Colorado University Athletics
CU MBB Hosts Kansas State Tonight at Events Center
CU vs. KANSAS STATE: The Wildcats (14-4, 3-2 Big 12) performed a rare feat last year winning (84-82) in Boulder for the first time since the 2000-01 season. Overall, Coach Patton teams are 7-2 against K-State in Boulder. Each team won on the road last year. Ironically, CU’s Richard Roby netted his first collegiate 30-point game (personal-best seven 3-pointers) at home against the Wildcats. Arena: Coors Events Center (11,064); Television: Fox Sports Net Rocky Mountain, Announcers: Drew Goodman and Ceal Barry; KKZN Radio 760-AM: Mark Johnson and Charles Johnson
SCOUTING THE WILDCATS: K-State brings a three-game winning streak into tonight’s game and sits in third place in the Big 12 standings with a 3-2 record. Junior forward Cartier Martin ranks first in free throw percentage (8.44) and second in scoring (19.1) all games played in the conference. Down low, senior forward Dramane Diarra is first in conference blocks (1.8). Head Coach Jim Wooldridge is in his sixth year at K-State with an 80-81 mark. He is 4-7 against the Buffaloes (2-3 in Boulder).
School House Rock...3 is a magic number...3,6,9,12,15: CU performed their favorite number once again with 10 more 3-pointers made in a game for the fourth straight time, a school record. CU is rolling along from the 3-point arc toward last year’s school record of 223. Entering tonight, CU is 152-of-396; last year at this time they were 101-of-306!
BUFF TIDBITS: Richard Roby has led CU in scoring four straight games (27.8 ppg.) and now stands 42nd in CU scoring with 795 points. Chris Copeland has reached the CU’s all-time top-10 in blocked shots (76)...The Sporting News has chosen Roby as their national player of the week for Jan. 16-22...Roby is second in Big-12 only scoring (23.3) .. Andy Osborn has made at least one 3-pointer in 14-straight games (2.2 a game)...Despite not starting the last four games, Marcus Hall leads the team in assists (4.0 apg.) AND the Big 12 in assist-turnover ratio in all games (2.52)...Roby and Copeland are the only two who have started all 17 games...Julius Ashby is averaging 7.5 ppg. and 6.0 rpg. in his last two...Dominique Coleman equaled a season-best seven assists vs. Nebraska (the other, Baylor). Coleman is sixth in assist-turnover ratio (2.22) Big 12-only games and is 14th in assists (3.33) ... For the first time during his four-year career (107 games), Glean Eddy did not play (against Nebraska)...TEAM: CU is first in conference (all games) scoring offense (82.8), blocks (6.24), assist-turnover ratio (1.27), and 3-point FGs made (8.94). BIG 12-only stats: first in 3-pt. percentage defense (.297), blocks (7.2), offensive rebounding (17.0), 3-pters made (61)...The Buffs last won five consecutive conference games during the 1996-97; the last time they won four-straight other than this year, was 2003-04.
IS THERE A TREND HERE? The last two times against Kansas State has played in Boulder the three-ball flys for one CU player. Last year, Richard Roby notched a career-best seven 3-pointers; the year before, Blair Wilson shot a career-best seven in an 82-81 overtime win (see 3-pt. record page 197 what Wilson actually did). With the way CU shoots the trey, who will turn the next seven tonight vs. KSU?
COURTESY OF PLATI’Tudes: Colorado has opened Big 12 men’s play with four wins in its first six games. How many times have the Buffs won at least four of its first six league games since opening 5-1 in the 1973 Big Eight campaign? ANSWER: It would be the second time, all under Ricardo Patton’s watch. The Buffs 6-0 in 1997 (finishing second with an 11-5 mark behind Chauncey Billups).
LAST GAME RECAP vs. Nebraska: Richard Roby, winner of consecutive Big 12 Player of the Week awards, continued his hot streak scoring 30 points in CU’s 81-59 rout of Nebraska. CU missed its first nine shots, led by eight at the half and used a 13-0 run sparked by two 3-pointers from Roby to turn a five-point lead into a 44-26 advantage with 11:46 left. Martane Freeman scored seven points during a 13-4 Colorado run that included no points from Roby and pushed Colorado’s lead to 62-40 before Nebraska made one final push, cutting the Buffs’ lead to 69-59 with two minutes left.
The deficit was too great because of Roby, a sophomore guard who is in the midst of the best four-game stretch of his career. He’s averaged 28 points in those games. Tonight is the second time this season that he has score 30 points in a game (third career). Dominique Coleman added 11 points for Colorado.
GAME RECAP vs. OSU: (see pg. 18 for box and story): Richard Roby scored 27 points, including the decisive basket in overtime, as Colorado beat Oklahoma State 80-78, last Saturday. It was the Buffaloes’ second Big 12 Conference road win of the season. CU hadn’t won at Gallagher-Iba Arena since Jan. 12, 1980, a stretch of 20 games. The Buffs also hadn’t won at Missouri since the 1996-97 season before they did so on Jan. 14. Roby left the game Saturday with an injured ankle with 6:33 left in regulation, but the sophomore guard returned three minutes later and played most of the rest of the way. With the score tied 78-78, Roby scored on a put-back with 45.3 seconds left, following a miss by Marcus Hall.
