No. 8 ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ (18-5, 9-3) at Colorado (16-7, 7-5)Â | CU Events Center, Boulder | 8 p.m. Saturday | ESPN |Â 1290-AM, 107.5-FM
PROBABLE STARTERS
ARIZONA
G Kylan Boswell (6-2 sophomore)
G Caleb Love (6-4 senior)
F Pelle Larsson (6-6 senior)
F Keshad Johnson (6-7 senior)
C Oumar Ballo (7-0 senior)
COLORADO
G KJ Simpson (6-2 junior)
G J’Vonne Hadley (6-6 senior)
F Cody Williams (6-8 freshman)
F Tristan da Silva (6-9 senior)
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C Eddie Lampkin (6-11 senior)
How they match up
The last time: ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ held Colorado to 36.4% shooting and scored 25 points off 18 Colorado turnovers in a 97-50 romp over the Buffaloes on Jan. 4 at McKale Center. Colorado was playing without two of its top three scorers, forwards Oscar da Silva (ankle) and Cody Williams (wrist) while former UA signee K.J. Simpson went 5 for 17 from the field while missing all three 3s he took. Wing Pelle Larsson led the Wildcats with 18 points and seven rebounds.
The last time at the CU Events Center: ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ didn’t make the trip to Colorado last season bedcasue of the Pac-12’s unbalanced schedule after suffering one of its only three regular-season losses in 2021-22 at Boulder. The Buffaloes beat the Wildcats 79-63 on Feb. 22, 2022, overcoming a 37-32 ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ lead at halftime by keeping UA to just 35.3% shooting over the first 12 minutes of the second half while shooting 65.0% itself. Colorado also kept UA guard Bennedict Mathurin scoreless in the second half after he scored 12 points in the first half while center Christian Koloko had just four points while mired in foul trouble.
Series history: ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ leads Colorado 24-16 and has won four of the past five games, but the Wildcats have lost five straight games at the CU Events Center. UA last beat the Buffaloes in Boulder during their 2014-15 Elite Eight season, then lost 75-72 in 2015-16, 80-77 in 2017-18, 67-60 in 2018-19 and 79-63 in 2021-22.
What’s new with the Buffs: Just 1-6 in true road games, Colorado moved to 13-0 at home after beating ASU 82-70 on Thursday, its best-ever record at the CU Events Center. J’Vonne Hadley led the Buffaloes with 19 points and 11 rebounds while guard KJ Simpson had 17 points, six rebounds and eight assists despite shooting just 5-for-14 from the field.
Without da Silva and Williams at McKale Center last month, the Buffaloes are back to nearly full strength, though forward Luke O’Brien missed Colorado’s past two games with a sprained ankle and is questionable for Saturday. O’Brien practiced with the Buffaloes on Friday but Colorado coach Tad Boyle said he wasn’t sure if O’Brien would play.
In Pac-12 play, Colorado leads the conference in free-throw shooting percentage (79.2) and is third in 3-point shooting percentage (37.4) but ranks in the middle of the conference in both overall field-goal percentage (46.1) and field-goal percentage defense (44.5). The Buffaloes trail only ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ in rebounding margin at plus-4.58 and lead the conference in defensive rebounding percentage, collecting the ball 76.6% of the time off opponents’ missed shots.
Picked to finish fifth in the Pac-12 in the conference’s official preseason poll, Colorado sits in a tie for fourth place with UCLA, two games behind ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ and a game behind a second-place tie between Washington State and Oregon at 8-4.
He said it: “Da Silva presents a lot of challenges; he can play like the five the four the three for him. He shoots it well, can switch defensively. Cody Williams is an explosive scorer. When he's on, he's one of the best freshmen in the country, and it's probably gonna be one of the first five or 10 picks this this summer in the NBA draft. He's a special talent.
“They have so many interchangeable parts. They have a lot of good players, and they have good size and skill. Hadley's developed more of a perimeter game and he's a really good player. O'Brian's got good size, can drive, shoot, penetrate, rebound. So they can really throw a lot of bodies at you.
"It's one of those games where you have to be ready to play. It's like the NCAA tournament. You win a great game Thursday night, you have to come back Saturday. Get right back at it.†— UA associate head coach Jack Murphy, who scouted the Buffaloes.
