Tuesday, November 20
San Diego, CA
8:00 PM
Colorado
at
San Diego
Photo by: Joel Broida
Buffaloes Ready For First Road Test Tuesday At San Diego
November 20, 2018 | Men's Basketball
THE BUFFALOES: Colorado is 2-0 after a pair of home wins to open the 2018-19 season. The Buffaloes rolled past Drake, 100-71, on Nov. 13 and then took a nail-biting 79-75 decision over Omaha on Nov. 16. Colorado has started 2-0 each of the last three seasons and has won its last eight games in the month of November.Â
On offense, the Buffaloes have shot 53 percent over the first two games, including 42 percent from 3-point range. Colorado's 89.5 points per game currently ranks third on the early season Pac-12 charts. Defensively, Colorado is allowing 73 points per game while opponents are shooting 43 percent from the field. The Buffaloes have had the early advantage on the boards, outrebounding their first two opponents by 12 per game.
Colorado has enjoyed a nearly 2-to-1 advantage in getting to the free throw line. The Buffaloes are 43 of 60 from the charity stripe through two games (.717) while opponents are just 20 of 33 (.606). Colorado was 19 of 23 (.826) on the line against Omaha, hitting 12 of 14 in the second half.
Senior guard Namon Wright averaged 18.0 points and 6.0 rebounds while shooting 61.1 percent last week. He had 25 points in the opener, his most in a Colorado uniform. Wright scored 28 points against Florida as a freshman at Missouri on Feb. 24, 2015. He was 8 of 12 from the field including a Colorado career-best five 3-pointers. Wright also grabbed eight rebounds.
Sophomore Tyler Bey averaged a double-double during opening week at 12.5 points and 10.5 rebounds. Against Omaha, Bey registered career-highs with 16 points, on 7 of 13 shooting, with three blocks. He had a career-high 14 rebounds in the win over Drake, just missing a double-double as he had nine points. Bey's 10.5 rebounds per game currently rank third on the Pac-12 leaderboard while his 8.0 defensive boards per game rank second.
Sophomore McKinley Wright IV is averaging 15.0 points and 5.5 assists while shooting 56 percent. He made 7 of 8 free throws against Omaha, finishing with 13 points and five assists. Wright had 17 points and six assists in the opener. He ranks second in the Pac-12 in assists and now has 24 career games (out of 34) with at least five assists.
Junior forward Lucas Siewert is averaging 13.5 points while hitting a scorching 71.4 percent from the field (10 of 14) and 75 percent from 3-point range (6 of 8). Siewert scored 16 points against Omaha, just one shy of his career best. He matched his personal best with four 3-pointers against the Mavericks. Siewert ranks fourth in the Pac-12 in field goal percentage and second in 3-point accuracy. Dating back to last season, Siewert has made 24 of his last 42 from 3-point range (.571).
Sophomore wing D'Shawn Schwartz made a strong season debut against Omaha. Schwartz registered career highs with 15 points and seven rebounds. He was 6 of 10 from the field, hitting a pair of 3-pointers. For Schwartz, it was his third career game in double figures.
Sophomore forward Alexander Strating had four points and three rebounds in 18 minutes against Drake. Strating appeared in just five games for a total of seven minutes as a redshirt freshman in 2017-18.
Six players made their Colorado debuts in the season opener, including redshirt freshman Evan Battey, who hadn't played in a meaningful regular season game since his junior year of high school in the spring of 2016. Battey scored eight points on 3 of 6 shooting with one rebound, steal, block and assist.
Junior guard Shane Gatling got the start in his first game as a Buff, scoring 12 points with four points and two assists. Gatling, a 2018 NJCAA All-American, made 3 of 7 shots including a highlight reel dunk off a steal and fast break.
Daylen Kountz and Eli Parquet, members of Colorado's 2018 signing class, had solid collegiate debuts. Kountz had nine points and dished out four assists. Parquet had five points and grabbed three rebounds. Sophomore Aidan McQuade and freshman Benan Ersek, both walk-ons, saw their first action in the closing minutes.
Colorado's Tad Boyle marked his 400th game as an NCAA Division I head coach in the win over Omaha. He is 224-176 (.560) in his 13th year overall as a collegiate head coach, the last nine with the Buffaloes.