ROBY CLIMBING: Sophomore Richard Roby is making his way toward the top of the Big 12 scoring list in conference games. Through five games, Roby is second in the conference, averaging 23.3 ppg in Big 12 play, just behind Missouri’s Thomas Gardner (23.7 ppg).
COLEMAN KEEPS SHINING: Lost in the limelight of Roby’s 30-point effort against Nebraska was junior Dominique Coleman’s stellar performance. In only 25 minutes, Coleman posted 11 points, six rebounds and seven assists. If you adjust his numbers into a full 40 minutes, his line looks quite impressive: 17.6 points, 9.6 rebounds and 11.2 assists. Not go get ahead of ourselves, but in case you are wondering, only three Buffs have ever finished a game with a triple-double. Chauncey Billups had 24 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists against George mason in just his fourth career game. David Harrison recorded 20 points, 10 assists and 11 blocks versus Nebraska and registered 31 points, 17 rebounds and 10 blocks against Stetson. Only four players in the history of the Big 12 have ever recorded a triple-double in a conference game: Kasib Powell (Texas Tech, 1997); David Harrison (Colorado, 2003); Jamaal Tinsley (Iowa State, 2000).
REBOUNDING BY COMMITTEE: Six Buffs are averaging at least four rebounds per game in conference play: Roby (5.5), Julius Ashby (5.2), Calvin Williams (4.5), Chris Copeland (4.0), Andy Osborn (4.0) and Martane Freeman (4.0). Although Williams has only played in two conference games (Texas, and one minute vs. Kansas), Marcus King-Stockton is on the cusp of the mark, averaging 3.8 rebounds per game in conference play.
FREE THROW WOES: CU ranks last in the Big 12 in free throw percentage in conference play (.579). No CU player is ranked among the top 15 individuals in the conference. The Buffs are led by Copeland (5-6 .833) and Marcus Hall (5-6 .833). Of the six Buffs who have attempted at least 10 free throws in Big 12 play, only Roby (17-28 .607) and Ashby (6-10 .600) crack the 60 percent barrier.
LONG DISTANCE RELATIONS: The Buffs are second in the conference in three-point field goal percentage (.389), but rank only 10th in overall field goal percentage. Amazingly, factoring out their three-point makes and attempts, the Buffs would not move up in the conference field goal percentage standings based only their two-point field goals (.424).
RAINING THREE’S: After topping the 40 percent mark for three-pointers only once in non-conference play (.533 at Penn), the Buffs have shot over the mark in four of their six conference games. After making just 6-of-25 treys against Texas, the Buffs have connected on 55-of-132 shots behind the arc in their last five games for a combined .417 percentage...CU has reached double-digit totals in three-point field goals made in their last four games, a CU first since the introduction of the three-point line in the 1986-87 season.
ROBY?RHYMES WITH KOBE: Co-Big 12 Player-of-the-Week Richard Roby is coming off the best three-game stretch of his career. His 81 points (27.0 ppg) over the last three games is easily his best scoring output of his career over a three-game span. Just for kicks, here’s how Roby’s numbers over the last three games stack up against Kobe Bryant’s historic 81-point effort against the Toronto Raptors on Sunday.
MIN FG-A 3FG-A PTS R A S B
Kobe 42 28-46 7-13 81 6 2 3 1
Roby 99 31-62 11-23 81 17 6 8 5
HALL BALL: Junior Marcus Hall had perhaps his best game of the season against Oklahoma State. His 16 points marked his second-highest total of the season (17 at TCU). He dished out six assists for the fourth time this season and moved into 14th place on CU’s all-time assist list. After shooting a relatively low .360 from the three-point line, Hall busted out with four treys in just five attempts against the Cowboys.
THE STEAL CURTAIN: With 10 steals against the Cornhuskers, CU’s season total stands at 170. The single-season record is 285 by the 1994-95 Buffs, led by Keith Higgins (72) and Donnie Boyce (66). This season, the Buffs are on pace for 280, led by Roby (39) who has registered at least one steal in every game this season, capped by his six-steal performance against Oklahoma State. If he continues his 2.5 steals-per-game average, he will finish the season tied for seventh in single-season steals (66) and tied for fifth in steals per game.
REAPER BY THE DOZEN: Unlike in football, where teams who win the turnover battle usually come out on top, the Buffs have found that on the court, the pigskin theory does not necessarily hold true. CU has committed exactly 12 turnovers in every conference game this season. During the five-game stretch, only Baylor has committed fewer turnovers than the Buffs?yes, the same game where CU beat the Bears 81-48 for their largest margin of victory in Big 12 history. The Buffs are actually taking care of the ball more in conference play, as they are committing three less turnovers a game than in non-conference play.
NCAA STATS: As of Jan. 23, the Buffs are ranked among the best statistically in the 12 national team categories:
6th Scoring Offense 83.2
7th Scoring Margin 16.1
11th 3-point FG Made 8.9
14th Blocked Shots 6.1
16th Steals 10.0
16th Assists 17.7
25th Rebounding Margin 6.1
43rd 3-pt. FG% .385