WSU vs. Colorado: Preview, TV info and game thread

The Washington State Cougars are going to play a basketball game against the Colorado Buffaloes at 5 p.m. PT because the game is on a schedule and schedules must be followed, even though we’re all only about 48 hours removed from the death of Tyler Hilinski and the student-athlete community at WSU is one that is tight knit.

The women’s basketball team already dealt with that, playing a game last night at Beasley Coliseum and beating the Washington Huskies in overtime by ... 3.

Of course they did.

No matter the emotional investment in tonight’s game — which you’ll find the game on Pac-12 Network or Pac-12.com — the men are going to probably have a much tougher go of it. Boulder is one of the toughest places in the country to play (second toughest, if you believe kenpom.com’s home-court advantage ratings), and the matchup isn’t exactly a favorable one.

While WSU has had the top shooting offense in the Pac-12 through the first three weeks of league play (no, really, it’s true), the Buffs have the best shooting defense through the first three weekends. They do it by defending the paint exceedingly well while simultaneously limiting opponents’ three-point attempts. If the Cougs want to rely on their 3-point shooting tonight — as they often do — they’re going to face an uphill battle scoring points.

The good news is that the Colorado offense has sometimes been atrocious. However, it’s been much better at home than on the road, and the Cougs’ defense is bad.

Maybe Bad Colorado Offense will show up and the Cougs will have a chance to win a slugfest. Or maybe Home Colorado Offense will show up and they’ll get run off the floor.

Kenpom.com predicts this as a matchup the Cougs win roughly three out of 10 times with the Buffaloes winning by an average of 74-67.