Buffaloes Travel To Colorado State For Sunday Matinee

THE GAME: The University of Colorado travels to play Colorado State University on Sunday, Nov. 20, at 2 p.m. in Moby Arena in Fort Collins, Colo.

BROADCAST: Sunday's game will be broadcast live on KKZN AM 760. Mike Rice will have the call alongside Carol Callan of USA Basketball with the color commentary. The game will also be televised on The Mtn. Mike Evans will give the play-by-play with Andrea Lloyd providing the color commentary.

OPENING TIP: Colorado is 2-0 for the third time in four years and is looking for its first 3-0 start since the 2003-04 season.

ABOUT THE BUFFALOES: Colorado is coming off a 71-58 road win at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Nov. 16. The Buffaloes opened the season with an 84-60 home win against Northern Arizona on Nov. 11.

Colorado has shown early balance with four players averaging between 10.5 and 16 points per game and eight averaging at least five per contest. The Buffaloes are averaging 77.5 points over their first two games and shooting at solid 49 percent from the field (60-of-123).

CU's defense has held its two opponents to just 59 points per game and allowed only 33 percent shooting. The Buffaloes have forced 42 opponent turnovers through two games, and their turnover margin of plus-7 ranks at the top of the Pac-12 Conference in the early season rankings.

Sophomore guard Brittany Wilson leads Colorado in scoring at 16 points per game. She tied a career-high with 22 points against Northern Arizona in the season opener, a team-season high. Wilson also leads the Buffaloes with five steals.

Brittany's twin sister Ashley Wilson has been her starting back court mate for the season's first two games, the first two starts of her career. She has made five of her first seven field goal attempts and is averaging 5.5 points and 2.5 assists.

Colorado's front court duo of senior Julie Seabrook and sophomore Rachel Hargis have combined to make 10 of their first 16 shots on the season (.625). Seabrook, who led Colorado in field goal percentage last season, has also pulled down 10 rebounds in the first two games. Hargis is averaging six points, two rebounds and a block per game.

Colorado's bench has been outstanding, accounting for 77 of 155 points or just under 50 percent of the team's scoring through two games. Led by Chucky Jeffery's 19 points, the Buffaloes scored 43 bench points against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Jen Reese had 13 points on 6-of-9 shooting and Lexy Kresl had 11.

ABOUT THE RAMS: Colorado State is 1-2 overall, picking up its first win of the season on Nov. 17 with an 86-68 win over Tulsa at Moby Arena. The Rams are averaging 63 points per game and shooting 43 percent from the field. CSU has been solid from 3-point range, hitting on 40 percent (18-of-45) on the young season. The Rams have been prone to the turnover early on, committing just over 20 per game.

Senior guard/forward Kim Mestdagh was named the preseason Mountain West Conference Player of the Year and has been as advertised early. Mestdagh is averaging 18.7 points, 6.0 rebounds and 4.7 rebounds per game. She is coming off a tremendous outing against Tulsa, scoring 35 points, including 7-of-9 from 3-point range. Sophomore forward Sam Martin is CSU's other double-digit scorer, averaging 13.7 points per game while shooting 52 percent from the field. Junior forward Meghan Heimstra tops the Rams in rebounding at 8.3 per game while averaging 9.0 points. She had a double-double with 12 points and 13 rebounds against Tulsa.

SERIES RECORDS: This will be the 43rd meeting between Colorado and Colorado State with the Buffaloes holding a commanding 31-11 series lead. This game will tie the Wyoming series as the most played non-conference match up for the Buffaloes in team history. Colorado has won four of the last five and seven of the last nine meetings, including a 73-49 win in Boulder on Dec. 8, 2010. The Buffaloes are 10-9 all-time against CSU in Fort Collins. The Rams won the last meeting at Moby Arena, a 69-61 decision on Dec. 11, 2009.

CONNECTIONS: CU head coach Linda Lappe was a Colorado State assistant coach for one season (2006-07) before taking on the head coaching job at Metro State. CSU head coach Kristen Holt arrived in Fort Collins one season later, but was familiar with Lappe as the two were assistants for rivals in the Missouri Valley Conference. Lappe was an assistant at Drake from 2003-06 while Holt was an assistant with Wichita State from 2003-07. CU's Meagan and Brenna Malcolm-Peck played with CSU senior Kelly Hartig at ThunderRidge High School. The Malcolm-Pecks played at ThunderRidge in 2006 and 2007 before finishing up at Horizon.

ROAD WARRIORS: After dropping its first eight on the road last season, and nine away from home overall, Colorado won its last three games in 2010-11 and upped that streak to four with the 71-58 win at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. The current streak of four is the team's best since CU's last NCAA Tournament team won six in a row on the road in 2003-04.

CHUCKY REBOUNDS: Junior guard Chucky Jeffery had a career night on the glass at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, grabbing 16 rebounds in the win over the Islanders. It was her 12th career game in double-digit rebounds and surpassed her previous personal best of 13, which she had achieved three other times, most recently in the win over CSU last year in Boulder.

Her 16 rebounds were the most by a CU player since Jackie McFarland recorded 18 at Kansas on Feb. 6, 2007. With 19 points, Jeffery also recorded her 11th career double-double, and CU's first this season. Her 12 career double-digit rebounding games rank 14th on CU's career list and her 11 double-doubles are 11th.

