings of the NBL. The Kings are without Xavier Cooks and Jaylin Galloway — both of the Boomers — but it’s still a formidable team with a certain Matthew Dellavedova running point guard.
That final game will tip off on 11 a.m. August 4 local time, or 7 p.m. August 3 MT.