Basketball returns to the CU Events Center on Wednesday night when the Buffaloes host the Colorado School of Mines Orediggers for a preseason exhibition game.
It will be the first opponent CU has faced since sweeping a four-game exhibition trip in Costa Rica in August.
Despite their Division II status, the Orediggers should not be taken lightly by the young Buffaloes. These two programs met for a season opener exhibition back in 2018 and Colorado fell behind six at the half before eventually winning 66-57. Evan Battey, who had seven points, and Eli Parquet are the only remaining Buffs that played in that game.
Colorado School of Mines finished the 2020-21 season 18-3 and reached the Elite Eight in the NCAA Division II tournament. Coming into this season, the Orediggers opened at No. 5 in the preseason NABC poll.
The game will be a valuable opportunity for Tad Boyle to see where everybody, especially his underclassmen, stands on the team.
“I’m going to be evaluating are you able to play with the standards that we’ve set forth?” Boyle said. “Are you able to do your job? If your job is to rebound, are you rebounding? If your job is to crash the boards offensively, are you crashing the boards? Are you executing your part of the play?”
Tipoff is at 7 p.m. MST.
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