Colorado University Athletics
MBB Travels to Pepsi Center to Take on Saint Mary's Saturday Night
University of Colorado (1-1) vs. Saint Mary’s Gaels (1-0)
Game #3
Saturday, Nov. 26, 8:30 p.m.
PEPSI CENTER (Denver, Colo.)
Television: Fox Sports Net Rocky Mountain; Announcers: Drew Goodman, Marty Fletcher
Radio 760-AM: Mark Johnson (p-b-p), Charles Johnson (analyst)
Complete notes located at:
http://www.cubuffs.com/pdf7/24357.pdf?DB_OEM_ID=600&KEY=&SPID=257&SPSID=3890
TONIGHT: CU travels to the Pepsi Center in Denver for their third game of the season against Saint Mary’s of the West Coast Conference. The Buffaloes lead the all-time series 4-1 with tonight’s game the first on a neutral floor. CU is 3-0 in Boulder and 1-1 in Moraga. Coach Patton teams are a perfect 3-0 against the Gaels having last played Jan. 2, 2002 in Boulder (W, 68-51). Meanwhile, CU is 15-17 on neutral court games since 1996-97. Complete notes located at:
COLORADO CLASSIC FOURSOME: CU/Saint Mary’s are two of the four-teams at Pepsi Center today. The first game of the evening will be Denver/Colorado State at 6 p.m. Both games will be seen on FSN RM. The DU/CSU match up is the first in the all-time series played on a neutral court with the Rams holding an 85-68 advantage.
ABOUT THE GAELS: Saint Mary’s brings a 1-0 record into tonight’s game after defeating UC Santa Cruz, 93-41 back on Nov. 18. The Gaels return only one starter from last year’s NCAA Tournament team (25-9), however it’s 6’10" senior forward Daniel Kickert (16.6 ppg., 6.6 rpg.). Kickert, a two-time WCC first team selection, is also the WCC Player of the Year, and a 2005-06 All-America candidate.
LAST GAME: Martane Freeman came off the bench to score a career-high 17 points and Chris Copeland added 16 points in CU’s 83-82 loss at Colorado State last Monday. Leading 74-66 with 7 1/2 minutes to play, the Rams chipped away at its deficit behind nine 3-pointers and 34 points from Sean Morris. It was CSU’s first win over the Buffaloes since 1999. Box score and complete story on page 21.
UNCW WRAP: Chris Copeland’s 20 points led CU past UNC Wilmington 73-54 back on Nov. 18. It was he Seahawks’ first loss after three impressive wins in the Black Coaches Association Tournament. Buffs coach Ricardo Patton improved to 10-0 in season openers. Richard Roby added 14 points, Jayson Obazuaye had 12 and Andy Osborn finished with 10.
AGAINST OPPT. CONFERENCES: Tuesday’s match up with Penn will be CU’s first of two meetings with the Ivy League. The other school, Dartmouth (coached by former assistant coach Terry Dunn) visits Boulder Dec. 31 (1 p.m.). Of their 11 non-conference games, CU will play the Mountain West (CSU, Utah) and the Big West twice (Cal Poly, UC Irvine). The others, Colonial Athletic Association (UNCW), Trans America (Mercer), Western Athletic (TCU), West Coast (St. Mary’s) and independent Savannah State.
