Buffs Travel to Oregon State To End Regular Season
Game #30 at Oregon State Beavers (16-13, 6-11 Pac-12);
Saturday, March 3, 2:07 p.m. (MT)
Television: FSN
Announcers: Kevin Calabro (pbp), Don MacLean (analyst)
760 KKZN: Mark Johnson (pbp), Chris Lewis (analyst)
Satellite Radio: 113 Sirius, 190 XM (OSU Broadcasts)
Series: CU leads 7-2, however is 1-2 at Corvallis. OSU has won its last two games at home versus CU (2009: 74-69; 2004: 98-87. Ironically both games occurred on Dec. 4 in those years). CU defeated the Beavers in Boulder, 82-60 back on Feb. 2. Story/box on page 37. CU shot a season first-half best 60.7 FG percentage racing to a 46-31 halftime lead. Five CU players netted double figures led by Andre Roberson 16 points (15 rebounds). Askia Booker came off bench to score 15 points.
QUICKLY: See last page of the PDF on Colorado's Pac-12 Conference scenario seedings - CU is looking for its first-ever back-to-back 20-win season. Last year the Buffs won a school-record 24 games - Head coach Tad Boyle is also looking for his 100th collegiate win (99-90) - Senior forward Austin Dufault is the 19th player in school history to score 1,000 points/500 rebounds for a career (1,003 points/501 rebounds).
GETTING CLOSER: Andre Roberson (327 rebounds) is 19 rebounds from tying the 58-year school-record for boards in a season (Burdette Haldorson, 346, 1954-55) - Roberson is averaging two blocks a game, tying for fifth all-time in a single-season. His 99 career blocks ranks seventh most at CU - Dufault has 129 career games played, ranking second behind Cory Higgins (132, 2007-11).
Tad Boyle Exceeding Expectations
- Colorado was picked to finish in a tie for 10th in the preseason Pac-12 poll. The Buffs currently sit alone in 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 Mar. 1):
School Conference Projected finish Current standing Diff.
South Florida Big East 14 t-3 +11
Georgetown Big East 10 t-3 +7
Tennessee SEC 11 t-4 +7
Notre Dame Big East 9 t-3 +6
Colorado Pac-12 t-10 5 +5
Seton Hall Big East 13 t-8 +5
- 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).
- CU ranks 48th nationally (through games of Mar. 1) in defensive field goal percentage by limiting opponents to 40.4 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 19 wins this season opponents are shooting just 36.5 percent, as opposed to 48.2 percent in the Buffs' 10 losses
- When posting a better shooting percentage than their opponent, CU is 19-1 this season (lone loss coming at Oregon). Additionally, the Buffs are 14-2 this season when outrebounding the opposition. CU ranks 52nd nationally (through games of Mar. 1) with a rebounding margin of +4.3 boards per game.
- CU is 11-2 this season when a player scores 10-or-more points off the bench (11 times by Askia Booker, once by both Booker and Jeremy Adams, once by Sabatino Chen). In CU's 19 wins, they are averaging 19.1 bench points per game, opposed to just 14.7 bench points per game in their 10 losses.
Andre Roberson Making Case For Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year
- When Roberson is on the court, 20.9 percent of all defensive possessions end because of Roberson's efforts (through either defensive rebound, block that results in a defensive rebound for CU, or steal). For a measure of comparison, the identical formula was used to calculate defensive possessions brought to a stop by Kentucky's Anthony Davis, widely regarded as the nation's best defensive player. Davis brings 21.2 percent of UK's defensive possessions to an end when he is on the floor, slightly ahead of Roberson:
Player Est. Poss. w/ Player on Floor DR Stl Blk* D Stop %
Roberson 1,427 236 32 31 20.9
Davis 1,538 204 44 80 21.3
*Blocks that lead to defensive rebound
(Notes: Data for Davis' blocks that change possession come from SI.com's Luke Winn and his "Anthony Davis Swatmap" in his Feb. 16 Power Rankings-percentage of blocks UK gained possession on projected forward to account for games since Feb. 16. Also, blocks by Roberson/Davis that were then rebounded by Roberson/Davis are double counted-as both a defensive rebound and a block resulting in a defensive rebound-in these percentages.)