ABOUT THE TOREROS: San Diego is 3-1 on the season, coming off a 95-47 win over San Diego Christian on Nov. 15. The Toreros average nearly 80 points per game and have made more than half their field goal attempts. San Diego's lone loss came at Washington, on Nov. 12, 66-63. Through four games San Diego has yet to let an opponent score 70 points, allowing only 59 points per game and 39 percent shooting.
Senior forward Isaiah Pineiro leads San Diego at 19.8 points, 9.0 rebounds and 2.5 steals per game. An All-West Coast Conference performer, Pineiro is shooting 53 from the field and 79 percent from the free throw line. Senior guard Olin Carter III is averaging 16.8 points and has a team-best 11 3-point field goals. Sophomore forward Yauhen Massalski is averaging 10 points and shooting 70 percent from the field.
Sam Scholl is in his first full season as head coach at San Diego with a record of 5-3. He took over as head coach for the final four games of the 2017-18 season, helping USD to the quarterfinals of the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament.
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SERIES RECORDS: This will be the sixth meeting between Colorado and San Diego with the Buffaloes holding a 3-2 series lead. San Diego won last year's meeting, 69-59, in Boulder. Prior to last year, Â the previous four meetings came in a five year span between 1987 and 1992. Colorado makes its third trip to USD with the teams splitting the first two. San Diego won the first ever meeting, 61-51, on Dec. 31, 1986. Colorado took an 89-82 overtime decision in its last trip to San Diego, on Jan. 2, 1991.
GRIER TO FACE OLD TEAM: Colorado assistant coach Bill Grier was the head coach at San Diego from 2007-15. Grier won 117 games in eight seasons with the Toreros and led USD to the 2008 West Coast Conference Tournament championship. Grier's squad rode that momentum into the NCAA Tournament with a first round upset of No. 4 seed Connecticut - the only NCAA Tournament win in school history.
NONCONFERENCE NUMBERS: Colorado is 78-26 (.750) in nonconference regular season games under head coach Tad Boyle including a mark of 31-9 (.775) over the past three-plus seasons. The Buffaloes were 8-4 during the non-league slate in 2017-18.Â
Colorado's best nonconference record under Boyle is 11-2, achieved twice. First in 2013-14 and then again in 2015-16. Both seasons ended with NCAA Tournament berths. Boyle also had an 11-win nonconference schedule in 2009-10, his first year at Colorado, as the Buffaloes were 11-4 before beginning their final season in the Big 12 Conference.
ROAD BUFFS: Colorado will play three true road games during the nonconference schedule in 2018-19, and potentially a fourth. After opening with two at home, Colorado plays back-to-back at San Diego (Nov. 20) and Air Force (Nov. 24) and then next month heads to New Mexico (Dec. 11).
Colorado is one of just 15 schools from the Power 5 and Big East Conferences to have at least three true road games scheduled before conference play. Stanford leads everyone with four.
If Colorado and Hawai'i have the same result in their respective first round games at the Diamond Head Classic, then the Buffaloes will meet the Warriors on their home floor and join Stanford with a fourth road game.Â
WRIGHT ALREADY MOVING UP IN CAREER ASSISTS: Sophomore McKinley Wright IV had 175 assists in 32 games as a freshman which not only set Colorado's freshman record for assists in a season but was the second-best overall season mark in team history since the category became an official statistic in 1974-75.
With 186 assists he is already 30th on CU's career charts, needing 14 to become the 28th player in team history with 200.
Colorado Career Assists:
Rk.   Player   Years   Assists
27.   Antoine McGee   2002-06   200
28.   Xavier Talton   2012-16   189
   Emmett Lewis   1975-79   189
30.   McKinley Wright IV   2017-present   186
Wright's 5.5 assists per game in 2017-18 ranked as the seventh-best single-season average in team history. His current pace, still at 5.5 per game, would put him atop list for career average at Colorado. Billy Law currently holds that mark at 5.3 per game from 1990-92.
Wright had three double-figure assists games in 2017-18, each resulting in points-assists double-doubles (30 pts, 11 asst vs. South Dakota State; 16 pts, 10 asst vs. Arizona; 20 pts, 11 asst vs. Arizona State). Â His three points-assists double-doubles tied the school single-season record previously set by Jay Humphries (1982-83 and '83-84) and Toney Ellis (1976-77). Humphries holds the career mark in that category with six.
Wright's three games with 10-plus assists are tied with Law for fifth in a Colorado career. Humphries holds the record with seven from 1980-84.
