The Colorado men's basketball team has completed arguably the least challenging portion of its Big 12 Conference schedule.
The Buffaloes did so without picking up a single win.
The misery continued for the Buffs on Saturday, falling 83-73 at Oklahoma State. Through Saturday's games, only five other teams besides the Buffs had played six conference games while earning two or fewer wins. CU has played, and lost to, three of them.
The Buffs play another one of those teams on Tuesday with a late-night visit from BYU (9 p.m., ESPNU), which fell to 2-4 in the Big 12 with a crushing one-point loss in overtime at rival Utah on Saturday night. If the Buffs' slide continues, the chase for the elusive first win of the second tenure in the Big 12 only gets more difficult, as on Saturday the Buffs visit Arizona, where they never won in 13 seasons in the Pac-12.
At 0-6 in the Big 12, the Buffs are one loss away from matching the longest losing streak in 15 seasons under head coach Tad Boyle. The 2016-17 team lost seven in a row at the start of the Pac-12 schedule.
"What's important for me, as the head coach, that I cannot get down. I can't lose my belief in these young men," Boyle said after Saturday's defeat. "I said it before, I'll say it again -- I signed their scholarship agreements. I recruited them. That's on me. All I can do is do the best job I can to help this team figure out how to win the next game. And that's not going to change from now until the end of the season.
"It's not about 'Oh, it's getting harder, it's getting harder.' It's about the mental mindset that we have to have. And quite frankly, in the big picture of things, you learn more from losing than you do from winning. Now, I hate losing. I don't want to accept it. I'm really disappointed that we're at this point. But we're at this point because of me and the decisions I've made. I've got to do a better job of coaching this group."
While youngsters like sophomore Bangot Dak and freshman Sebastian Rancik have shown encouraging signs of growth in recent weeks, the veterans the Buffs depend on the most are scuffling at both ends of the floor.
Senior guard Julian Hammond III hasn't hit a 3-pointer in the past two games and has posted three straight games with more turnovers than assists. Graduate transfer Andrej Jakimovski has watched his 3-point percentage dip to a career-low .304 after going 1-for-10 during the past three games. Third-year guard RJ Smith, whose improved play has been one of CU's bright spots for much of the season, has gone 1-for-12 on 3-pointers with a combined 11 points in his past four games. Fourth-year guard Javon Ruffin has showed signs of warming up recently, but his 3-point percentage remains at .273 (9-for-33).
Collectively, the Buffs continue to lead the Big 12 in turnovers by a wide margin, and they have surrendered at least 10 offensive rebounds in four of six Big 12 games.
"A couple guys missed their box-outs, and a couple long rebounds you could tell they just wanted it more," Dak said. "That just goes with effort and toughness, like coach is always talking about. That's just another key aspect you've got to bring every time, every game. That's just something we've got to figure out."