BOULDER– Ahead of Tuesday night’s matchup between the newly No. 25 Colorado Buffaloes (2-0) and the Milwaukee Panthers (1-1), the Buffs look to take care of business.
With standout freshman Cody Williams returning for the home game, Colorado aims to continue their fantastic team play from their Friday night blowout win over the Grambling State Tigers. Milwaukee, on the away side, hopes to get back on track after losing to the Providence Friars, 79-69.
With the two schools facing off in their sixth-ever contest on the hardwood, the Buffs play to keep their perfect undefeated record against the Panthers. Their last head-to-head game came in December of 2021, where CU won 65-54.
Colorado, who struggled last season at 18-17, added the 247Sports’ 25th-best recruiting class in the nation and has showcased their smothering defense and fluid ball movement through two games so far. They have been scorching hot from distance, shooting at a 45% clip on 20 attempts a game while also looking to run in transition as often as possible. As a team that’s also averaging almost 15 more rebounds per game than their opponents, Tad Boyle’s well-oiled Boulder machine looks to keep on chugging.
Junior guard KJ Simpson and senior forward Tristan da Silva lead the Buffs in scoring at 17 points per game each while senior guard J’Vonne Hadley leads the team in rebounds (8.5 RPG). Simpson is also the team’s leading passer (5.5 APG) and thief with four steals through the first two contests.
Milwaukee, who improved last season to 22-12, returned four starters, including their leading scorer (18.2 PPG) and leading rebounder (5.1 RPG) in junior guard BJ Freeman. The 6-foot-6 wing, who missed the Panthers’ season-opening 91-73 win over the Division III Wisconsin-Stout Blue Devils, returned against Providence and rattled in 33 points on 10-of-26 shooting (11-of-11 from the line) and snagged 10 boards in the 10-point loss. But with Freeman scoring all the points on subpar efficiency, the other 10 UWM players who saw the floor struggled. The Panthers lost the rebound battle (45-39) and shot 23-of-61 (37.7%) from the field.
Milwaukee's leading scorer from their opening contest, junior guard Kentrell Pullian, only scored two points on three shots against the Friars after having a team-high 16 points in the game before. Junior guard Erik Pratt is the only Panther to have scored eight or more points in both matches.
With the Buffaloes looking to capitalize on the glass while forcing plenty of misses this season, their goals of holding opponents under 40% shooting from the field and winning the rebound battle by eight seem quite achievable against this Milwaukee squad. The Panthers have also struggled from three, making Colorado's defensive average of only allowing 38.2% shooting inside the arc even more daunting.
As 18.5-point favorites ahead of the Tuesday night affair, No. 25 Colorado fixes to take care of a Panthers’ team that looks to impress ahead of the 7 p.m. MST tip-off at the CU Events Center.
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