LEXY'S RECORD NIGHT: Freshman guard Lexy Kresl had a memorable collegiate debut making 5-of-6 3-point attempts in the first half of CU's 84-60 win over Northern Arizona. She tied a school record for 3-pointers made in one half, a feat that had happened five previous times by three players. Bianca Smith, who was the last person to hit five in one half (vs. Nebraska on Jan. 31, 2009), did it three times. Kate Fagan and CU Athletic Hall of Famer and All-American Shelly Sheetz are the other two.

What sets Kresl's achievement apart is the others were well into their respective collegiate careers when they reached that one-half mark:

Name Yr. Career GP # Record Game
Lexy Kresl Fr. 1 Northern Arizona, Nov. 11, 2010
*Bianca Smith So. 55 Texas, Feb. 16, 2008
Kate Fagan Jr. 69 at Syracuse, Dec. 31, 2002
Shelley Sheetz Jr. 70 at Tennessee, Dec. 20, 1993
*First time, matched two other times later in her career

In addition, of the 24 current half or single-game records on the CU books, six were set by freshmen.

Name GP# Record Opp., Date
Lexy Kresl 1 3-Point FGM Half (5) No. Ariz. 11/11/11
Margie Sampson 3 Rebounds Half (14) No. Colo. 12/1/78
Jeannie Raikes 4 FGM Half (12) Temple JC 11/20/76
Britt Hartshorn 17 Blocks Half (7) Nebraska 1/23/99
Britt Hartshorn 17 Blocks Game (8) Nebraska 1/23/99
*Lisa Van Goor 30 Rebounds Game (22) Weber State 2/25/81
*Margie Sampson held this record at 20 from the above game until Van Goor broke it in 1981.

STEALING THE SHOW: Colorado recorded 16 steals against Northern Arizona in the season opener, its most in a single game since swiping 18 against Texas Southern on Dec. 14, 2007. It's just the third time since the 2003-04 season that the Buffaloes have had 16 or more steals in one contest (16 vs. Pacific on Dec. 8, 2005).

Seven different Buffaloes registered steals against Northern Arizona, led by sophomore Brittany Wilson who had a career high with five. Freshmen Jasmine Sborov and Jen Reese each had three in their collegiate debuts.

MALCOLM-PECK AMONG BEST FROM 3-POINT RANGE: Junior Meagan-Malcolm Peck is currently 14th on CU's all-time list for 3-pointers made with 62 and needs three to catch former Buff Veronica Johns-Richardson, who had 65 from 2001-05, for 13th.

Malcolm-Peck made 38-of-106 from downtown as a sophomore, which percentage wise (.358) ranked 13th in the Big 12. Her career .335 average (62-of-185) would rank 16th in school history just behind the .339 career average of former teammate and all-time leading scorer Brittany Spears (237-of-699).

JEFFERY MOVING UP IN STEALS, ASSISTS: Junior guard Chucky Jeffery had one steal against Northern Arizona, remaining 19th on CU's all-time list for steals at 136. It won't take many to make jump up this list as she is just nine steals out of the top 15. Jeffery has five assists in each of the first two games. She moved past Jackie McFarland into 20th on CU's all-time list during the A&M-Corpus Christi game, now with 235. McFarland had 233 from 2004-08.

YOUNG BUFFS: Colorado sports its youngest team in recent memory with just three upperclassmen. Forward Julie Seabrook is the lone senior with Meagan Malcolm-Peck and Chucky Jeffery the two juniors. Brenna Malcolm-Peck is part of the junior class, but redshirted in 2010-11 with an injury and is a sophomore in eligibility.

Current CU head coach Linda Lappe was part of the last Colorado teams to feature a roster this young. Colorado's 1999-2000 squad had only one upperclassman - junior Kami Carmann - on an 11-player roster which featured seven sophomores (including Lappe) and three freshmen. That next season, 2000-01, Carmann was the lone senior on the team, marking the last single-senior instance prior to this year.

INTERMOUNTAIN REUNION: CU will play several games this season against old Intermountain Conference rivals.

The Buffaloes played in the Intermountain Conference from 1975-82, prior to the Big 8 Conference holding a championship for women's basketball (the Big 8 began regular league play in 1982-83). Colorado won outright or shared three straight Intermountain titles from 1980-82.

With Colorado's move to the Pac-12 Conference for this season, the Buffaloes renew rivalries with old Intermountain mates Utah, Arizona and Arizona State. In addition, CU has nonconference games scheduled with Weber State along with Colorado State and Northern Arizona.

BUFFS ON TV: Colorado's regular season schedule will feature at least nine regionally or nationally televised games in 2011-12. CU will make its first appearance on The Mtn as the Buffaloes travel to Colorado State on Sunday, Nov. 20, at 2 p.m. Colorado will have eight games air on ROOT Sports Rocky Mountain, beginning with the Nov. 30 game against San Francisco. Also scheduled for ROOT sports are Idaho (Dec. 4), Denver (Dec. 8), Stanford (Jan. 14), at Arizona (Jan. 22), UCLA (Jan. 29), Utah (Feb. 18) and Oregon (Mar. 1). All ROOT Sports Rocky Mountain games are available nationally on DIRECTV and DISH Network.

The games with Arizona and UCLA are part of the Pac-12's FSN national package. In addition, CU's home game against Arizona State on Saturday, Feb. 11, is part of the Pac-12's FSN Wildcard Weekend. One of the five league contests scheduled for that date will be picked up for national broadcast, but that determination won't be made until the last week in January. If the CU-Arizona State game is selected for FSN the game time will change from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. MST, per conference guidelines.

CU has appeared on 91 regional or national telecasts over the last 10 seasons.