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Colorado`s head coach watched his team`s season opener on the internet in North Carolina after dealing with a family emergency on Friday.
"Jeff said he had a good picture on Buff TV," said associate head coach Steve McClain, who ran the bench during CU`s 88-72 victory over Arkansas-Pine Bluff at the Coors Events Center. "He thought defensively, the first half especially, we were good. In the second half we didn`t play as well."
And so McClain, who also ran practice on Saturday morning, had the attention of the young Buffs as preparations for Monday`s game against Coppin State began.
The Buffs (1-0) were outscored 50-45 in the second half and out-rebounded 33-25 for the game by the Golden Lions of the SWAC.
The looming EA Sports Maui Invitational isn`t going to be paradise for CU if the players don`t start cleaning the glass a little better.
"The two areas we have to work on as we get to bigger games are interior defense and back-side rebounding," McClain said. "What we`ve got to come back and work on is our defense. We got caught in some areas where we didn`t get the back-side rebounder down where he needed to be. And so we`ve got to focus on that for a couple days."
Arkansas-Pine Bluff grabbed 14 offensive rebounds that led to 13 second-chance points. Point guard Nate Tomlinson was CU`s leading rebounder with six.
"I wouldn`t say it`s a concern," Cory Higgins said of the home team losing a little bit of intensity after building a 24-point lead with 18:05 remaining. "We know what we did and we know what we have to do."
Bzdelik was scheduled to return home on Saturday night. CU`s third-year head coach plans to be back on the bench Monday night.
Point taken
Tomlinson, coming off the bench for the first time in his CU career after starting all 28 games he played in as a freshman, gave the team a spark with seven assists and only one turnover in 32 minutes.
"As long as we won, that`s all I really care about," Tomlinson said when asked how he felt about not starting.
Dwight Thorne, who had six turnovers and no assists, and Alec Burks, who had three assists and no turnovers, each played some point guard when Tomlinson wasn`t on the floor.
"Six turnovers, that`s something I`ve got to work on. I didn`t expect to have those," Thorne said. "Starting out at point guard is a little different for me, but I`ll be able to adjust quickly."
Sigh of relief
Levi Knutson said X-rays on his injured right hip were negative and showed no structural damage.
The junior guard, who has had surgeries on both hips during his CU career, did not play in the opener.
"I`ll be back soon," said Knutson, who was the first player to arrive at practice on Saturday.
Notable
Higgins (16-for-16) made five more free throws than Arkansas-Pine Bluff attempted (11-for-18). ...
Shane Harris-Tunks, a 6-11 freshman from Australia, led the Buffs with two blocked shots. He also scored four points, had two assists and two steals in just seven minutes of action. ...
Arkansas-Pine Bluff forward Lebaron Weathers, who scored 22 points and grabbed 10 rebounds against CU last season, was held to four points on 2-for-7 shooting with six rebounds on Friday.
Quotable
"There was overall a lot of free throw shooting in the game, we had 18 and Colorado had 40," Arkansas-Pine Bluff head coach George Ivory said after the Big 12 officials were finally done blowing the whistle. "They did a great job offensively."