- Roberson (first in Pac-12 in blocks, 14th in steals) is one of just two players, along with Washington's Terrence Ross, to be ranked in the top 14 in the conference in both blocks and steals for all games. His combined blocks and steals per game rank best in the conference in both Pac-12 games and overall:
Conference Games
Player School Games Blocks Steals Total Blk+Stl/G
Andre Roberson Colorado 17 42 22 64 3.76
Eric Moreland Oregon State 17 32 19 51 3.00
Jared Cunningham Oregon State 17 7 38 45 2.65
All Games
Player School Games Blocks Steals Total Blk+Stl/G
Andre Roberson Colorado 29 57 32 89 3.07
Jared Cunningham Oregon State 29 9 74 83 2.86
Eric Moreland Oregon State 29 50 24 74 2.55
- Roberson is averaging more defensive rebounds per game (8.1) than any other player in the conference is averaging total rebounds per game.
- Roberson ranks third nationally (through games of Mar. 1) in rebounds per game with 11.3. Roberson trails the national leader (Siena's O.D. Anosike) by 1.6 rebounds per game, as he seeks to become the first Buff since 1982-83 (Jay Humphries in steals and Rob Gonzalez in free throw percentage) to lead the NCAA in a category. The highest finish for a CU player in rebounding was Alex Stivrins who finished sixth in the nation with an 11.7 average in the 1984-85 season.
- Roberson ranks second in the nation (trailing only Kansas' Thomas Robinson, a favorite for national player of the year honors) in defensive rebound percentage (30.6 percent) as calculated by Ken Pomeroy (kenpom.com). Defensive rebound percentage is the percentage of possible defensive rebounds a player gets.
- Roberson ranks eighth nationally (through games of Mar. 1) with 16 double-doubles this season. CU is 11-5 in those contests.
- Roberson leads the conference in blocked shots per game with 2.0 per all games and 2.5 per conference games. His seven block performance against Oregon is the second highest for the season in the conference and the most by a CU player since David Harrison had seven on Feb. 18, 2004 vs. Texas Tech. Of his 57 blocks on the season, 31 have resulted in a defensive rebound for CU (54.4 percent).
- 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 11.3 boards per game, Roberson leads the team with 57 blocks and 32 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 29 games this season, Roberson has 327 rebounds. Projecting his current per game average over two more games that CU is guaranteed to play this season, Roberson is on pace for 350 boards which would be the new CU record:
Player Season Reb.
Andre Roberson 2011-12 350*
Burdette Haldorson 1954-55 346
Cliff Meely 1968-69 337
Shaun Vandiver 1989-90 336
- Through the first 67 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 14.6 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.
Highest Scoring Freshman Duos
Spencer Dinwiddie (10.7 points per game) and Askia Booker (9.2) are seeking to become the highest scoring freshman duo in CU history. Here is how the pair of California freshmen compares to other rookie duos at CU:
Season Players G Pts Avg. Total
2009-10 Alec Burks 30 512 17.1 570
Keegan Hornbuckle 24 58 2.4
2011-12 Spencer Dinwiddie 29 310 10.7 567
Askia Booker 28 257 9.2
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:
Season Players CU Games Combined Pts Combined Avg.
2011-12 Dinwiddie/Booker 29 567 19.6
2006-07 Silas/Williams 27 508 18.8
2009-10 Burks/Hornbuckle 31 570 18.4
2004-05 Roby/King-Stockton 30 537 17.9
1991-92 Boyce/Golgart 28 480 17.1
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:
- Dinwiddie ranks third among Pac-12 freshmen by averaging 10.7 points per game on the season. In addition, he ranks 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 Booker rank first and second among Pac-12 freshmen in free throw percentage as Booker is 13th overall in the league, shooting 70-of-92, 76.1 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.
