Boyle notes improvement from scrimmage to opener

BOU LDER» Unlike the postgame reviews after several nonconference games last year, Colorado basketball coach Tad Boyle didn’t expound on how many games Drake has a chance of winning this year.

With a first-year coach and a cluster of transfers, the Bulldogs aren’t a very good team, a point underscored by the Buffaloes’ 100-71 win in their season opener Tuesday night. Nevertheless, it was a performance as complete and dominant as anything CU produced during nonconference play a year ago.

As the Buffs start turning the page to Friday’s home date against Nebraska Omaha (7 p.m., Pac-12 Mountain), the confidence boost they received from routing Drake is balanced with the knowledge that there remains room for plenty of improvement.

“We’ve obviously made significant progress since our two tests that we had with the SMU scrimmage ... and then obviously the Mines game 10 days ago,” Boyle said. “I had two things on the board I wanted them to do, which was play really hard for 40 minutes. Which I think they did. I loved our effort. And play with confidence. That’s something you can’t teach, you can’t coach, but you want your players to have a little bit of swagger in terms of how they feel about themselves when they step on the floor.”

“Overall, I was pleased with the first game.”

Despite a ho-hum start CU finished with a .589 percentage from the floor, the Buffs’ best mark since posting a .592 at home against Arizona State on March 1, 2015.