Colorado Basketball’s Identity Crisis: Defense Missing in Action
For over a decade, Tad Boyle’s Colorado teams have been known for two things: defense and rebounding. That’s been the foundation, the calling card, the identity.
But this year’s version of the Buffaloes? It’s a different story - and not in a good way.
The Buffs are now riding a five-game losing streak, and the common thread through those defeats isn’t hard to spot. It’s not the offense - that part’s humming.
This team can score, and score with the best of them. But they can’t stop anyone.
And in the Big 12, where every night feels like a fistfight, that’s a recipe for disaster.
Colorado’s defense hasn’t just slipped - it’s fallen off a cliff. Even in the nonconference slate, Big Sky opponents were lighting them up. Now, in the meat of the Big 12 schedule, the Buffs are getting torched in ways we haven’t seen during Boyle’s 16 years in Boulder.
Their latest loss, a home defeat to Central Florida, might be the low point. UCF didn’t just beat the Buffs - they shredded them.
For the first time in 12 years, an opponent shot over 60% from the field at the CU Events Center. And they didn’t just do it in one half.
They did it in both.
To put that in perspective: in the 19 halves of basketball leading up to that game, Colorado had only allowed a team to shoot 60% in a half twice - once to Northern Colorado and once to Eastern Washington. UCF made it look easy, and that’s a red flag that can’t be ignored.
Boyle didn’t sugarcoat it afterward.
“For a coach that prides himself on being able to coach defense... yeah, it’s frustrating,” he said. “Sometimes I feel it means more to me than it means to them on that end of the floor.”
That’s a heavy statement. And it speaks to something deeper than just missed rotations or bad closeouts.
It’s about intensity. Grit.
That edge you need to dig in and get stops when it matters. Right now, the Buffs don’t have it.
Boyle pointed to stretches in recent road games - at Cincinnati, at West Virginia - where he thought the team showed signs of life defensively. But those flashes didn’t carry over.
UCF became the seventh team in 20 games to shoot at least 50% against the Buffs. That’s not a blip.
That’s a trend.
And the numbers back it up. Colorado is allowing opponents to shoot 45.8% from the field and 37.1% from three - both on pace to be the worst marks of Boyle’s tenure.
The previous low point came in his first season back in 2010-11, when the Buffs gave up 44.8% shooting. This year’s team is flirting with setting a new floor.
The timing couldn’t be worse. The Buffs are about to hit the teeth of their Big 12 schedule, starting with a road trip to No.
9 Iowa State. And after that?
More of the same - matchups against the top six scoring offenses in the league still loom. If the defense doesn’t improve - and fast - this losing streak could stretch even longer.
Guard Barrington Hargress hit the nail on the head: “Consistency is a big thing in this league. Defense is the thing that’s going to win you games.”
He’s not wrong. The Buffs have shown they can defend in spurts.
But 40-minute games aren’t won in spurts. They’re won with sustained effort, communication, and urgency.
That’s what’s missing.
This team has the offensive firepower to hang with anyone. But unless they rediscover their defensive identity - the one that’s defined the Boyle era - they’ll keep finding themselves on the wrong end of the scoreboard.
And in a league as deep and unforgiving as the Big 12, that’s a tough place to be.