Games With Double-Digit Assists:
1. Jay Humphries (1980-84)Â Â Â 7
2. Mike Reid (1982-86)Â Â Â Â Â Â 6
  Jose Winston (1998-01)      6
4. Chauncey Billups (1995-97)Â Â Â 5
5. McKinley Wright IV (2017-pre)Â Â Â 3
  Billy Law (1990-92)      3
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On offense, the Buffaloes have shot 53 percent over the first two games, including 42 percent from 3-point range. Colorado's 89.5 points per game currently ranks third on the early season Pac-12 charts. Defensively, Colorado is allowing 73 points per game while opponents are shooting 43 percent from the field. The Buffaloes have had the early advantage on the boards, outrebounding their first two opponents by 12 per game.
Colorado has enjoyed a nearly 2-to-1 advantage in getting to the free throw line. The Buffaloes are 43 of 60 from the charity stripe through two games (.717) while opponents are just 20 of 33 (.606). Colorado was 19 of 23 (.826) on the line against Omaha, hitting 12 of 14 in the second half.
Senior guard Namon Wright averaged 18.0 points and 6.0 rebounds while shooting 61.1 percent last week. He had 25 points in the opener, his most in a Colorado uniform. Wright scored 28 points against Florida as a freshman at Missouri on Feb. 24, 2015. He was 8 of 12 from the field including a Colorado career-best five 3-pointers. Wright also grabbed eight rebounds.
Sophomore Tyler Bey averaged a double-double during opening week at 12.5 points and 10.5 rebounds. Against Omaha, Bey registered career-highs with 16 points, on 7 of 13 shooting, with three blocks. He had a career-high 14 rebounds in the win over Drake, just missing a double-double as he had nine points. Bey's 10.5 rebounds per game currently rank third on the Pac-12 leaderboard while his 8.0 defensive boards per game rank second.
Sophomore McKinley Wright IV is averaging 15.0 points and 5.5 assists while shooting 56 percent. He made 7 of 8 free throws against Omaha, finishing with 13 points and five assists. Wright had 17 points and six assists in the opener. He ranks second in the Pac-12 in assists and now has 24 career games (out of 34) with at least five assists.
Junior forward Lucas Siewert is averaging 13.5 points while hitting a scorching 71.4 percent from the field (10 of 14) and 75 percent from 3-point range (6 of 8). Siewert scored 16 points against Omaha, just one shy of his career best. He matched his personal best with four 3-pointers against the Mavericks. Siewert ranks fourth in the Pac-12 in field goal percentage and second in 3-point accuracy. Dating back to last season, Siewert has made 24 of his last 42 from 3-point range (.571).
Sophomore wing D'Shawn Schwartz made a strong season debut against Omaha. Schwartz registered career highs with 15 points and seven rebounds. He was 6 of 10 from the field, hitting a pair of 3-pointers. For Schwartz, it was his third career game in double figures.
Sophomore forward Alexander Strating had four points and three rebounds in 18 minutes against Drake. Strating appeared in just five games for a total of seven minutes as a redshirt freshman in 2017-18.
Six players made their Colorado debuts in the season opener, including redshirt freshman Evan Battey, who hadn't played in a meaningful regular season game since his junior year of high school in the spring of 2016. Battey scored eight points on 3 of 6 shooting with one rebound, steal, block and assist.
Junior guard Shane Gatling got the start in his first game as a Buff, scoring 12 points with four points and two assists. Gatling, a 2018 NJCAA All-American, made 3 of 7 shots including a highlight reel dunk off a steal and fast break.
Daylen Kountz and Eli Parquet, members of Colorado's 2018 signing class, had solid collegiate debuts. Kountz had nine points and dished out four assists. Parquet had five points and grabbed three rebounds. Sophomore Aidan McQuade and freshman Benan Ersek, both walk-ons, saw their first action in the closing minutes.
Colorado's Tad Boyle marked his 400th game as an NCAA Division I head coach in the win over Omaha. He is 224-176 (.560) in his 13th year overall as a collegiate head coach, the last nine with the Buffaloes.
ABOUT THE TOREROS: San Diego is 3-1 on the season, coming off a 95-47 win over San Diego Christian on Nov. 15. The Toreros average nearly 80 points per game and have made more than half their field goal attempts. San Diego's lone loss came at Washington, on Nov. 12, 66-63. Through four games San Diego has yet to let an opponent score 70 points, allowing only 59 points per game and 39 percent shooting.
