Colorado coach Tad Boyle didn't mince words.
If the CU men's basketball team wants to shake off its poor start in the Pac-12 Conference, and perhaps still make a charge toward the top half of the league standings, the directive Thursday night is clear.
The Buffaloes have to defeat Cal, plain and simple.
While CU generally has been awful on the road and is mired in a tailspin that has featured six losses in eight games, an opportunity to reverse the narrative of the season still remains for the Buffs. However, any turnaround almost certainly requires a win against the Golden Bears, one of the few teams that have sported a bigger limp than the Buffs at the outset of league play.