Colorado University Athletics
MBB Hosts No. 2 Kansas, Saturday
vs. No. 2/2 Kansas Jayhawks (20-1, 5-1 Big 12)
Saturday, Feb. 2, 1:30 p.m. (MST.)
Arena: Coors Events Center (11,064)
Television: ABC
Announcers: Terry Gannon, Fran Fraschilla
Radio: KKZN 760: Mark Johnson, Charles Johnson
FOR STARTERS (individual): Richard Roby moved into sole possession for second place on the all-time starts list with 104. He trails Donnie Boyce (1991-95) with 105 ? Marcus Hall (983) is 17 points away from becoming the 25th player in school history to score 1,000 points in his career. Hall has 983 points entering todayGÇÖs game and stands in 26th place overall ? Cory Higgins had a season-best five steals, four in the first half at Iowa State; he has 10 steals in his last four games. His five steals were a CU high in the 12-year conference history vs. the Cyclones ? Despite losing four straight games, Roby is averaging 17.8 ppg., 8.3 rpg., .521 from the field (25-of-48), .500 from 3-pt. arc (5-of-10) ? Hall fell short of his second career double-double scoring nine points with nine rebounds at ISU ? In his last two games against KU, Hall is averaging 5.5 assists and in three games, Roby is averaging 12 ppg. ? Marcus King-Stockton is averaging 2.0 blocks in six Big 12 games (ranks second in Big-only games) ? Roby has 1,786 points in his career at CU. The total ranks 10th on the Big 12 all-time scoring list and places him fourth on the Buffs points chart.
FOR STARTERS (team): CU allowed Iowa State to a season-low 15 first half points ? CU scored only 19 points in the second half, their lowest in a Big 12 Conference regular season and tournament game; they failed to make a field goal in the last 10 minutes of the game ? CU averaged only 11 turnovers in their first three Big 12 games, however their last three games have committed 16.0 a game ? CU is shooting .459 and grabbing 16.4 boards in the first half, compared to only .441 and 13.8 rebounds in the second half.
CU v. KU: The Jayhawks have dominated the Buffaloes holding a 113-39 advantage since 1931. KU also leads 36-26 in Boulder and have won their last nine games in a row, and 36 of 37 since 1991. CU upset the No. 6 ranked Jayhawks, 60-59 back on Jan. 22, 2003 in Boulder, the Buffs last NCAA Tournament season when they defeated four nationally ranked teams at the Events Center.
David vs. Goliath: TodayGÇÖs game fits that description. What if CU does play the role of David this afternoon? Some facts just in case the fans storm the court:
- the last time CU upset the No. 2 ranked team: Feb. 12, 1992, Oklahoma State, 57-53;
- first win over a top-5 team since Feb. 4, 2003, No. 3/3 Texas, 93-80 in Boulder;
- first win on ABC Television in five games since 1997 (0-3 vs. KU; 0-1 vs. Texas);
- first win over KU since Jan. 22, 2003 (9 games);
- first win against KU in three games when Jayhawks ranked No. 2 (at KU, 2001-02; Jan. 15, 2005)
LAST SEASON vs. KU: CU scored only 46 points matching their season low of the season (the other was Air Force) at the Events Center in 2006-07. Xavier Silas was the only player over double digits with 11 points. Three other players had seven apiece (Roby).
1,000 POINTS: Marcus Hall is 17 points away from becoming the 25th player in school history to score 1,000 points in his career. Hall has 983 points entering todayGÇÖs game and stands in 26th place overall.
BIG 12 TOP-10: ColoradoGÇÖs top two seniors of Roby and Hall highlight the conference top-10 leaders (all games played):
FT %: Roby 3rd .775
Scoring: Roby 5th 16.5 ppg.
