Colorado University Athletics
MBB Looks for Third Straight Win, Travels to Oklahoma State Saturday
CU vs. OKLAHOMA STATE: The Buffaloes (12-3, 2-2 Big 12) success in Stillwater is few and far between. CU has not won there since Jan. 12, 1980 (20-straight games). Overall, OSU leads the all-time series, 57-45 (9-35 in Stillwater) and winners of three straight with one in Stillwater, Boulder and at last year’s Big 12 quarterfinal in Kansas City. Coach Patton teams are 4-8 overall (all four wins in Boulder). KKZN Radio 760-AM: Mark Johnson (p-b-p), Charles Johnson (analyst); Television: ESPN FullCourt Package; Saturday, Jan. 21, 2:01 p.m. (mnt.); Arena: Gallagher-Iba Arena (13,611).
COMPLETE NOTES listed under game notes
SCOUTING THE COWBOYS: At press time, Oklahoma State (12-5, 2-1 BIG 12) will have three freshmen and one sophomore in their starting lineup. OSU, winners of four of their last five, will be the youngest team CU has faced since Kansas (Jan. 11) when the Jayhawks started three sophomores and a freshman. Sophomore guard JamesOn Curry (12.8 ppg., 2.4 rpg.) is on the preseason watch list for the 2005-06 John R. Wooden Award and junior forward Mario Boggan leads the Big 12 in field goal percentage (91-of-140, .650).
School House Rock...3 is a magic number...3,6,9,12,15,18: CU performed their favorite number knocking down another double-digit performance against Baylor (11 made). On the season, the Buffaloes have made 10 or more treys in six games this season (season-high 13 at Missouri). They’re also way ahead of last year’s school record of 223. Entering today, CU is 130-of-340; last year at this time they were 88-of-272!
BUFF TIDBITS: Richard Roby is 50th on the CU’s all-time scoring list (738 pts.)...Despite not starting at Mizzou and Baylor, Marcus Hall leads the Big 12 in assist-turnover ratio (2.67); In Big 12-only games, Dominique Coleman is second (4.33) in that same category...Roby has scored double figures in 18 of his 20 career conference games (the other two he scored nine)...Of the nine national categories kept by the NCAA located on page 5, Roby leads CU in seven of them. The only exceptions are blocked shots (Andy Osborn) and assists (Hall)...Hall is sixth in the conference (all games) in assists...Roby and Chris Copeland are the only two who have started all 15 games...Julius Ashby is 0-for-7 in four Big 12 games, however he’s averaging 4.8 rebounds a game...Roby holds all three of CU’s top scoring games this season (33, 29, 22)...Osborn has made at least one 3-pointer in 12-straight games (two a game)...Roby and Copeland have made 12 and 11 3-pointers, respectively in conference play, with Osborn having made nine...Glean Eddy has 365 career rebounds, 42nd all-time at CU, while Copeland has 348 (47th)...In four Big 12 games, Roby is averaging 20.8 ppg....Coleman has 13 assists (6.5) in his last two games...Copeland is averaging 18.0 over his last three. TEAM: CU is first in conference (all games) scoring offense (83.1), blocks (6.20), assist-turnover ratio (1.28), and 3-point FGs made (8.7).
NCAA STATS: As of Jan. 17, the Buffs are ranked among the best statistically in the 12 national team categories:
4th, Scoring Offense, 83.2
10th, Steals, 10.4
11th, Scoring Margin, 15.9
15th, Assists, 17.9
20th, Blocked Shots, 5.9
24th, 3-point FG Made, 8.5
49th, Field Goal %, .474
RICH FINDS HIS NICHE: Big 12 Player of the Week honoree Richard Roby had career highs in points (33) and field goals attempted (24) against Missouri. He also tied a career high with 11 field goals made (he also made 11 at Texas Tech last season en route to 29 points). Roby is the first CU standout to win Player of the Week accolades since David Harrison in 2003-04.
MAKING A RUN at TREY HISTORY: Most likely the CU men’s team will break the school record in treys made in a season. What about the Big 12 Conference record? Here’s a look at each year to see how far the Buffs need to go (i know it’s a little early to speculate):
2005-06: Colorado 130 (conf. leader)
2004-05: Texas 243
2003-04: Texas 227
2002-03: Baylor 254
2001-02: Nebraska 267
2000-01: Missouri 279
1999-00: Missouri 291
1998-99: Oklahoma 274
1997-98: Baylor 217
1996-97: Baylor 227
DOUBLE YOUR PLEASURE: Marcus King-Stockton (career-best 11) and Julius Ashby (season-high 10) performed a CU first this season and the first since last season at Iowa State (Jan. 22), two players with 10 or more rebounds. Against the Cyclones, Ashby grabbed 13 and Glean Eddy had 11 in CU’s 54-52 overtime win in Ames. A CU win in Ames since Feb. 19, 1991.
TURNOVER BATTLE: The Buffs have committed fewer turnovers than their opponent in three of four conference games this season (CU-12, Baylor-11). In 16 conference games last season?not including the tournament?the Buffs had fewer turnovers exactly half of the time. Surprisingly, CU was only 2-6 when turning the ball over less than the opponent.