Key players
Colorado – KJ Simpson
The Wildcats made the former UA signee work hard for his 10 points at McKale Center, but he’ll have more help around him this time. Named to the Wooden Award’s 20-player late season watch list, Simpson was 5 for 17 from the field while missing all three 3s he took at McKale. He had had seven rebounds but had eight turnovers to pair with just two assists.Â
ARIZONA — Pelle Larsson
How much energy will the Wildcats' do-everything wing have after logging 48 minutes on Thursday at Salt Lake City, second only to guard Caleb Love (49)? Larsson had a career-high 27 points on Thursday and also had a productive night against the Buffaloes on Jan. 4, with 18 points on 8-for-12 shooting with seven rebounds and two assists. But he didn’t have to defend da Silva or Williams and probably will have to help on both of them this time..
SIDELINES
Unusual injuryÂ
Not only was UA keeping quiet about the nature of guard Kylan Boswell’s left shoulder injury on Thursday at Utah, but the origin of also appeared somewhat curious.
With 5:30 left in the second half, Boswell turned to chase Utah’s Gabe Madsen on the left perimeter and outstretched his arms. A Pac-12 Networks replay appeared to show  him making only light contact with Madsen as the Utah guard raced by.
But Boswell slumped over, grimacing in pain and headed into the locker room with UA trainer Justin Kokoskie while clutching his left shoulder. He returned game with 1:32 left in the second half, after Kokoskie took a massage gun to his left shoulder as he warmed up behind the team bench.
After the game, UA coach Tommy Lloyd said he didn’t know what happened but was told only that Boswell was good to return. UA had no update on Boswell’s condition Friday.
"He told me he was fine to come back in," Lloyd said Thursday. "Obviously, he got hit in the shoulder or something."
Williams on mend
Because he’s a projected NBA lottery pick, Colorado freshman forward Cody Williams isn’t expected to have many chances to play against an ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ team that recruited him heavily out of Gilbert Perry High School.
He missed one of those chances when a wrist injury sidelined him during the Buffaloes’ Jan. 4 visit to McKale, the second in a string of three injuries that has kept him nine total games this season.
But while he is expected to play Saturday with a face mask resulting from a slight facial fracture earlier this month, Williams isn’t making a big deal of it.
“It’s the same feeling as when I missed all the other games,†Williams said Friday after Colorado’s practice. “I just wanted to be out there competing no matter what team it is, wherever we’re going. Not being able to help my teammates on the floor is the worst feeling.â€
Although the Wildcats were a finalist in landing Williams, he said facing them on the court Saturday also won’t feel any different than any other team.
It's "just because I come to every game with the same mindset no matter what -- and that's just to kill everything. Do whatever I can to get a win,†Williams said. “For me, relationships, all that stuff kind of goes out the window when I play and I'm just kind of locked in.
“Then, afterwards on the court, I always talk to them because I do know them. We are friendly. There's no bad blood or anything like that.â€
A teammate of UA forward Dylan Anderson at Perry, Williams said he chose Colorado because he believed in Colorado coach Tad Boyle and the opportunity the Buffs presented him.
“I could make an immediate impact right away and kind of help this team go where we see ourselves going,†Williams said. “But I know a lot of other schools would have (that opportunity) too. It was a hard decision.â€
Getting in sync
But even with Williams and Tristan da Silva back after a three-game absence last month, Colorado coach Tad Boyle said it’s still taken time to get fully in sync, for example with KJ Simpson returning to more of a facilitating role after having to be a go-to scorer when da Silva and Williams were out.
Simpson took 17 shots on Jan. 4 at McKale, scoring 10 points but has had 21 assists in his past four games, including eight on Thursday against ASU.
“Those are the subtle differences that it just takes time to get used to,†Boyle said.
With Williams, Boyle said, there’s an individual adjustment in being a freshman who has been forced off the floor on three different occasions this season because of injuries – those to his foot, wrist and face.
“It's hard enough for freshmen to go through a season with all the ups and the downs but to also have the starts and stops has been difficult," Boyle said.,
“But the good thing is, a lot of times freshmen in the middle of February hit a wall mentally and they hit a wall physically. I don't think he'll be in that camp because he has been forced to rest.â€
Numbers game
3 – ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ wins in four overtime games under Tommy Lloyd, against Wichita State and TCU in 2021-22 and against Utah on Thursday (the lone loss was against FAU this season).
85.9 – Colorado’s average points scored during its 13 home games this season.
299 – KJ Simpson’s career assist total in less than three seasons.
-- Bruce Pascoe