FG%: Roby 8th .496
Rebounding Roby 10th 6.5
Def-Reb. Roby 10th 4.35 Steals: Hall 5th 2.0
Assists: Hall 7th 3.8
Asst.-Turn Ratio Hall 10th 1.73
Blocks King-Stockton 8th 1.3
hereGÇÖs a lok at the Big 12-only games:
Scoring Roby 9th 16.2
Rebounding Roby 8th 7.5
FG % Roby 7th .523
Assists Hall t-8th 3.33
Steals Higgins t-4th 1.83
Blocks King-Stockton 2nd 2.00
Roby t-6th 1.5
Def. Rebounds Roby 9th 5.5
TEAM LEADERS: CUGÇÖs leading scorers are Richard Roby (16.5 ppg.) and Marcus Hall (12.6 ppg.); leader on the glass is Roby (6.5 rpg.) and Jermyl Jackson-Wilson (4.3 rpg.); Hall tops the team in assists (3.8 apg.), steals (2.0 spg.), 32 3-pointers and minutes played (36.3).
LAST GAME REVIEW: Richard Roby scored a game-high 13 points and Marcus Hall added nine points and nine rebounds, however Iowa State rallied in the second half for a 57-41 victory. Tuesday in Ames. The Cyclones held CU to a season low for points in a Big 12 Conference regular season game.
SEASONED VETERAN: Aside from Hall and Roby dominating the headlines, how about freshman Cory Higgins game-in and game-out? With 20 starts and almost 32 minutes a game, the freshman has led CU in scoring twice and on the boards three times. In six Big 12 games, heGÇÖs consistent with 9.5 ppg., 5.0 rpg., 12 assists and 11 steals. He also has a team-best eight 3-pointers.
Trends after 20 games
In Wins (9) In Losses (11)
PPG. 68.6 57.6
FG % 49.8% 41.1%
3-pt. FG % 36.6% 32.1%
FG made 24.8 20.3
FT% 68.9% 67.9%
Turnovers 13.4 13.9
Assist/TO Ratio +1.9 +0.9
Off. Rebounds 9.1 8.8
Def. Rebounds 23.3 19.6
Steals 8.0 5.4
Blocks 4.6 4.4
In nine wins ... Roby: 16.8 ppg., 6.9 rpg.,
3.3 apg.; Hall: 13.9 ppg., 3.3 rpg., 3.4 apg.
- Jackson-Wilson: 6.2 rpg., 5.0 ppg. 1.2 bpg.
4th all-time: Richard Roby keeps moving up on the school scoring list with 1,786 points. After netting his third 27-point effort of the season, he stands 91 points from passing Shaun Vandiver (1,876). Vandiver played three years from 1989-91 scoring 1,876 points in 91 games (20.6 ppg.).
AT HOME vs. RANKED TEAMS: Since the 2002-03 to 2006-07 seasons (five years), CU has defeated at least one ranked opponent at the Coors Events Center. Please turn to page 169 of the media guide to see the year-by-year breakdown of home, away and neutral court records versus the nationGÇÖs elite.
BUFFALO GOLD: For the first time since the 2000-01 season, CU wore gold uniforms in their conference home opener against Nebraska. The last time CU wore gold was an 81-71 home win versus Oklahoma State (Jan. 27, 2001). During the 1999-2000 season, CU also wore gold in a 69-64 loss at Nebraska on Feb. 26. Against K-State, the Buffs returned to the gold uniforms and back to the traditional white against Mizzou.
HALL or ROBY: Through 20 games, Richard Roby and Marcus Hall have led the majority of games in scoring. Roby has led 10 times, Hall seven times, while Cory Higgins has done it in back-to-back games (at Texas A&M, Nebraska). Xavier Silas (24 pts. vs. Florida A&M) has performed it once. In his 10 games, Roby averages 21.3 ppg., while Hall is 18.1 ppg.
FT SHOOTING: In recent years, CU was not a very good free throw shooting team. This year, the Buffaloes are shooting almost 70 percent (.684), a feat only accomplished once in the last 12 years (2000-01, .715). During the two-five minute mark, CU is 22-29 (.759); and under two minutes to play in the game theyGÇÖre 45-of-56 (.804).
TRIFECTA: For only the third time this season, Cory Higgins joined Marcus Hall and Richard Roby for leading the team in rebounding, assists and steals in the same game outright. Higgins topped CU at Texas (8 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal). Hall was led in all three categories against Tulsa and Roby against New Orleans. Roby is the closet to lead in all five categories (points, rebs, assts., stls., blks.) in a single game topping four of five against New Orleans, only missing the blocked shots category.
