The Town Crier

[PointGuard]

Colorado Buffaloes Player Stats after Pre-Conference Play



We’ve started the same 5 players in all of our games thus far and they’ve performed well.

At point guard Justin Wilson has played solidly and his 5.8 apg is 2nd best in the Pac-12. He’s averaging 7.8 ppg but has the ability to improve upon that. Bret Cross has been the primary backup at point guard and has shot and scored well and while not as strong as Wilson in dishing out assists, has done well.

Rick Coffey has done even better than I expected starting at shooting guard. He’s our top scorer (15.0 ppg) and his hitting a high percentage of his shots and continues to be a strong rebounder. John Phelan has been the primary backup at SG while also getting time at PG. He’s scored well even though his shooting percentage needs to improve. Malik Howard has shot and scored well in a limited role thus far at SG.

At small forward, Kenton Dunn started slowly but has shot and scored better as the season has progressed. He also is doing a good job rebounding. Marcus Paulding has been the primary relief at SF (and also played some at PF) and has had some good scoring and rebounding games, but needs to improve his consistency. Coffey has also played a little at SF.

Ike Minahan has done a great job at power forward, averaging 13.9 ppg and 7.8 rpg. Derricus Ivener has subbed at both PF and C and done a solid job. Mel Dye has shot and scored very well in a limited role at PF which will increase his floor time in upcoming games.

At center, LaMar Kapono has been a rock on the boards, averaging 9.2 rpg (5th best in the Pac-12) and also scored well (9.9 ppg). Minahan and Ivener have stepped in to play C when Kapono is on the bench.

We’re averaging 75.6 ppg (68th best in Division I), 18.2 apg (36th best in Div. I), 39.4 rpg (3rd best in Div. I), 8.7 bpg (4th best in Div. I), and 10.9 topg (8th best in Div. I). We’ve outrebounded our opponents 39.4 to 33.8 rpg. Defensively we’ve held opponents to 60.3 ppg (11th best in Div. I) and kept opponent’s shooting percentage to just 35.8%. While we’ve made just 10.9 topg, our opponents are averaging 14.7 topg.

[PointGuard]

Game #10: Oregon State Beavers (4-5, 0-0) @ #21 Colorado Buffaloes (8-1, 0-0)

The Beavers beat Purdue by a nearly identical score to our win over the Boilermakers. But whereas we beat #12 Maryland by 19 points, Oregon State lost to the Terrapins by 17. The Beavers’ three perimeter players, Steffon Trotman, Michael Anderson, and Robert Payne are all averaging in double figures and have combined to chip in nearly 38 ppg. But defense has been the team’s Achilles Heal, so porous as to allow opponents to average nearly 80 ppg.

Oregon State hit 3’s on their first 2 possessions to take a 6-1 lead. But 4 minutes into the game we gained the lead and began to pull away. The Beavers first 15 points all came as the result of 3 points which allowed them to come back. At the end of the half we held a slim 38-36 lead. Oregon State dropped in 8 of 15 three point attempts and hit 54% of all their shots in the half while we only converted 33% of ours. We held a 7-0 turnover advantage. PF Derricus Ivener and SG Rick Coffey both scored 8 points for us while SG Robert Payne dropped in 11 points for the Beavers.

Continued poor shooting kept us from pulling away from Oregon State in the 2nd half. But with 11:33 to go we finally had crept ahead by double digits at 53-42. Our lead grew to 21 with 5-1/2 minutes left in the game. Our reserves carried us home from there and we won our first game of the Pac-12 season by a score of 84-63. Even though we dropped in just 40% of our FG attempts, we dominated the boards 52-34 and made just 4 turnovers while forcing the Beavers to turn the ball over 16 times.

SG Rick Coffey scored 15, PF Derricus Ivener had 14 points, SF Kenton Dunn hit for 14 points while pulling down 10 boards, PF/C Ike Minahan scored 13 and had 8 rebounds, and PG Justin Wilson added 10 points.

Other Pac-12 scores:

#5 Arizona-94, Washington State-82 (C Cliff Rivera had 20 pts, 16 reb, and 4 blocks for the Wildcats)
#1 UCLA-76, Arizona State-55 (UCLA’s SG Kyle Taylor-20 pts, 8 reb, 10 assists, 3 steals, 4 blocks)
Oregon-91, California-82 (Cal let an 13 point halftime lead evaporate in the 2nd half as Oregon’s SG Demario Kelly had 20 pts and 9 reb)
#13 Stanford-81, USC-64 (Wire-to-wire lead for the Cardinal with C Roger Younger getting 21 pts and 11 reb)
#23 Utah-72, Washington-54 (After a tight first half, the Utes pulled away in the 2nd half led by SF Adam Edwards 15 pts and 10 reb)
So the favorites were 100% successful in the first day in Pac-12 play.

[PointGuard]

Game #11: California Golden Bears (4-7, 0-1) @ #21 Colorado Buffaloes (9-1, 1-0)

California remains on probations following recruiting infractions a couple years ago and still has a year left in which they can offer no scholarships. Their probationary status has left them with a team comprised mainly of walkons. Their offense is centered around SF Gary Mack whose 18.6 ppg is the 4th highest in the Pac-12. PF John Baily is averaging 11.5 ppg and is dropping in 67% of his shots.

SF Kenton Dunn scored 15 of our first 23 points giving us a 10 point bulge over the Golden Bears. We continued to forge ahead and finished the half with a 43-26 lead. We outshot California 48% to 30% and had just 4 turnovers while the Golden Bears turned the ball over 11 times. SF Kenton Dunn drilled in 21 points and PF Ike Minahan had 13 points and 5 rebounds.

California caught fire when they came back on the court in the 2nd half. They whittled our lead to 51-45 with 14-1/2 minutes left in the game. We re-established our double digit lead a minute later and held onto it from there on to stomp California 81-61. We hit 51% of our FG attempts (including 50% of our 3P attempts) and held a 19-10 turnover advantage.

SF Kenton Dunn finished the game with 28 points. PF Ike Minahan had 18 points and 10 boards. SG Rick Coffey hit for 12 points.

Pac-12 results:

#5 Arizona-73, #23 Utah-67 (SF Rolan Bell tossed in 24 pts for the Wildcats and SG Bret Smylie had 22 pts for the Utes)
Arizona State-72, USC-66 (Close all the way with 18 lead changes and 8 ties but ASU’s SG Travis Hawkins’ 22 pts and C Brandon Polite’s 18 pts and 10 rebounds were the difference in the game)
#1 UCLA-79, Washington State-59 (32 pts, 6 reb, and 7 assists for SG Kyle Taylor of UCLA)
Oregon-68, Washington-58 (Oregon held a small lead throughout the game)
#13 Stanford-85, Oregon State-79 (A solid game by the Beavers kept this game in doubt down to the end but C Roger Younger scored 17 and has 18 rebounds along with 5 assists, 5 steals and a block to lead the Cardinals to victory)

[PointGuard]

In an "abundance of caution" collegiate basketball was cancelled due to the GuinnessVirus thus ending this dynasty.