Tad Boyle Shares His Honest Assessment After Colorado's Near Upset of Arizona

The Colorado Buffaloes came close to pulling off a major upset at the end of the Big 12 regular season against the Arizona Wildcats.

Colorado coach Tad Boyle gave his thoughts in the post-game press conference after the tough loss.

Colorado Buffaloes Coach Tad Boyle Post Game-Press Conference Defense Arizona Wildcats Defense Big 12 Tournament — Mar 7, 2026; Boulder, Colorado, USA; Colorado Buffaloes head coach Tad Boyle talks to his players in the first half against the Arizona Wildcats at the CU Events Center. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images | Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

Colorado’s Fight

Coach Boyle, in his press conference, emphasized that he was quite pleased with the fight that his team showed, and for a lot of the game, it allowed the Buffaloes to be in the lead. The Arizona team is simply just one of the better teams in the country, and more often than not, to beat the best teams, it takes a full 40 minutes.

“Our guys really battled tonight. They really did. I liked the effort that we played with, the toughness that we played with. That’s a hell of a team that we just lost to. They’re Big 12 champions for a reason. I’ve coached 15 years now against Arizona basketball teams. I’m not saying it’s the most talented team they’ve ever had, but it might be the best team they’ve ever had,” said Boyle.

Gameplan Execution

“Their identity, and it showed in the second half, how they came out and just went right inside, right inside. They knew where their advantage was, and they took advantage of that. We didn’t have a lot of answers. We tried to go zone there a little bit in the second half. We tried to double the post, but we couldn’t really get to that. It's not like they did anything that we weren't prepared for. We just weren't good enough to stop them. They shot 70% in the second half, and they just kept going inside,” said Boyle on Arizona’s identity.

As Boyle said, Arizona knew where their advantage was was and they went right at it, which was essentially the difference in the game on the interior. When a team can shoot 70 percent in any half, they will be very tough to beat, let alone in the second half to close out a game.

The Buffaloes also tried to go zone to mix up defensive looks, and even tried to get to double teams in the post, but really, nothing that Colorado tried to do was able to create much success.

The Wildcats, time and time again, really showed who they are, and even through adversity on the road, were able to pick up a gritty win.

“We did our offensive gameplan I thought, for the most part, we scored enough points, and we were efficient enough. Defense was number one because Arizona's really good in transition. Now they got 13 fast break points. So that's a little bit more than we wanted. But the second thing was we had to protect and defend the paint, and we didn't do that. They scored 54 points in the paint, and that was the reason that they won the game, and we didn't. So that's really what it comes down to, it was our inability to do that,” Boyle remarked.

As far as the gameplan goes, it appeared that the Buffaloes did a good enough job offensively to put themselves in a position to win this game, which is something Boyle talked about. However, the defensive end was a different story.

Heading into the Big 12 tournament, Colorado must keep competing like it is. This level of intensity is sure to keep them in games; however, it takes more than effort to win.

The Buffaloes have to dominate defensively on the interior to limit their opponents' ability to get easy shots. Colorado also has to be smarter on offense with shot selections and turnovers, so the transition defense can improve as well.

If the players and coach Boyle can work together, this team has an opportunity to have great success in the Big 12 tournament.

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