The holiday hiatus offers a natural moment for reflection.

The Colorado men’s basketball team isn’t anywhere near where it hopes to be when the calendar reaches March. Yet at the end of nonconference play, with the Buffaloes’ first Big 12 Conference game in nearly 13 years officially one week away as of Monday, head coach Tad Boyle is pleased with the progress his club has made since tipping off his 15th season at CU on Nov. 4.

Offensively, the Buffs are shooting well, owning a .472 overall field goal percentage alongside a .372 mark from long range. CU (9-2) has shared the ball well, averaging 17 assists per game while gradually lowering its turnover rate. The Buffs averaged an untenable 18.3 turnovers through the season’s first three games but have averaged 12.6 in the eight games since, matching a season-low with 10 in three of the past four games.

Defensively, the Buffs have surrendered enough good looks along the perimeter to allow four of their 11 opponents to make at least 11 3-pointers, but CU’s overall defensive 3-point percentage of .309 is a number the Buffs would be stoked to maintain during Big 12 play. The rebounding has been a group effort — team leader Trevor Baskin averages 6.5 rebounds per game — but the Buffs have posted an average rebounding margin of plus-5.5.“I think we’ve made progress in a lot of areas on both sides of the ball, offensively and defensively,” Boyle said. “We’ve shown in stretches we can really guard, and we can really defend. That we understand the scouting report and play for each other. I think offensively, we share the ball. We had 22 assists (against Bellarmine) and 10 turnovers. We’ve done a better job of taking care of the ball here lately. Now, that will be tested sorely our first conference game.

“But I think we’ve gotten better in a lot of areas. I really do. I still worry about our rebounding when we play a big, physical team. That’s going to be the ultimate test. The one thing you have to understand in conference play, you don’t know where the next win’s coming from. So you’d better try to win the one right in front of you. Which for us right now is Iowa State on December 30th. We know that’s not going to be easy.”

Weekly honors

Texas Tech’s Darrion Williams was named the Big 12 player of the week on Monday, while Arizona State freshman Jayden Quaintance collected the newcomer of the week honor.

Williams recorded 23 points, seven rebounds and five assists in a win against Lamar, adding 10 points, nine assists and four rebounds earlier in the week against Oral Roberts. Quaintance was named the MVP of the Springfield Basketball Hall of Fame Classic as ASU topped Massachusetts. Quaintance posted his third double-double of the season with 19 points and 11 rebounds, adding four blocked shots.

Notable

Iowa State remained the front-runner among the Big 12 schools in the Associated Press Top 25, maintaining its spot at No. 3 in the latest poll released on Monday.

Kansas moved up one spot to No. 7, Houston held steady at No. 15, Cincinnati moved up two spots to No. 17.

Baylor rejoined the poll at No. 25.

With little movement expected over the holiday week, CU began the week on Monday ranked at No. 77 in the NET and at KenPom.com.