Colorado University Athletics
Buffaloes vs. Wildcats: Pac-12 Conference Title Game
vs. 4th seed Arizona Wildcats (23-10, 12-6 pac-12)
Saturday, March 10, 4:00 p.m. (MT);
Staples Center (19,079)
Television: CBS
Announcers: Kevin Harlan (pbp), Dan Bonner (analyst), Reggie Miller (analyst)
850 KOA Radio: Mark Johnson (pbp), Chris Lewis (analyst)
Series: Round III vs. the Wildcats: Both teams defended the home court this season (CU, 64-63 in Boulder; AZ, 71-57 in Tucson). CU leads the all-time series 9-6 and each are 1-1 on a neutral court.
Since 1987 of the conference tourney, USC in 2009 was the last No. 6 seed team to win the conference tournament championship. Since 1987 (tourney media guide/record book), no team has won four games in four days to win Pac-12/10 title.:
QUICKLY: Colorado will play in its first conference tournament championship game since the 1990 Big Eight Conference final (vs. Oklahoma, L, 80-92). Colorado will play No. 4 seed Arizona on Saturday at 3 p.m. The only lower seed than Colorado to reach the Pac-10/Pac-12 Championship round was USC as a No. 7. USC also reached the title game as a No. 6 in 2009 GÇó CU's 46 wins over the last two years is a school-best for any two-season span GÇó CU is 10-3 in games decided by 1-7 points (4-1 in Pac-12 games).
20-WIN SEASONS: Colorado has 22 wins for just the third time (24 in 2010-11, 22 in 1996-97). The 46 wins over the last two years is a school-best for any two season span.
At The Pac-12 Tournament: Carlon Brown is leading CU by averaging 16.7 points per game over the three games at the Staples Center. He is shooting 53.8 percent from the field (21-of-39), in addition to averaging 5.0 rebounds and 3.00 steals per game.
- Andre Roberson is averaging a double-double with 16.3 points and 10.0 rebounds per game through three games. He is shooting 66.7 percent on field goals (16-of-24), and is 3-of-6 (50 percent) from beyond the arc.
- Spencer Dinwiddie has converted 13-of-14 free throws (92.9 percent) at the Staples Center.
- CU has committed just 25 turnovers over three games (8.3 per) while forcing their opponents into 45 (15.0 per).
TAKING CARE OF THE BALL: CU committed nine turnovers against Arizona (seven turnovers in the win over Oregon). It's the fifth time in its last seven games with nine or less GÇó CU is 6-0 in Pac-12 games in single-digit miscues; 7-1 overall this season.
FOUR IN FOUR: The last (and only) time CU played four games in four days: March 6-9, 1934 ... four games in Kansas. CU coach that year was Hank Iba, the one year he spent in Boulder before going to Oklahoma State. This is the first time CU has won three games in as many days in its history.
SCORING: The Buffs have five players averaging over 9.0 points per game this season, just the sixth time in school history they have had that many average at least 9.0 points. It marks the second time that CU has had such balance that five players average at least 9.0 points and no player averages more than 13.0 points (1985-86).
DOUBLE-DOUBLES: Andre Roberson recorded back-to-back double-doubles at the Pac-12 Tournament (12 pts., 10 rebs. vs. Oregon; 20 pts., 11 rebs. vs. Utah). He ranks tied for sixth in season double-doubles (18) and 10th in career doubles (23). Against Cal, he scored 17 points with nine rebounds.
SERIES NOTES: Colorado claims the season series from California 2-1 and ties the overall series at 10-10. Friday's game was the third postseason game between Colorado and California. The Bears defeated the Buffaloes 50-44 in the first round of the 1946 NCAA Tournament. CU defeated California 89-72 in the second round of the 2011 NIT.
ALL-TIME BUFF: Colorado senior Austin Dufault set a school record by playing in his 133rd career game. His appearance tonight breaks the tie he held with former teammate Cory Higgins who played in 132 games from 2007-11. Dufault also made his 127th career start which is second behind Higgins' 131. He is eighth in career minutes played at 3,358. Senior Nate Tomlinson is in third with 126 games played, fourth with 109 starts and sixth in minutes played at 3,452.
ROBERSON ON FIRE: Sophomore Andre Roberson is shooting 66.7 percent during the tournament (16-of-24) while averaging 16.3 points, 10.0 rebounds. His 6-of-6 performance from the field against Cal, which included two 3-pointers, was a career-best percentage wise.
