Up-and-down Colorado tries to hand Yale first loss

The Yale Bulldogs head to Boulder, Colo., unranked, so that could be a problem for the Colorado Buffaloes.

Colorado (3-3) has shined against ranked opponents, beating Texas A&M and Tennessee — who beat No. 3 Kansas on Friday — but has lost to Grambling, Boise State and UMass.

The Buffaloes will try to reverse that trend when they host Yale (6-0) on Sunday afternoon.

Colorado is coming off a 68-55 loss to Boise State in the fifth-place game of the Myrtle Beach Invitational on Nov. 20. The Buffaloes were without J’Vonne Hadley for the second straight game and Tristan da Silva didn’t play in the second half due to a migraine.

“When he’s out and J’Vonne Hadley is out, we’re pretty exposed in that front line,” Colorado head coach Tad Boyle said.

The Buffaloes have played just one home game so getting back to a familiar court might help their consistency.

“We keep going back and forth — win loss, win loss,” Nique Clifford said. “We’ve just got to get back to the drawing board when we get back. Practice hard and just figure out what we’re doing wrong. We’ve got to play harder as a team.”

The Bulldogs have rolled through their early schedule, winning the Outrigger Rainbow Classic in Honolulu, which included a 62-59 overtime win over Hawaii.

They’ve won every other game by double digits, the latest a 73-44 victory over Vermont on Tuesday. Yale trailed at halftime, which was just the second time it had all season.

“I have a really good staff, and everyone made great suggestions to the team (at halftime) on what we needed to do to be better,” coach James Jones said.

The Bulldogs will see a familiar face Sunday. Jalen Gabbidon, who played for Yale the past three seasons, transferred to Colorado for his final year of eligibility. Gabbidon is averaging 8.8 points this season.

–Field Level Media

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