MORE BUFF Tidbits: Richard Roby’s game-high 33 points was the first time he led CU in scoring since Dec. 20 ... CU played with its third different starting lineup at Missouri ... Antoine McGee started at the point for the first time this season at Mizzou and again at Baylor, as did Martane Freeman, who made his first career start at Mizzou; Julius Ashby also started against Mizzou and Baylor ... Roby has led CU from the 3-point arc eight times this season ... CU’s nine-game winning streak was the longest in school history since the 1961-62 season when the Buffaloes won 12-straight ... CU has made a 3-pointer in 121-straight games (last time CU they didn’t was Jan. 16, 2002, Iowa State, W, 63-61) ... CU won in Missouri for the first time since 1996-97 season and only the second time in Columbia since Jan. 15, 1973 (32 games)...CU’s win at Mizzou was the first time in four conference games they won after trailing at the half, CU also won the battle on the boards for the first time in three games...The Buffs are shooting a staggering .592 from the free throw line (11th of 12 teams) ... Roby collected his third career double-double versus Utah (19 pts., 10 rebs.) ... Andy Osborn recorded his second career double-double at CU, 17 pts., 10 rebounds against Cal Poly (four at Loyola Marymount) ... Roby failed to make a 3-pointer against SSU, ending his streak of 30 games going back to last season ... On page 9, 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.
BIG 12 10TH ANNIVERSARY VOTING NOW OPEN: The Big 12 is celebrating its 10th anniversary this season and is selecting special teams to honor the top players in the first nine years of the conference.
Followers of the Big 12 can vote for the top five men’s basketball players in league annals by visiting the conference web site at www.big12sports.com. Click on the "Vote Now" button on the left side of the home page. Users may also go directly to the following link for voting information:
www.big12sports.com/10th-anniversary/
Winners will be announced live on the ESPN Plus Studio 66 halftime show in early February.
TOP 25 RANKINGS...almost: Hey, we’re STILL getting votes, 22 in the latest ESPN/USA Today poll (week 11). That means we’re the No. 29th ranked team nationally if the poll was 30 or more teams. The last time the Buffs were ranked in either poll came in 1997 at No. 24 (Associated Press). The others were 1969 (#18), 1963 (#10), 1962 (#9) and 1955 (#15).
BIG 12 TOURNAMENT REVIEW vs. OSU
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - Joey Graham scored 24 points, including two clutch free throws with 7.8 seconds left, and No. 10 Oklahoma State held off Colorado 87-85 in the Big 12 quarterfinals. John Lucas had 18 points and Ivan McFarlin added 16 points and 15 rebounds for the third-seeded Cowboys (22-6).
Colorado’s Andy Osborn hit a 3-pointer with 8.4 seconds to go, cutting OSU’s lead to 85-84, but Graham answered with his two free throws to make it 87-84.
The Cowboys then committed a tactical foul, with Daniel Bobik grabbing Jayson Obazuaye before the Buffaloes could get down the floor for a 3-point attempt.
Obazuaye hit the first free throw with 5 seconds left, and deliberately missed the second.
McFarlin and Graham then drew a traveling violation when both came down with the defensive rebound with 3 seconds to go. That gave the Buffaloes one more possession, but Hall’s 3-point try bounced off at the buzzer.
CU (14-16), the first No. 11 seed to reach the quarterfinals in the tournament’s nine-year history, struggled from the free-throw line, making just 15-of-26.
JamesOn Curry added 14 points and Bobik had 10 for Oklahoma State, which won despite hitting only one field goal after Lucas’ 3-pointer with 4:50 left made it 80-71.
Richard Roby hit four 3-pointers and led Colorado with 21 points, but he wasn’t available to take the last shot for the Buffaloes because he had fouled out seconds earlier.
Colorado’s Julius Ashby added a career-high 19 points (conference tournament record 9-of-10 FGs) and Obazuaye chipped-in 18, career highs for both. Osborn hit three 3s and finished with 10 points.
OSU LAST YEAR IN BOULDER: John Lucas scored 26 points and Jameson Curry had 17 of his 22 in the second half to lead No. 9 Oklahoma State to a 104-86 victory over CU. It was Cowboys’ first win in almost nine years in Boulder.
The Buffaloes (10-8, 2-5) made 11 of their school-record 17 3-pointers in the first half and trailed 52-50. Richard Roby (14 pts.) went 4-for-4 from behind the arc in the first half.
But Oklahoma State made some defensive switches, including putting the faster Curry on Roby instead of Daniel Bobik, and started making shots.
The Buffaloes stayed close until midway through the second half when Lucas took over. He made two 3-pointers and scored 12 points in a 16-6 run that gave the Cowboys a 94-77 run with 4:45 remaining. Curry added another 3-pointer in the run and finished 6-of-8 from behind the arc.
Ivan McFarlin added 17 points for the Cowboys, while Joey Graham added 14.
Andy Osborn and Chris Copeland each scored 19 points to lead the Buffaloes. Roby finished with 14 points. The Cowboys were 13-of-21 on 3s, while Colorado was 17-of-29.