Boyle Bowl II: CU Buffs men’s basketball hosts exhibition against Pomona-Pitzer
Boyle Bowl II is coming to the CU Events Center.
After four full weeks of preseason practices, the Colorado men's basketball team is eager to match up against someone other than the Buffaloes' own teammates. They will get their chance on Saturday, as the competition aspect of the preseason begins to heat up with an exhibition game battle against Division III Pomona-Pitzer at the CU Events Center (3 p.m., ESPN+).
Pomona-Pitzer features senior forward Pete Boyle, the son of CU coach Tad Boyle and a former standout at Boulder High. CU hosted Pomona-Pitzer for an exhibition once before, ahead of the 2019-20 season, when Boyle's older son, Jack, was a senior for the Sagehens.
Pete Boyle averaged 10.6 points and 5.2 rebounds last year for a Pomona-Pitzer team that went 19-7.
"It's a little selfish on my part. But as a father, I miss so many of his games. First when he was at Boulder High School and even since he's been at Pomona-Pitzer," coach Boyle said. "I see him on the computer, but I don't get to see many live. I'm appreciative that his coach is willing to come out here and do this. And I think it's neat for their team and their kids to play a Division I team and on a Division I floor in a Division I arena. It will be fun to compete against Pete.
"But I'm really interested to see how our guys respond. It will be the first time we have to put five guys on the floor and have substitutions. I plan on playing a lot of different guys on Saturday. I don't think it will be indicative of the minutes guys will play when the season comes. That's going to be a work in progress."
Saturday's exhibition caps the fourth week of CU's preseason and continues a gradual increase in the competition leading into the Nov. 4 season opener at home against Eastern Washington. The Buffs have played intrasquad scrimmages the past two weeks, including the annual open-to-the-public workout last week. Next week, the Buffs travel to Texas for a closed scrimmage before turning their sights toward Eastern Washington.
The exhibition will mark the first action against a live foe for a number of new Buffs, including three graduate transfers (Trevor Baskin, Andrej Jakimovski, Elijah Malone) and three true freshmen (Andre Crawford, Felix Kossaras, Sebastian Rancik). A number of veteran guards are eager to return to the fray as well. Senior Julian Hammond III missed 13 games last season, including the final 11 in a row, due to back and knee injuries. Third-year sophomore RJ Smith played only seven games last year before suffering season-ending blood clots in his leg. And Courtney Anderson didn't play at all last season while redshirting as a true freshman.
Anderson didn't play in last week's open intrasquad scrimmage after battling a groin injury for much of the preseason, but he returned to practice this past week.
"I can't wait to start playing against someone else," Hammond said. "It's been a long time since I've even played a game for real. I'm excited to get back out on the court, especially playing against a different team. We've had our scrimmages playing against each other, but it's a different feeling playing against somebody else. You're playing with your team against guys, you don't even know them. It's just a whole different feeling. I'm real excited to get out there.
"Every team is going through it right now, but we're getting to that point now. We have an exhibition on Saturday. We have a scrimmage the week after. It's starting to get to the point where it's a mental game now. Every day we've got to be locked in when we get here."