COMING OFF THE BENCH: If you thought Martane Freeman’s 17 points off the bench at Colorado State was pretty good, it doesn’t come close in CU’s top-10 best performances off the pine since the 1996-97 season:
TOP-10 scorers OFF THE BENCH
(since 1996-97)
1. David Harrison 24 Nebraska 3/6/04
2. Blair Wilson 24 at Nebraska 3/7/02
3. Blair Wilson 24 at Texas A&M 2/26/02
4. Kenny Price 23 Baylor 1/21/98
5. Kenny Price 23 Missouri 1/17/98
6. Marcus Hall 22 California 12/6/03
7. Michel Morandais 22 at Texas 2/9/02
8. Nick Hohr 22 Texas-Pan Amer. 2/15/00
9. Justin Harbert 22 at S. Florida 11/19/00
10. Blair Wilson 21 Kansas State 1/22/02
TOP-10 REBOUNDERS OFF THE BENCH
(since 1996-97)
1. Stephane Pelle 16 Missouri 2/23/02
2. David Harrison 15 Iowa State 1/16/02
3. Stephane Pelle 13 at Colorado St. 2/5/01
4. Stephane Pelle 12 Regis 11/23/99
5. Stephane Pelle 12 E. Washington 12/18/99
6. Chris Copeland 11 Missouri 1/26/05
7. Lamar Harris 11 vs KSU (Dallas) 3/13/03
8. Jamahl Mosley 11 at Kansas State 3/5/98
9. Glean Eddy 10 at Missouri 2/22/05
10. Chris Copeland 10 at Kansas State 2/5/05
BUFF Tidbits, INDIVIDUAL: Against CSU, senior Martane Freeman posted career-highs in points (17), field goals (6), attempts (8), free throws (5), FT attempts (6), steals (3), minutes played (24) ... Marcus Hall tied a career-best in steals (4) and handed out seven assists, the most since having 10 against South Dakota State (Feb. 14) last year; Hall ranks 25th overall at CU in assists ... Chris Copeland earned his first CU Athlete of the Week (Nov. 14-20) honor scoring a game-high 20 points that included 8-of-9 from the free throw line helping CU win it’s 2005-06 season opener, 73-54 over previously unbeaten UNC-Wilmington ... Richard Roby scored 480 points during his freshman season, the most of any frosh in its history, including Chauncey Billups (465) ... On page 4, a handful of CU players are moving upward on career school lists ... Seniors Chris Copeland, Glean Eddy, Antoine McGee, and Jayson Obazuaye close out their final year in 2005-06. It’s also the first senior class under Head Coach Ricardo Patton that four players will have played their freshman, sophomore, junior and senior years at CU ... Four-year walk-on Billy Boidock (a mechanical engineering major with an influence in alternative energy and energy management) is taking 19 credit hours during the fall semester ... Patton enters his 10th season with the Buffaloes and ranks second all-time on the school’s all-time victories list with 158. He is joined this year by third-year assistant coach Paul Graham (North Texas State ’74) and first year coaches, John Anderson (Stillman College ’80) and Mike Frink (Colorado ’67) ... Frink, who played basketball at CU from 1963-65, is the only former player to be named as an assistant coach in the school’s 104-year history ... Director of Basketball Operations Will Smith is in his second year with the Buffs, was Patton’s first-ever recruit (1996-2000) ... Smith and former CU Buffs player Bob Bauers (1965-67) are tied at No. 52 on the school’s all-time scoring list with 721 points. What makes this ironic, Bauers was Smith’s scholarship donor when Smith played.
TEAM notes: CU’s on the tube 16 times this season with seven of those games in Boulder (eight times on FSN, seven on ESPN Regional, once on ESPN2) ... In the win over UNC Wilmington, CU collected 17 steals, the second most in school history for a non-conference game, tying four other times ... Defeating UNCW helped Coach Patton remain unbeaten in season openers (10-0) ... With 10 seniors, eight senior scholarships, CU has the most nationally ... The CU men resemble what a box of Total cereal looks like, they return 100% of their scoring, 100% rebounding, 100% blocked shots, 100% of everything from a year ago with the exception of the Fall semester with Julius Ashby ineligible, he could return Dec. 31 (Dartmouth) or Jan. 3 (Savannah State)... The men look to break their 2004-05 school record of 223 3-pointers,
"LS" INITIALS: If you notice the "LS" initials on each of the CU player uniforms that’s in memory of senior walk-on Scott Senger’s mother, Linda died of cancer this past July. Scott played at nearby Monarch High School where set the school record for 3-pointers made in a season and most points scored.
THIS DAY IN HISTORY: CU is 3-2 in its history on this date. Most recent was 2003 when the Buffs defeated Cal Poly on the road, 73-62. CU has defeated Oregon Tech (1982) and Southern Colorado (1977). They have lost at home to St. Joseph’s (2000-01) and Kentucky in Puerto Rico (1998).