Trips to McKale have made Colorado Buffaloes say 'D'oh'

If K.J. Simpson and the Colorado Buffaloes wanted to make this one personal, that would be pretty easy.

The Buffs haven’t beaten Arizona at McKale Center since they joined the Pac-12 in 2011-12, including a controversial 2013 loss, and Simpson is a Pac-12 Player of the Year candidate who once signed up to play for the Wildcats.

So entering their final meeting at McKale Center in Pac-12 play Thursday before both teams head off to the Big 12 next season, the Buffaloes have reason to dislike McKale fans … and McKale fans have reason to dislike them.

Or at least UA fans could keep targeting the highly-regarded Colorado point guard who wore Wildcats gear while committing to play for Sean Miller as a high school senior in 2020.

“I still hear it from their fans, for sure,” Simpson said. “But it’s not like there’s any bad blood or anything.”

There’s not, Simpson said, because of his relationship with UA players and Tommy Lloyd, the coach who almost inherited Simpson before their initial lack of a relationship led to Simpson’s decommitment and subsequent choice of Colorado.

“Love their coach,” Simpson says of Lloyd now. “Saw him at Pac-12 media day and we had a great conversation and I know a couple of guys on the team I have great relationships with.”

While Simpson said his history with Arizona “definitely still resides with me,” he said it’s about what the team needs more than anything about him.

Except what the Buffaloes need, if they want to make a run for Pac-12’s title and erase some old history, is a win Thursday — and Simpson is the guy who has led them to 11 wins so far this season.

An all-freshman team selection in 2021-22 who grew into a second-team all-Pac-12 pick last season, Simpson said he has always aimed for a well-rounded game and had a basketball-playing father who instilled into him the importance of leadership.

“I’ve just been gravitated to being a leader,” Simpson said. “ My dad always told me I could either be a leader or I could be just one of the guys and I always wanted to be in that leader role. And that’s why all my game is predicated to doing things like I’m doing — all around, not just a one-trick pony. That’s just always been who I am.

“It may not have been right away. When I came here as a freshman, my role was completely different. It was to be that spark off the bench. I just bought into it and trusted it because I understood that it was all about what the team needed from me.”

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Last season, without well-liked big man Evan Battey around, Simpson played more of a leadership role with da Silva. That’s carried over into this season, at least until da Silva was hurt last week.

That’s when Simpson led the Buffaloes to a home sweep of Washington and Washington State despite the fact that CU was without da Silva and five-star freshman Cody Williams, the Buffs’ third-leading scorer.

Against Washington, when Colorado had five players score in double figures, Simpson collected 21 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists to just one turnover. Then he scored 34 points against WSU when CU’s offensive attack failed to diversify in the same manner.

“K.J. is doing whatever he can do to help our team win, which is something that good point guards do,” Colorado coach Tad Boyle said. “He’s turned into a terrific point guard.”

It’s unclear how much of a load Simpson will have to shoulder this time. Both da Silva and Williams are expected to make the trip to McKale Center, but Boyle said Tuesday he wasn’t sure if either would be able to play.

But while Colorado hasn’t lost a game without either player — beating Miami in Brooklyn, New York, just after Williams was hurt — Boyle says the odds are tougher to keep up that streak Thursday without those two.

Even the way Simpson and the rest of the Buffaloes have been playing.

“They’re connected, they believe in each other. They’re tough,” Boyle said of his players. “But there’s areas of the game we have to continue to improve upon. And especially when you go on the road and play against a team like Arizona, you can get exposed.”

Arizona is 11-0 against the Buffaloes at McKale in Pac-12 play, with none of those games decided by less than nine points, though there was also the infamous “Sabatino Chen” game of 2012-13 — in which Arizona won 92-83 in overtime the Colorado guard’s potential game-winning 3-pointer was waved off at the regulation buzzer.

But maybe things are different now.

The Buffs are 11-2 and have begun Pac-12 play at 2-0 for the first time in nine seasons, while No. 10 Arizona (10-3) may have lost its mojo. The Wildcats have lost three of their past five games and are breaking down defensively, having allowed Stanford to shoot 58.1% on Sunday in a shocking 100-82 loss at Maples Pavilion.

“We’ll see,” Boyle said. “We’re shorthanded and our margin for error goes down. You want to give yourself a chance to win as you come down the stretch, and when you play Arizona, especially at McKale, you better take good shots, you better take care of the ball and try to disrupt Arizona’s rhythm. Because their record at home is pretty stellar.”