CANGÇÖT PASS THROUGH THIS HALL: Senior Marcus HallGÇÖs eight steals against Tulsa were the most since Jose Winston had eight for the Buffs in a 67-56 win over St. MaryGÇÖs on Nov. 11, 1999. ItGÇÖs the second-most steals in a game this season in Division I (Lester Hudson, Tenn.-Martin, 10). The school record for steals in a game is 10 by Jay Humphries against Milwaukee-Wisconsin on Jan. 15, 1983. HallGÇÖs 122 career steals puts him in ninth place on the all-time list at CU (teammate Richard Roby is fifth on the all-time list with 162 career swipes).
AK-47 MEET MH-1: The stat sheet will tell you Hall didnGÇÖt even record a double-double against Tulsa, but thatGÇÖs doesnGÇÖt explain how close he was to notching the first quadruple-double in NCAA Division I history. Hall shot just 2-of-14 against Tulsa, preventing him from reaching 10 points, usually the easiest stat to fill. Other than that, he was just one teammateGÇÖs missed lay up and two tipped passes out of bounds away from infamy. A lot of what ifGÇÖs, but Hall is turning into the Andre Kirilenko of college basketball with his ability to fill a stat sheet in several categories. His final line: 4 points, 10 rebounds, 9 assists, 8 steals.
IRON MAN: Marcus Hall ended his streak of 161 consecutive minutes played. From Nov. 29-Dec. 22, Hall played 196 out of 200 possible minutes spanning five games (40 each at Air Force, Stanford, at Wyoming, New Orleans, at Colorado State). For the season, Hall averages a conference best 36.3 minutes a game.
CU During Big 12 Inception: After 20 games, CU not only has won more games this season than last, but their field goal percentage and limiting their turnovers per game rank near the top over the last 12 years.
Year PPG FG % 3-Pt.% FT% To WGÇÖs
2007-08 62.5 .450 .342 .684 13.7 9
2006-07 69.1 .417 .313 .655 17.5 7
2005-06 76.8 .434 .342 .646 14.0 20
2004-05 71.6 .435 .353 .629 14.4 14 2003-04 74.2 .464 .372 .621 14.6 18
2002-03 75.2 .443 .326 .669 14.0 20
2001-02 79.7 .453 .357 .677 17.0 15
2000-01 80.6 .460 .359 .715 16.5 15
1999-00 75.2 .426 .339 .686 14.3 18
1998-99 73.1 .414 .344 .702 14.7 18
1997-98 71.4 .404 .346 .688 14.3 13
1996-97 73.1 .420 .362 .681 13.9 22
BUFF BITS: Marcus Hall scored a season-best 28 points against Missouri and his 11 fields goals made are the most by a CU player since Richard Roby made 11 FGs, Jan. 25, 2006 vs. Nebraska (30 pts.) ? RobyGÇÖs season-best 14 rebounds against Mizzou tied his output of 14 boards earlier this season against New Orleans; his 13 defensive vs. Missouri was a career-high Richard Roby has tallied double-figures 18 of 20 games, Marcus Hall 14 of 19 games ? Hall, Higgins and Roby have started every game (20) ? Hall, Higgins, Knutson and Thorne II are the only players with more assists than turnovers ? Over the last two seasons, Roby has made the most 3-pointers (64), Xavier Silas is second with 62, Hall (32), Levi Knutson (18), Cory Higgins (18), and Dwight Thorne (11) ? Senior Marcus King-Stockton did not play at Air Force marking the first time he did not play in a game since his freshman season (Mar. 2 at Nebraska), a string of 66 consecutive games.
FOUR IN A ROW? - Richard Roby will be looking to become only the third player in school history to lead the team in scoring four consecutive seasons. From 2004-05 (16.0 ppg.), 2005-06 (17.0) through last year (17.3), Roby has made it three straight. Here are the others:
Donnie Boyce 1991-95 4-straight
Shawn Vandiver *1988-91 3-straight
Emmett Lewis 1975-79 4-straight
Cliff Meely *1968-71 3-straight
Pat Frink ^1964-65, GÇÖ66-68
(3 of 4 years)
* - Played only three years
^ - did not play 1965-66 season