BOULDER-- The Colorado Buffaloes men's basketball team (10-15, 1-13 Big 12) finally achieved a victory, defeating the Central Florida Knights (13-12, 4-10 Big 12) with a final score of 76-63. The game mirrored their first matchup in January; however, the Buffaloes' improvements in rebounding, coupled with UCF's absence of star player Jordan Ivy-Curry, allowed Colorado to secure the win.
“Really happy for these guys,” Colorado head coach Tad Boyle said. “What we’ve been through over the last month and a half and just battling and fighting and scratching and clawing coming up short. These guys have stuck together. So it’s nice to see them rewarded.”
Colorado’s improvements have been showing game-to-game. In its first matchup earlier in the season, the Buffaloes logged a season-high 22 turnovers against UCF. On Saturday, CU showed notable improvement all around the court except in the turnover category; they coughed the ball up 19 times.
Aside from Colorado’s ball security, the Buffaloes won the rebound battle 52-29, their largest margin (23) all season. CU also grabbed a season-high 16 offensive rebounds to UCF’s eight.
Bangot Dak had a notable performance on the night. Dak led the team with four offensive rebounds, but his impact was elsewhere. Dak held UCF’s 7-foot-2-inch big man Moustapha Thiam to just 1-of-9 shooting.
CU freshman Sebastian Rancik was a spark plug tonight, as he has been all season. The freshman tallied another start versus UCF, the sixth of his career. Rancik finished the match with 10 points, seven rebounds and one assist.
“He’s going to be a future NBA player in my mind,” Boyle said. “It’s going to take some development, a big off-season for him, but he’s not afraid of the moment. I can tell you that’s what I love about him.”
Andrej Jakimovski led Colorado with 16 points and UCF’s Keyshawn Hall led the game with 19 points.
Former CU star Derrick White was in attendance on Saturday, and he may have given the Buffs what they needed to claim their first conference win.
For White, it was his jersey retirement on CU’s ‘Men’s Basketball Wall of Honor’ that brought him to the game. But Boyle mentioned after the game that White had spoken with the team before the game.
During White’s senior year with Colorado, the team also started 0-7 in conference play. Despite the rough start in that season, the Buffs finished 8-10 in conference play (18-15 regular season) and made a National Invitation Tournament (NIT) appearance.
“Derrick addressed our team before the game and I thought the message that he sent them was spot on,” Boyle mentioned. “Obviously, he is a really smart player, he might have a future in coaching. He talked about doing the little things, because people forget, Derrick’s year that he played here we started out 0-7 in league play.”
The public may never know what White said, but whatever it was, it may have helped the Colorado Buffaloes claim their first win in Big 12 play since 2010.
Colorado will get Sunday and Monday to rest before heading to Ames, Iowa, where they will play the No. 10 Iowa State Cyclones (20-5, 10-4 Big 12), on Tuesday at 6 p.m. MT (ESPN+).
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