Senior forward Isaiah Pineiro leads San Diego at 19.8 points, 9.0 rebounds and 2.5 steals per game. An All-West Coast Conference performer, Pineiro is shooting 53 from the field and 79 percent from the free throw line. Senior guard Olin Carter III is averaging 16.8 points and has a team-best 11 3-point field goals. Sophomore forward Yauhen Massalski is averaging 10 points and shooting 70 percent from the field.
Sam Scholl is in his first full season as head coach at San Diego with a record of 5-3. He took over as head coach for the final four games of the 2017-18 season, helping USD to the quarterfinals of the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament.
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SERIES RECORDS: This will be the sixth meeting between Colorado and San Diego with the Buffaloes holding a 3-2 series lead. San Diego won last year's meeting, 69-59, in Boulder. Prior to last year, Â the previous four meetings came in a five year span between 1987 and 1992. Colorado makes its third trip to USD with the teams splitting the first two. San Diego won the first ever meeting, 61-51, on Dec. 31, 1986. Colorado took an 89-82 overtime decision in its last trip to San Diego, on Jan. 2, 1991.
GRIER TO FACE OLD TEAM: Colorado assistant coach Bill Grier was the head coach at San Diego from 2007-15. Grier won 117 games in eight seasons with the Toreros and led USD to the 2008 West Coast Conference Tournament championship. Grier's squad rode that momentum into the NCAA Tournament with a first round upset of No. 4 seed Connecticut - the only NCAA Tournament win in school history.
NONCONFERENCE NUMBERS: Colorado is 78-26 (.750) in nonconference regular season games under head coach Tad Boyle including a mark of 31-9 (.775) over the past three-plus seasons. The Buffaloes were 8-4 during the non-league slate in 2017-18.Â
Colorado's best nonconference record under Boyle is 11-2, achieved twice. First in 2013-14 and then again in 2015-16. Both seasons ended with NCAA Tournament berths. Boyle also had an 11-win nonconference schedule in 2009-10, his first year at Colorado, as the Buffaloes were 11-4 before beginning their final season in the Big 12 Conference.
ROAD BUFFS: Colorado will play three true road games during the nonconference schedule in 2018-19, and potentially a fourth. After opening with two at home, Colorado plays back-to-back at San Diego (Nov. 20) and Air Force (Nov. 24) and then next month heads to New Mexico (Dec. 11).
Colorado is one of just 15 schools from the Power 5 and Big East Conferences to have at least three true road games scheduled before conference play. Stanford leads everyone with four.
If Colorado and Hawai'i have the same result in their respective first round games at the Diamond Head Classic, then the Buffaloes will meet the Warriors on their home floor and join Stanford with a fourth road game.Â
WRIGHT ALREADY MOVING UP IN CAREER ASSISTS: Sophomore McKinley Wright IV had 175 assists in 32 games as a freshman which not only set Colorado's freshman record for assists in a season but was the second-best overall season mark in team history since the category became an official statistic in 1974-75.
With 186 assists he is already 30th on CU's career charts, needing 14 to become the 28th player in team history with 200.
Colorado Career Assists:
Rk.   Player   Years   Assists
27.   Antoine McGee   2002-06   200
28.   Xavier Talton   2012-16   189
   Emmett Lewis   1975-79   189
30.   McKinley Wright IV   2017-present   186
Wright's 5.5 assists per game in 2017-18 ranked as the seventh-best single-season average in team history. His current pace, still at 5.5 per game, would put him atop list for career average at Colorado. Billy Law currently holds that mark at 5.3 per game from 1990-92.
Wright had three double-figure assists games in 2017-18, each resulting in points-assists double-doubles (30 pts, 11 asst vs. South Dakota State; 16 pts, 10 asst vs. Arizona; 20 pts, 11 asst vs. Arizona State). Â His three points-assists double-doubles tied the school single-season record previously set by Jay Humphries (1982-83 and '83-84) and Toney Ellis (1976-77). Humphries holds the career mark in that category with six.
Wright's three games with 10-plus assists are tied with Law for fifth in a Colorado career. Humphries holds the record with seven from 1980-84.
Games With Double-Digit Assists:
1. Jay Humphries (1980-84)Â Â Â 7
2. Mike Reid (1982-86)Â Â Â Â Â Â 6
  Jose Winston (1998-01)      6
4. Chauncey Billups (1995-97)Â Â Â 5
5. McKinley Wright IV (2017-pre)Â Â Â 3
  Billy Law (1990-92)      3
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