ROBERSON REBOUNDS: Roberson has already claimed school single-season records for overall rebounds (366) and defensive rebounds (262) and he is climbing the ladder in offensive rebounds. Roberson had two offensive boards against Cal, improving his season total to 104 as he moved past David Harrison (2002-03) and Mark Dean (1993-94) into seventh. Roberson also had 106 as a freshman last season, the school's sixth best mark.
ASSIST MILESTONE: Senior guard Nate Tomlinson picked up his 400th career assist on the opening basket of the game (Carlon Brown). He is just the seventh Buff to reach 400 assists and now has 402.
BROWN BALLIN': Senior Carlon Brown had 17 points on 8-of-15 from the floor. In the three-game tournament he is averaging 16.7 points while shooting 54 percent (21-of-39). His second half dunk against Cal was No. 4 on ESPN's Plays of the Night.
QUICK GAMERS: Colorado started the game on 12-2 run, made its first four shots and hit 5-of-6 over the first 2:53.. After its 5-of-6 start Colorado made just 2-of-12 over the next 10:09. Colorado finished the half making 5-of-10 to finish the period at 43 percent (12-of-28). Nate Tomlinson hit his first two 3-pointers after making just 1-of-6 in the first two tournament games...Tomlinson moves into a tie with Cory Higgins (2007-11) for ninth in career 3-pointers made with 125...Colorado has forced 45 turnovers (15.0 tpg) while giving up only 25 (8.3 tpg) in the three tournament games. Colorado's four first half 3-pointers tied for the second most against a Pac-12 opponent this season. Colorado led at the half against Cal all three meetings this season....Austin Dufault moved past Jim Creighton (1,032 from 1970-72) into 25th in career scoring (1,040)...Andre Roberson moved into a tie for 24th in career rebounding with Mike Coleman (1968-70) with 520.
BOYLE IN POSTSEASON: Tad Boyle is now 8-2 in postseason games (5-1 conference, 3-1 NIT)... he ties Ricardo Patton for the most postseason coaching wins in school history (Patton was 8-18 in 11 seasons). He has five conference tournament wins in just two seasons, one off Patton's record of six (he was 6-12).
THIS & THAT: Andre Roberson netted his third 20-point effort this season (20 vs. Utah) tying Carlon Brown for 20-point games this season GÇó For the first time since 2001-02, CU does not have a player averaging at least 15 points per game (Carlon Brown 12.3 ppg.) GÇó Spencer Dinwiddie (10.1 ppg.) and Askia Booker (8.9 ppg.) form the best 1-2 true-freshmen guard combo in the Pac-12 GÇó Dufault is the 19th player in school history to score 1,000 points/500 rebounds for a career (1,040 points/515 rebounds) GÇó Roberson is steadily moving up the season rebounding list grabbing 15 or more rebounds in seven games this season (CU is 7-0). He also has 36 double-digit rebounding games; 23 career double-doubles (18 this year).
- CU ranks 49th nationally (through games of Mar. 8) in defensive field goal percentage by limiting opponents to 40.7 percent shooting from the field. The Buffs are second in Pac-12 games in the category, holding conference opponents to just 40.4 percent on field goals. In CU's 22 wins this season opponents are shooting just 36.9 percent, as opposed to 48.7 percent in the Buffs' 11 losses.
- When posting a better shooting percentage than their opponent, CU is 21-1 this season (lone loss coming at Oregon). Additionally, the Buffs are 14-2 this season when outrebounding the opposition. CU ranks 71st nationally (through games of Mar. 8) with a rebounding margin of +3.3 boards per game.
- CU is 11-3 this season when a player scores 10-or-more points off the bench (12 times by Askia Booker, once by both Booker and Jeremy Adams, once by Sabatino Chen).
SENIORS: Four-year starters Austin Dufault and Nate Tomlinson were 53-16 (.768) at home GÇó Coach Boyle's teams are 32-4 (.889), winners of their last 20 of 22 games. The 14 wins at home this season tie for the second most in school history; CU was 18-2 last year, was 14-1 in 2002-03; 14-2 in 2005-06.
Roberson Leaving His Mark
- Against Utah in the Pac-12 Tournament, Andre Roberson surpassed the legendary Burdette Haldorson for most rebounds in a single season in CU history. Haldorson held the mark for 58 years:
Player
Season
Reb.
