BOULDER — A summer on the sidelines hasn’t had a negative effect on Bangot Dak’s junior season.

When the Colorado men’s basketball team got a few extra weeks of practice ahead of a trip to Australia, during which they played three high-level games, Dak was forced to watch with a heavily wrapped knee as he recovered from surgery. 

“I wasn’t off my feet for too long, but as soon as I was able to get back on my feet, I tried to get right back to it,” Dak said. “Nothing simulates playing five-on-five or going game speed, so that was kinda difficult.”

But anyone who’s watched the Buffaloes’ eight games would have no idea Dak missed a chunk of an important offseason. As CU has stormed out to an unbeaten 8-0 start ahead of Saturday’s game against Colorado State in Fort Collins (3 p.m. CBS Sports Network), the junior forward has been at the center of his team’s success.

Is the 6-foot-11 highlight-waiting-to-happen finally turning into the player the Buffs believed they were getting out of Lincoln, Neb.?

“Absolutely,” coach Tad Boyle said this week.

While Dak played a role on the team with the most wins in CU history as a freshman before becoming a regular starter last season, this season is when he’s become one of Boyle’s trusted players. Dak’s minutes per game are up from 20 to 25. That’s elevated all of the traditional stats (points, rebounds and assists per game) but hasn’t affected his efficiency. Both his turnovers and fouls are down.

“I’m able to go out there and play confidently now,” Dak told The Denver Gazette. “My ball handling, I’m getting more confident with. My energy defensively, I feel like I’m getting up more into the ball and making more plays off the ball. Offensively, I feel like I’m letting the game come to me, playing a little bit slower, making reads and just taking what the defense is giving me.”

Dak was the MVP of the Acrisure Holiday Classic in Palm Desert, Calif., as the Buffs picked a pair of important nonconference victories over San Francisco and Washington.

Whether it was finishing off alley-oop lob passes or swatting the ball into the stands, Dak looked like the two-way force Boyle and the CU coaches believed he could become. Dak recorded his first career double-double in the win over Washington.

“(I’m) just doing what I have to do in the moment to win,” Dak said. “All I really care about with this team is winning because if we win, we’ll all accomplish what we want to accomplish and that’s playing in March. I just feel like if I can do what I gotta do in (certain) moments to make us win, whether it’s passing or guarding or anything besides scoring, I feel like I can go do that for our team and if I can do that for our guys, someone else is going to match the energy.”

The Buffs need the best version of Dak on Saturday at the home of their in-state rival. Dak is the only player on the CU roster that was on the team the last time the rivals met in Fort Collins. His memory of Moby Arena is losing.

Getting some revenge over the Rams last year at the CU Events Center was nice, but it wouldn’t compare to quieting the CSU fans in a sold-out environment after Dak feels like CU missed an opportunity to do so two years ago.

“I never thought they were better than us from the start,” Dak said. “We gotta go win there.”

A much-improved Dak might be the key. 

“Looking back at my freshman year, it doesn’t feel like a long time ago, but I was nowhere near the level I’m at now,” Dak said. “I feel like just with experience, obviously, and just buying into what the coaches say, it’s worked with past players and I feel like it’s working with me. I just gotta keep trusting the process.”