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Josiah Sanders putting it all together for Colorado mens basketball

1 day ago

Josiah Sanders admits it Not long ago he was trying to fight through a freshman wall Its not a barrier thats easy to break through Yet Sanders has done just that One of three true freshmen who received their first career starts in a win against TCU on Sunday Sanders pushed those recent struggles even further into the background with his performance in the Buffs 8761 victory I think I had faith Sanders said I think I stayed in the gym I stayed talking to my people Youve just got to keep working no matter if I was playing the best basketball of my life or the worst basketball of my life I got to wake up the next day I got to get in the gym and get better I just tried to stay with that Hopefully I can build off these two games and just keep getting better Prior to last weeks trip to Iowa State Sanders endured the biggest rut so far of his freshman season Beginning with CUs loss at West Virginia on Jan 17 Sanders went three consecutive games without scoring a point going 0for4 during that stretch with only three rebounds The run of frustration culminated with Sanders playing a seasonlow 2 minutes 52 seconds during CUs home loss against Central Florida on Jan 24 However during last weeks 30point loss at Iowa State Sanders was one of the Buffs few individual bright spots Turning in what at the time was his secondlongest outing of the season at 21 minutes Sanders went 3for6 with six points and five rebounds matching his secondhighest rebounding total of the season The 6foot5 guard from Denver was even better against TCU Inserted into the starting lineup alongside fellow freshmen Jalin Holland and Tacko Ifaola Sanders made an immediate impact on both ends of the floor and turned in his best allaround performance of the season Sanders recorded the first of his seasonhigh six assists on an early 3pointer by Holland He then knocked down his own 3pointer giving the Buffs an early lead they never relinquished and promptly forced a TCU turnover on the defensive end of the floor Sanders finished 5for9 with a seasonhigh 12 points playing a seasonhigh 2655 With six assists and only one turnover Sanders improved his assisttoturnover rate to 194 35 assists 18 turnovers Although the next starting lineup wont be revealed until the Buffs hit the floor again on Wednesday at Baylor 5 pm MT Peacock chances are forwards Bangot Dak and Sebastian Rancik will return to the starting five while Sanders and Holland return to their bench roles But all the rookies pressed into action showed theyre making strides as the Buffs near the midpoint of the Big 12 schedule I was really really proud of the way they responded CU head coach Tad Boyle said The thing thats nice to see with Sanders hes starting to figure out who he is right now Its interesting I had a meeting with all of our players the last week and I remember talking to some of those freshmen Who you are today as a freshman is not who youre gonna be maybe next year as a sophomore But you have to understand who you are today So many of these guys they want to do what they cant do Or try to do what they struggle at doing No reason to do that Dont show people what you cant do show them what you can do And Sanders can defend he can rebound he plays with energy toughness He made his first three but didnt fall in love with the three Jalin Holland the same way To me that shows progress from those freshmen

Gqlshare Pat Rooney

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