- Askia Booker has scored in double-digits 12 times this season with CU going 10-2 in those games.
- Nate Tomlinson ranks third in the Pac-12 (though games of Mar. 1) in assist/turnover ratio in conference games at 2.2. For all games, he is sixth in the conference and 87th 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.
19 & 20-WIN SEASONS: This year's CU is the 10th team in the 111-year history to win at least 19 games in a season - CU has five, 20-win seasons in its history, w/ Coach Boyle looking to become the first CU coach to accomplish back-to-back 20-win campaigns - The 43 wins over the last two years in a school-best for any two-season span.
CONFERENCE PLAY: CU has won 11 conference games in its first year of the Pac-12, the same amount CU won in its first year of the Big 12 Conference (1996-97). It's just the eighth time a CU team has won 11 games in league play and just the second time since the '62-63 Big 8 season (tied for the second most conference wins in any CU season; the best mark was 13-1 in the 1961-62 Big 8 championship season.
20 a game: Senior Carlon Brown scored 20 points, the third time to net over 20 in a game this season (that's the most by one CU player this year). It's the first 20-point game of any CU player since Brown lit up Washington State w/ 28 (and became Pac-12 Player of the Week). Andre Roberson has the other pair of 20-point efforts this season.
SEASON REBOUNDING: Andre 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 34 double-digit rebounding games; 21 career double-doubles (16 this year).
1. Burdette Haldorson 346 1954-55
2. Cliff Meely 337 1968-69
3. Shaun Vandiver 336 1989-90
4. Cliff Meely 332 1969-70
5. Shaun Vandiver 331 1980-91
6. Jim Davis 329 1962-63
7. Andre Roberson 327 2011-12
SENIORS: Four-year starters Austin Dufault and Nate Tomlinson were 53-16 (.768) at home - 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.
50 YEARS AGO REVISTED: This year's CU men's basketball team is the first team since the 1962-63 season to win at least 19 games with an average 68.6 points per game and have a 44.6 field goal percentage. 1962-63: 68.4 ppg.; 45.1 FG%, 19-7 record. The other nine teams that won 18+ games since 1962-63 have averaged a minimum of 73 ppg.
THIS & THAT: For the first time since 2001-02, CU does not have a player averaging at least 15 points per game (Carlon Brown 12.1 ppg.) - Spencer Dinwiddie (10.7 ppg.) and Askia Booker (9.2 ppg.) form the best 1-2 true-freshmen guard combo in the Pac-12 - CU is 9-3 in games decided by 1-7 points (3-1 in Pac-12 games).
Pac-12 CONFERENCE GAMES ONLY: Andre Roberson (10.6 ppg., 11.1 rpg.) is the only player in conference-only games averaging a double-double. He leads the conference with 16 - Roberson is No. 1 rebounding (11.1), defensive rebounds (8.4), blocks (2.5).
Pac-12 (ALL GAMES): Andre Roberson (624 career boards) is the conference's No. 1 rebounder among active Pac-12 players; third in blocks (99) - In scoring, Carlon Brown ranks number two (1,206); Austin Dufault is sixth in rebounding (501) and eighth in scoring (1003) - Nate Tomlinson is second in assists (392), fifth in three-pointers (122), sixth in steals (103).
BUFF BITS
#0 Askia Booker, 6-1, 160, Fr., PG
- 12 games w/ 10+ points
- Season-best 14 points (Georgia, Utah)
- Season-high nine rebounds vs. USC
- 9.2 ppg., 3.0 rpg., 1.5 apg.
- last five games: 9.4 ppg.
#1 Nate Tomlinson, 6-3.5, 185, Sr., PG
- Started 27 of 29 games at the point
- First in assists (95), third in treys (33)
- Has made at least 26 treys w/ 80 assists all four years; 92 assists is second highest
- 6.1 ppg., 3.3 apg., 2.0 rpg.
