LOS ANGELES — Colorado played miserably for 30 or so minutes at UCLA Thursday night.
USC played diligently and intelligently for most of its win over Utah Thursday night.
So, of course, Colorado played like some big-footed Rocky Mountain beast Saturday night, and USC alternately looked disinterested or helpless.
That’s Pac-12 basketball this season and maybe this postseason. With all the talk of conference improvement and the possibility of placing five teams into the NCAA tournament, such teams as Colorado, Oregon, Arizona and USC should keep in mind that those tournament games are played Thursday-Saturday, or Friday-Sunday. That could mean lots of Pac-12 quantity and not much quality, and maybe nobody making it to the Sweet 16. Arizona has gone 2-0 twice on league weekends this season, but no one else has.
“I think everybody in the conference can tell you about inconsistency,” said Tad Boyle, the Colorado coach, after a no-doubt, 78-57 drilling of the Trojans at Galen Center.
“But I know that if we can play defense and rebound and play together like we did tonight, I like our chances against anyone.”
This should have been a circle-the-date game for both teams. They’re both 17-5 and 6-3 in the league after this. Colorado has beaten Dayton, USC has beaten LSU. But one game does not lead to another.
USC’s starting lineup went 14 for 40 from the field. The Trojans missed 11 of 16 three-pointers, and Onyeka Okongwu usually saw the ball only when he rebounded it. He and Nick Rakocevic missed 10 of 16 shots.
“We just locked in, followed the game plan,” said Colorado point guard McKinley Wright IV. “We were digging into their non-shooters and gapping up, and then we were stunting and recovering on their big guys.”
“We’re not a big steal team, not a big blocked shot team,” said Boyle, although Colorado blocked four and USC blocked none. “We mostly play in the gaps and keep you in front of us. A couple of times, (USC’s) Ethan Anderson would come off ball screens and our hands were high, and we forced some deflections. I thought we executed very well.”
This followed a 72-68 loss in Pauley Pavilion Thursday.
“We took that one personal,” said Tyler Bey, after his 16 points and seven rebounds. “I hadn’t lost to UCLA since I got to Colorado. It wasn’t a game we should have lost.”
That’s right, there is shame in losing to the Bruins these days, although UCLA will try to pump up its league-wide respect Sunday against Utah.
Boyle said the Buffaloes were “quiet but attentive” at Friday’s practice. “I told them that I still felt the same way about them as I have before, still loved them as much,” he said. “But when they play like that, you love them a little bit more.”
The Buffaloes shot 51.9 percent from the floor and had eight steals. When the ball went into the Trojan paint, Colorado’s defenders got stationed in passing lanes and kept it from moving. Only 10 of USC’s 22 field goals were assisted.
So when will aberrations give way to patterns? On Jan. 2 Colorado won by nine at home against Oregon. Three days later it lost by eight, also at home, to Oregon State.
On Jan. 5 the Trojans lost by 32 at Washington, now the league’s 12th-place team despite the presence of probable lottery pick Isaiah Stewart. That followed, by three days, a generally sharp 9-point win at Washington State.
And the Trojans followed up a discouraging double-overtime loss to Oregon with a 20-point win at Oregon State.
Maybe it comes down to haberdashery. Boyle did not wear a tie at Galen Center, as he normally does. He blamed it on a blue-checked shirt.
“I had three ties in my bag,” he said, “but the shirt was a little busy. My wife gets on me when the ties don’t match. I didn’t want to make a fashion faux pas.
“But I’ll be wearing the tie the next week. I’m a tie guy.”
He and USC’s Andy Enfield will be more comfortable when their teams decide that neither Thursday nor Saturday are casual.
