One team will feel the pain of its first setback of the season when Colorado faces Cal Baptist on Monday night in Boulder, Colo.
The Buffaloes and Lancers have each rolled off seven straight victories to start the season. Colorado is vying for its first 8-0 start since the 1949-50 campaign, while the 7-0 run is the best start for Cal Baptist in its eight seasons at the Division I level.
Colorado is coming off winning 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 at Palm Desert, Calif.
“When our team puts the Colorado name ahead of the name on the back of their jersey, really good things can happen,” Colorado coach Tad Boyle said. “And you can win championships. This is a small championship, but every one of these tournaments played throughout the country, you have an opportunity to compete for a championship. That’s something we relish.”
Bangot Dak had 15 points and 11 rebounds against Washington for his first career double-double and also blocked three shots while winning tournament MVP honors.
Dak is averaging 12.6 points and a team-best 7.4 rebounds. He also leads the club with 12 blocked shots.
Isaiah Johnson averages a team-high 14.9 points and Sebastian Rancik ranks second at 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 it with Saturday night’s 75-69 victory at Oregon State. Martel Williams scored 19 points and Devon Malcolm added 16.
Lancers coach Rick Croy sidestepped talk that beating the Beavers represented a statement win for the program.
“It’s more of a stamp than a statement,” Croy said. “We continue to stamp that it’s team first. A lot of different guys stepped up. We knew there would be some storms. There were some sequences that if we weren’t tied together, it could have cracked us.”
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-best 11 3-pointers.
Five Lancers average more than five rebounds per game and the team ranks fourth nationally with a plus-14.3 margin on the boards. Colorado (plus-6.8) also fares well in that category.
Boyle is certainly worried about the task of handling the Lancers.
“Because Cal Baptist is a good team,” Boyle said. “They’re well-coached. They’ve got good players. We can’t take anything for granted.”
