Buffs need hot hand at two-guard spot
B OULDER» It was a team effort that put the Colorado men’s basketball team in its late-season funk, and no doubt it will require a team effort for the Buffaloes to get back on track before the Pac-12 Conference tournament next week.
Still, there are certain spots on the floor where the Buffs simply need more production. And the two-guard spot is perhaps the first that comes to mind.
Earlier this week, head coach Tad Boyle said Shane Gatling’s starting job was there for the taking, but that the other two players in that rotation, sophomores Eli Parquet and Daylen Kountz, have failed to stake their respective claims to the job. Getting any one of those players back on a hot streak would give the Buffs a huge boost as they continue to prepare for the regular season finale Saturday afternoon at Utah (12:30 p.m. MT, Pac-12 Networks).
Gatling, a senior, has started the past 18 consecutive games but, like many of the Buffs, he has struggled during the team’s three-game losing streak.
“When Eli guards like he’s capable of guarding, I’m extremely happy,” Boyle said. “I think with both Daylen and Eli, I think the message is guard your tail off, take care of the ball, take good shots. That’s all you’ve got to concentrate on.”
The rotation for the starting job at the two-guard spot alongside point guard McKinley Wright IV has been a seasonlong storyline for the Buffs.
Kountz, after the strong finish to his freshman season, started the season’s first five games, but returned to a bench role after going 5-for-25.
Parquet took over from there, starting the next seven games. His role also diminished, including no playing time at all in the first two Pac-12 games. He has become one of the more prominent bench players over the last half of the league schedule.
Gatling enjoyed a big game in the Buffs’ home win against USC two weeks ago, going 5for-8 with 13 points, but during the three-game slide that followed the senior has shot just 5for-15 overall and 1-for-9 on 3pointers. In those three games he also has posted just two assists against three turnovers.
As for Kountz, a player who appeared on the verge of becoming a breakout star during the Buffs’ late-season surge a year ago is mired in a horrific slump.
The Denver East recruit has averaged just 4.8 minutes per game over the past nine contests, mostly as a brief substitute for Wright at the point, and he has shot just 1-for-6 during that nine game span with two assists and six turnovers. The final two of those turnovers occurred in quick succession during Sunday’s loss at Stanford, leading to easy baskets for the Cardinal during a 14-2 run that gave Stanford the lead for good.