Growing Pains for Bzdelik鈥檚 Buffs
Sophomore Cory Higgins was named to the Rainbow Classic all-tournament team.
The men鈥檚 basketball team finished the nonconference season with an 8-6 record for the second consecutive year under coach Jeff Bzdelik.
The pre-Big 12 portion of the season included a victory over rival Colorado State and a disheartening home loss to Texas Christian in early December.
Bzdelik has tried to keep a long-term perspective when it comes to his young Buffs. The 12-man active roster at the start of 2009 included 10 players who were either freshmen or sophomores.
鈥淲e鈥檙e just so blasted young and we鈥檙e playing against teams that have juniors and seniors,鈥 Bzdelik told the Boulder Camera.
鈥淚鈥檓 not disappointed. I鈥檓 just realistic.鈥
On Jan. 5 sophomore guard Cory Higgins set a CU and Big 12 record by making his 40th consecutive free throw. In December, after scoring 33 points against CSU, Higgins became the first CU man in three years to be named Big 12 Player of the Week.