- 59th nationally assist-turnover ratio (2.05)
- All-time list: first in 3-point percentage (.500), sixth in three-pointers made (147), tied for third in starts (105) and assists (392), tied for eighth in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.70), eighth in minutes (3,323), 18th in steals (103).
- Bidding to become seventh player at CU w/ at least 400 career assists
#15 Shane Harris-Tunks, 6-11, 245, RS-So., F
- 29 games w/ one start
- Eight pts., eight rebs. (W. Michigan)
- Five rebounds vs. Arizona & Oregon State
- Career-best: 50 FG%, 58.3 FT%, 3.0 ppg., 2.2 rpg.; 22 blocks over his two years of playing
#21 Andr+¬ Roberson, 6-7, 210, So., F
- 3rd nationally in rebounding (11.3 rpg.)
- 624 career rebounds (17th at CU)
- 16 double-doubles (6th nationally); 21 career
- 7th at CU in career blocks (99)
- 57 blocks this season-t-5th overall (42 last year)
- Double-digit rebounds in 22 of 29 games
- Led team in rebounding 27 of 29 games
- Led in blocks 25 times (seven shared)
- Seven times grabbed 15+ boards this season
- 11.1 ppg., 11.1 rpg., 2.0 bpg.
- Looking to become first CU player to average a double-double since 2001-02 (Stephane Pelle, 12.8 ppg., 10 rpg.)
- Leads Buffs in rebounding, blocks, steals (led CU in all three categories last year).
- Led team in scoring nine times (season high)
#23 Sabatino Chen, 6-4, 185, Jr.-TR, G
- 29 games played as a reserve
- Season-best six boards against Washington State; five were offensive, the highest by anyone on team w/ the exception of Roberson in any game this season
- 2.2 ppg., 1.2 rpg., 51.9 FG%
#25 Spencer Dinwiddie, 6-5, 190, Fr., G
- 4th in scoring (10.7 ppg.), third in assists (53)
- No. 103 nationally in FT% (.820)
- Second in three-pointers made (36)
- Last five games: 10.4 ppg. - 3rd on team
- Season-best 19 pts vs. Utah in Pac-12 opener
- Led team in scoring six times
- one of two on team w/ 29 starts
#30 Carlon Brown, 6-5, 215, Sr.-TR, G
- Team leader scoring 11.9 ppg., second in assists (58)
- Double-digit scoring 19 of 28 games
- One of two on team w/ 28 starts
- Season-best 28 pts., 7 rebs. w/ six treys against Washington St.; also shot 56.3 FG%:
- Earned Pac-12 Player of the Week (Jan. 2-8) - CU's first and only men's basketball POW
- First on the team in three-pointers (37)
- Scored 1,186 collegiate points, would be 19th at CU (854 pts. at Utah)
#31 Jeremy Adams, 6-5, 215, So.-TR, G
- Played in 24 games with one start
- Season-best 10 points at USC
- Five rebounds vs Washington, a season high
- Missed first five games with injuries
- Averaging 10.0 mpg., 2.4 ppg., 1.5 rpg.
#33 Austin Dufault, 6-9, 225, Sr., F
- 19th player at CU w/ 1,000 career points/500 rebounds (1,003/501); 28th all-time in pts.
- First in FG% (min. 100 shots) with 50.2%
- Career-best: FG%, points per game (11.2), rebounds (4.5), FGs made (122), 3-pointers made (20)
- 2nd in scoring and rebounding
- Second in games played (129), starts (123)
- One of five players with at least 20 treys
TAKING CARE OF THE BALL: CU committed a season-low five turnovers last Sunday versus Cal, and had just 11 on the homestand with just six against Stanford last Thursday; Colorado committed just one turnover in the second half, matching the season low for either half (CU had 1 in the first half against the Cardinal). CU also had six turnovers in the home win over Arizona.