Quick Post: Teasing Fresno St

Hoping to shake off last week's rough performance up in Ft Collins, the BasketBuffs are back on the home hardwood of the CEC this evening to take on Fresno St.  The past 26 home non-conference games have all ended in Buff victories, and there's a pretty good chance that streak extends to 27 tonight. Tip-off is at 7 tonight.  There's no TV coverage, so tune in to AM 760 if you can't make it to the CEC.

The Bulldogs are a below-average team from an average league (very rarely does the WAC feature any squads of significance beyond the top-tier Nevada program), but they could pose a challenge.  They bring a new coach, Rodney Terry, to the court tonight along with a high usage guard, Kevin Olekaibe, who could cause trouble for the Buffs and their shaky perimeter defense.  Olekaibe, a 6-2 sophomore out of Las Vegas,  takes a ridiculous 37% of FSU's shots while on the court, so putting the lock-down on him will be a key to victory.

Most defensive eyes should be focused on Olekaibe this evening.

Fresno St will also put you on the line, so CU would behoove themselves to improve on their 59% free throw shooting this evening. Additionally, CU should, yet again, have a size advantage in the paint, as no Bulldog player of consequence stands over 6-8.

Also look for the unveiling of CU's new power forward this evening, as freshman Damiene Cain should suit up and get some minutes tonight.  I'm a little surprised at how quickly he has recovered from missing the first month in order to work on academics, but he should bring a much needed big body to the rotation (the disappointing level of support for Austin inside is another column for another day).

FSU is coming in off of a 30-point home win over Utah, but, as the Buffs will find out in 3 1/2 weeks, Utah is terrible this season (the Utes lone win this season is over the budding basketball powerhouse that is San Diego Christian... whoopie!).  Essentially, Fresno St doesn't scare me too much, and the Buffs should be able to handily beat the Bulldogs tonight... provided the free throw situation doesn't stab us in the back again.  The team totally swears they're working on that, btw.

CU 78 - FSU 65

GO BUFFS!  BEAT THE BULLDOGS!