Andre
Roberson
2011-12 366
Burdette
Haldorson
1954-55 346
Cliff
Meely
1968-69 337
Shaun
Vandiver
1989-90 336
- Last season Roberson became just the third CU player to lead the team in rebounds, blocks, and steals in the same season, and he is duplicating that feat this season. In addition to his 11.1 boards per game, Roberson leads the team with 62 blocks and 38 steals. He would join Chauncey Billups and Matt Bullard as the only Buffs to lead the team in three categories (out of points, rebounds, assists, blocks, steals) in both his freshman and sophomore seasons.
- Through the first 71 games of Roberson's career, he is averaging 9.3 rebounds per game, ranking sixth highest per game in CU history. However, Roberson is averaging 14.5 rebounds per 40 minutes played which ranks best among all CU players since minutes began being recorded in 1978-79. The previous high is Stephane Pelle (1999-2003) at over a full rebound less per 40 minutes (13.4).
- Over the past two seasons, CU is 15-4 when Roberson grabs 12+ rebounds in a game.
Tad Boyle Exceeding Expectations
- Colorado was picked to finish in a tie for 10th in the preseason Pac-12 poll. The Buffs ended the season tied for fifth place in the conference with their leap of five spots the largest in the Pac-12. Among the "big six" conferences (ACC, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, Pac-12, SEC), it is tied for the fifth largest improvement over preseason expectations and is the second largest outside of the 16-team Big East (through end of regular season):
School Conference Projected finish Current standing Diff.
South
Florida Big
East
14
t-4
+10
Tennessee
SEC
11
t-2
+9
Georgetown
Big
East
10
t-4
+6
Notre Dame Big
East
9
3
+6
*Colorado
Pac-12
t-10
t-5
+5
Iowa
State
Big
12
8
t-3
+5
*-Colorado only team to advance to conference's championship game
- CU ranks 66th nationally (through games of Mar. 4) in defensive field goal percentage by limiting opponents to 40.8 percent shooting from the field. The Buffs are second in Pac-12 games in the category, holding conference opponents to just 40.4 percent on field goals. In CU's 21 wins this season opponents are shooting just 36.6 percent, as opposed to 48.7 percent in the Buffs' 11 losses.
- When posting a better shooting percentage than their opponent, CU is 21-1 this season (lone loss coming at Oregon). Additionally, the Buffs are 14-2 this season when outrebounding the opposition. CU ranks 55th nationally (through games of Mar. 4) with a rebounding margin of +4.1 boards per game.
- CU is 11-3 this season when a player scores 10-or-more points off the bench (12 times by Askia Booker, once by both Booker and Jeremy Adams, once by Sabatino Chen).
- Spencer Dinwiddie ranked third among Pac-12 freshmen through the end of the regular season by averaging 10.3 points per game on the season. In addition, he ranked first among conference frosh (fifth overall) in free throw percentage (100-of-122, 82.0 percent) and three-point percentage (fifth overall; 36-of-83, 43.4 percent). In fact, Dinwiddie and Askia Booker ranked first and second among Pac-12 freshmen in free throw percentage as Booker is 13th overall in the league, shooting 72-of-94, 76.6 percent from the line.
- Dinwiddie is the only Pac-12 freshman (and one of just four Pac-12 qualified players overall) to be shooting over 40 percent from the field, over 40 percent from beyond the three-point arc, and over 80 percent from the free throw line.
- Booker has scored in double-digits 13 times this season with CU going 10-3 in those games.
- Nate Tomlinson ranked third in the Pac-12 (though end of regular season) in assist/turnover ratio in conference games at 2.2. For all games, he is sixth in the conference and 82nd in the nation at 2.0 assists to turnovers.
- Tomlinson only scored in double-digits once in the 2010-11 season, but has already done so on seven occasions this season with CU going 5-2 in those games. Tomlinson has 21 games with 10+ points in his career.
- Of Tomlinson's 105 assists on the season, the beneficiaries are distributed as follows:
Player % of Tomlinson's Assists
Carlon Brown 28.6
Andre Roberson 21.0
Austin Dufault 19.0
Spencer Dinwiddie 13.3
Askia Booker 9.5
Shane Harris-Tunks 4.8
Others 3.8
- Spencer Dinwiddie (10.1 points per game) and Askia Booker (8.9) have become the highest scoring freshman duo in CU history.
- On a per-game basis, no freshman duo has combined to average as many points per total games played by CU as Dinwiddie and Booker: 33 games, 620 pts.,18.9 ppg.