MBB Travels To Oklahoma State, Wednesday

mbb notes at OSU

Game #22

at Oklahoma State Cowboys (10-11, 1-6 Big 12)

Wednesday, Feb. 6, 6 p.m. (mst.)

Arena: Gallagher-Iba Arena (13,611)

Television: FSN Rocky Mountain

Announcers: Drew Goodman, Ceal Barry

Radio: KKZN 760: Mark Johnson, Charles Johnson

Complete Notes Attached Below

FOR STARTERS (individual): Entering tonight’s game, Richard Roby is in a first place tie with Donnie Boyce (1991-95) with 105 career starts ? Marcus Hall (996) is four points away from becoming the 25th player in school history to score 1,000 points in his career ? Despite losing five straight games, Roby is averaging 18.6 ppg., 7.8 rpg., .524 from the field (33-of-63), .563 from 3-pt. arc (9-of-16) ? Marcus King-Stockton is averaging 2.0 blocks in seven Big 12 games (ranks second in Big-only games) ? Roby has moved into a tie (Ronnie DeGray) for 12th place on the CU career blocks list with 80. He is also 10th on the Big 12 career scoring chart with 1,808 points - first among active league players ? Freshman guard Cory Higgins recorded his 10th double-digit scoring effort of the season, finishing with 11 points versus Kansas. He has recorded 11 steals in his last five outings ? Against KU, the Buffaloes converted a season-high nine 3-pointers. The pervious mark was 8 three other occasions ? Dwight Thorne started his first game of the season last Saturday ? Roby scored in double figures for the 19th time this season and 102nd time of his career with 22 points against KU. He is averaging 17.9 points and 6.7 rebounds since January 1 ? Hall fell short of his second career double-double scoring nine points with nine rebounds at ISU.

TEAM LEADERS: CU’s leading scorers are Richard Roby (16.8 ppg.) and Marcus Hall (12.6 ppg.); leader on the glass is Roby (6.5 rpg.); Hall tops the team in assists (3.9 apg.), steals (2.0 spg.), 35 3-pointers and minutes played (36.5).

LAST GAME REVIEW: Richard Roby scored a game-high 22 points and Marcus Hall added 13, however the second-ranked Kansas pulled away in the second half with 61 percent shooting from the from the field for a 72-59 victory over Colorado. Darnell Jackson hit a team-high 18 points for the Jayhawks, Brandon Rush added 15 points and Sasha Kaun 12.

CU vs. OSU: The Cowboys lead the all-time series, 57-46, including a 25-10 advantage in Stillwater. CU won in Stillwater during the 2006-07 season , 80-78 (ot) for the first time in Gallagher-Iba Arena since Jan. 12, 1980. The Buffs also won in Boulder last year upsetting the No.12/14 Cowboys, 89-77. Three players scored over 20 points for CU, who shot 53.6 percent from the field in the first half racing out to a 44-29 halftime lead.

SEASONED VETERAN: Aside from Hall and Roby dominating the headlines, how about freshman Cory Higgins game-in and game-out? With 21 starts and 32 minutes a game, the freshman has led CU in scoring twice and on the boards three times. In seven Big 12 games, he’s consistent with 9.7 ppg., 4.6 rpg., 15 assists and 12 steals. He also has nine 3-pointers.

Trends after 21 games

In Wins (9) In Losses (12)

PPG. 68.6 57.8

FG % 49.8% 41.3%

3-pt. FG % 36.6% 32.9%

FG made 24.8 20.4

FT% 68.9% 67.5%

Turnovers 13.4 13.8

Assist/TO Ratio +1.9 -1.3

Off. Rebounds 9.1 8.8

Def. Rebounds 23.3 19.0

Steals 8.0 5.3

Blocks 4.6 4.3

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 1,808 points. After netting his third 27-point effort of the season, he stands 69 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 nation’s 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. On the season, CU is 1-2 wearing gold.

HALL or ROBY: Through 21 games, Richard Roby and Marcus Hall have led the majority of games in scoring. Roby has led 11 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 11 games, Roby averages 21.4 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 (.681), a feat only accomplished once in the last 12 years (2000-01, .715). During the two-five minute mark, CU is 23-30 (.767); and under two minutes to play in the game they’re 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.

CAN’T PASS THROUGH THIS HALL: Senior Marcus Hall’s eight steals against Tulsa were the most since Jose Winston had eight for the Buffs in a 67-56 win over St. Mary’s on Nov. 11, 1999. It’s 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. Hall’s 123 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 163 career swipes).

AK-47 MEET MH-1: The stat sheet will tell you Hall didn’t even record a double-double against Tulsa, but that’s doesn’t 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 teammate’s missed lay up and two tipped passes out of bounds away from infamy. A lot of what if’s, 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). He also played a Big 12 high all 40 minutes against Kansas on Feb. 1. For the season, Hall averages a conference best 36.5 minutes a game.

CU During Big 12 Inception: After 21 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 W’s

2007-08 62.4 .450 .345 .681 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: Cory Higgins had a season-best five steals, four in the first half at Iowa State; he has 11 steals in his last five games. His five steals were a CU high in the 12-year conference history vs. the Cyclones ? 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.) ? Roby’s 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 19 of 21 games, Marcus Hall 14 of 19 games ? Hall, Higgins and Roby have started every game (21) ? 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 (68), Xavier Silas is second with 62, Hall (35), Cory Higgins (19), Levi Knutson (18), and Dwight Thorne (12) ? 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, ’66-68

(3 of 4 years)

* - Played only three years

^ - did not play 1965-66 season

3-Point Streak: Dating back to the 2001-02 season, CU has made a 3-pointer in 184 consecutive games. Last time they failed to make at least one trey was Jan. 16, 2002 against Iowa State in Boulder. The Buffs won 63-61.

REDSHIRT YEAR: Sophomore forward Jeremy Williams will be redshirted this season and will return next year with three full years of eligibility. He was academically ineligible for the fall semester. Williams averaged 7.7 points and 4.6 rpg. last season with 18 starts.

FUN ?n Sun: For the next two seasons the Buffaloes will be making multiple trips to the Hawaiian Islands. Next season, CU will be making their first-ever trip to the Rainbow Classic in Honolulu. In 2009-10, CU will play in the Maui Invitational. Hosted by Division II college Chaminade, and sponsored by EA Sports, the Buffaloes will be one of eight schools participating in the 26th edition of the tournament. Joining CU two years from now will be Arizona, Gonzaga, Louisville, Maryland, Vanderbilt, and Wisconsin.

CU IN THE PRO WORLD: There is a number of CU basketball members with ties to the professional ranks. From head coach Jeff Bzdelik to the five student-athletes.

Coach Bzdelik: Head Coach of the Denver Nuggets (2002-05);

Casey Crawford: father, Steve played with the Boston Red Sox;

Cory Higgins: father, Rod played in the NBA from 1982-95, currently the general manager of the Charlotte Bobcats;

Richard Roby: half-brother of Kenyon Martin (Denver Nuggets);

Xavier Silas: father, James, played professionally for 10 years, eight years with the San Antonio Spurs;

Dwight Thorne II: cousin, Acie Law IV played for the Texas A&M Aggies and great uncle, Ernie Banks played with the Cubs.

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