Kim English returned to the CU Events Center on Thursday morning and was greeted with beaming smiles and enthusiastic hugs.
The renewing of acquaintances Friday night might not be quite as friendly.
One of the biggest tests of the nonconference schedule arrives for the Colorado men’s basketball team, which hosts English and his Providence Friars at the CU Events Center. English spent two seasons at CU under head coach Tad Boyle, and it will be a reunion on several fronts as Providence and Colorado meet for the first time.
“You don’t want to play your friends, but it’s a quality game,” English said. “I remember going through the growing pains with Tyler Bey and McKinley Wright and D’Shawn Schwartz and Evan Battey and seeing those young guys as they grew up.
“Then I left for Tennessee, I got to watch them reap the benefits of all the getting knocked on the head as a young guy, and watch them play in the NCAA Tournament. From Tad, I learned my coaching foundation defensively, programmatically, ethically. Tad Boyle is every single thing that’s right about college basketball, and I’m forever indebted to him.”
English arrived at CU during a transformative time for Boyle’s program, and one not unlike the current state of the Buffs.
When English arrived ahead of the 2017-18 season, the Buffs had essentially bid farewell to all of the players who paved the way for four NCAA Tournament berths in five seasons between 2011-12 and 2015-16. A new crop of freshmen led by Wright was tasked with restoring the CU program to its former heights, and eventually they did just that. But English, a former guard at Missouri who formed a particularly tight bond with Wright and the Buffs’ other guards, was in Boulder for two seasons of growing pains before CU re-emerged nationally during the 2019-20 season, which would have ended with a return to the NCAA Tournament had it not been canceled at the start of the COVID pandemic.
“I just remember him being so positive with your guys, and kind of filling the role that I’m in now in relating to the guys at a different level than maybe some of our older coaches,” said Battey, now in his second season as a CU assistant. “He left an imprint on our program and our togetherness. When he left, I remember we were all crying in the film room. You don’t quite understand the coaches’ carousel as a young college athlete. But he brought toughness to our program.”
English spent just two seasons at CU before working as an assistant for Rick Barnes for two seasons at Tennessee. He received his first head coach job at George Mason ahead of the 2021-22 season, where he was joined by his former CU coaching compatriot Nate Tomlinson as an assistant coach. Tomlinson followed English to Providence for two seasons before returning to Colorado this past offseason.
Tomlinson helped get the home-and-home series scheduled while he was still at Providence. Now he’s welcoming a group of old friends to the Events Center that includes Providence assistants Dennis Felton and Matt Palumbo, both of whom coached with Tomlinson at George Mason and Providence.
Old friends, sort of at least.
“Hindsight’s always 20-20. It doesn’t seem like a great idea now,” Tomlinson joked. “Not this week they’re not (friends). But most of the staff were together for four years. The common theme is the competitiveness in all of us, and we’re not friends this week.”
English’s club has profiled similarly to the Buffs in the early stages of the season as a high-scoring group still behind the curve defensively. Providence has hit 100 points twice in three games, doing so during an overtime loss last week against Virginia Tech and then again, in regulation, Tuesday during a home win against Penn.
CU has averaged 93.0 points during its 2-0 start, but both opponents have shot at least .518 against the Buffs. That includes a .597 mark put up by Eastern Washington, the highest shooting percentage by an opponent during a CU win in Boyle’s 16-season tenure.
“Our offense is ahead of our defense right now,” English said. “We’ve got 10, 11 guys who we really believe in. It’s a challenge to play them all, but one of the advantages is anyone can have a big night on any given night.”
Providence Friars at CU Buffs men’s basketball
TIPOFF: Friday, 7 p.m., CU Events Center.
TV/RADIO: ESPN+/KOA 850 AM and 94.1 FM.
RECORDS: Providence 2-1; Colorado 2-0.
COACHES: Providence — Kim English, 3rd season (35-35, 69-64 overall). Colorado — Tad Boyle, 16th season (314-204, 370-270 overall).
KEY PLAYERS: Providence — G Jason Edwards, 6-1, Gr. (17.7 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 3.3 apg, .436 FG%); G Jaylin Sellers, 6-5, Gr. (16.7 ppg, 3.3 rpg, .486 FG%); G Stefan Vaaks, 6-7, Fr. (16.7 ppg, 13-for-13 FT); G Corey Floyd Jr., 6-4, R-Sr. (11.7 ppg, 3.3 rpg, .500 FG%); G Ryan Mela, 6-7, So. (11.0 ppg, 8.0 rpg, .583 FG%); F Jamier Jones, 6-6, Fr. (10.3 ppg, 4.3 rpg, .722 FG%). Colorado — G Isaiah Johnson, 6-1, Fr. (20.5 ppg, 5-for-9 3-pointers, 16-for-18 FTs); F Sebastian Rancik, 6-11, So. (18.5 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 17-for-19 FTs); G Barrington Hargress, 6-1, R-Jr. (12.5 ppg, 3.5 apg, .524 FG%); F Bangot Dak, 7-0, Jr. (10.0 ppg, 9.0 rpg, .471 FG%); C Elijah Malone, 6-10, Gr. (8.5 ppg, 8.0 rpg, 3.5 apg, .556 FG%).
NOTES: With Boyle and English colliding, it will mark the first time Boyle has faced a former assistant as the head coach of the opposition since Rodney Billups’ Denver Pioneers visited CU on Nov. 14, 2017. … Providence has scored 100 points in consecutive games for the first time since early in the 2008-09 season. … CU led the Big 12 in turnovers last year but has averaged just 9.0 through the first two games, which included five extra minutes of play during last week’s overtime win against Eastern Washington. … The Buffs host Alabama State on Monday (7 p.m., ESPN+).
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