The Town Crier

[PointGuard]

COLORADO BUFFALOES PLAYER STATISTICS (at completion of pre-conference play):



PLAYER EVALUATION:

Point Guards:

Justin Wilson (SO) started 10 of our 11 games. He’s averaging 8.3 ppg and 2.9 apg. He’s hitting 58% of this 2 point shots and just under 30% of this 3 point attempts. He’s got a 2.3 A/TO ratio. He’s been strong defensively. Overall he’s been a solid performer.

Matt Conley (SR) started 1 game. He’s averaging 4.6 ppg and 2.6 apg. He has knocked down 62% of his 2 point attempts but just 18% of this 3’s. He’s good at dishing out assists and has very few turnovers. His 4.1 A/TO ratio is excellent. He good at running down defensive rebounds. He’s been a very strong defender.

John Phelan (FR) has subbed into 7 games averaging 4.6 mpg. He’s averaging 2.7 ppg and 0.4 apg. He’s hit 60% of this 2’s and 33% of his 3’s. He’s still gaining experience so he’s not yet dishing out enough assists and has made too many turnovers. His A/TO ration is 0.6. But his scoring proficiency means we may play him both at PG and SG so he can get more floor time and experience.

Shooting Guards:

Camah Griffin (SR) has started 9 games. He’s averaging 7.5 ppg, 2.6 apg, and 2.7 rpg. He’s hitting 57% of his 2’s and 41% of his 3’s. He’s played mostly at SG but also has some time playing PG. He’s been very good at dishing out assists but also makes a fair number of turnovers so his A/TO ratio is 1.9. He’s been good defensively.

Steve Jackson (SR) has started 2 games. He’s averaging 9.0 ppg, 1.7 apg, and 2.5 rpg. His shooting has not yet been as good as last season since he’s hit just 40% of his 2PA and 33% of his 3PA, but he’s a shooter and is likely to improve as the season progresses. His free throw shooting has been very good (82%) and he has only made 0.5 topg so he has a good 3.2 A/TO ratio. I think he’s a better defender than he’s shown thus far this season.

Small Forwards:

Kenton Dunn (JR) has started all 11 games, 9 at SF and 2 at PF. He also has played SG in most of the games. He is averaging 10.5 ppg, 2.5 apg, and 5.1 rpg. He’s hitting 65% of his 3 pointers but just 34% of his 2PA and 67% of his free throws. His A/TO ratio is 1.5. He’s done a good job defensively.

Rickey Coffey (JR) has started 2 games. He’s averaging 8.9 ppg, 1.1 apg, and 4.3 rpg. He’s hit 50% of his 2PA, 57% of his 3PA and 80% of his FTA. His been one of our better rebounders. He has a 1.7 A/TO ratio. He’s been strong defensively. He playing time is likely to increase.

Power Forwards:

Charles Maors (SR) has started 9 games. He is averaging 6.7 ppg, 1.3 apg, and 3.8 rpg. He’s hit 49% of his 2 pointers and 38% of his 3 pointers but just 65% of his free throws. While he’s a natural SF, he continues to play well at PF and be a solid rebounder but his scoring is a little off from last season. His A/TO ratio is 1.4. He’s a good defender.

Primoz Pohek (SR) has come off the bench to play both PF and C this season. He’s averaging 2.9 ppg, 1.1 apg, and 3.2 rpg. He’s hitting 46% of his FGA and 1.000 of his few 3PA. He’s not shot a lot so he’s not been a strong scorer thus far but has been a very good rebounder. His A/TO ratio is good at 2.4. He’s done a good job defensively.

Brian Ross (FR) has played in 8 games averaging 5.6 mpg. He is averaging 1.5 ppg, 0.9 apg, and 0.9 rpg. He has a 7.0 A/TO ratio. He’s hit 25% of his 2’s and 1.000 of his few 3’s. He remains a work in progress but has shown a lot of potential.

Mel Dye (FR)—redshirt this season but is doing a good job of learning our sets in practices.

Centers:

Ike Minahan (FR) has started 11 games. He came to us as a PF, but we’ve played him mostly at C. He’s averaging 12.8 ppg, 1.7 apg, and 6.4 rpg. He’s hitting 54% of his 2’s and 54% of his 3’s. His excellent 3 point shooting has been a pleasant surprise. His rebounding has been our top rebounder. He has a 1.4 A/TO ratio. He’s been very good defensively.

Derricus Ivener (FR) has played mostly at C but also some at PF. He’s averaging 3.7 ppg, 0.6 apg, and 1.9 rpg. He’s hit 46% of his 2PA and 30% of his 3PA. His A/TO ratio is 0.9. He’s done a good job defensively. He’s still learning but making good progress.

Brian Walker (FR) and Billy Horton (SO)—both are walkons and have just got into one game each playing only a minute each.

All players have GPA’s over 3.0 with 2 players (Camah Griffin and Primoz Pohek) having 4.0 GPA’s.

[PointGuard]

PAC-12 Assessment:

11 of the 12 teams in our conference had pre-conference records over .500. The lone exception was surprising: Arizona. The NCAA’s recruiting punishment has really had an effect on the Wildcats. One of their 4 wins was impressive, though…an 18 point win over Florida, which was ranked 8th in the polls at that point. But Florida has now dropped to #22 in the polls.

On the positive side for the Pac-12 five of its teams are now ranked in the polls: UCLA is #3, Washington is #16, Oregon is #17, Stanford is #19, and California is #25. All five of those teams have better RPI’s than ours. Of particular note, the final two (Stanford and California) both enter conference play with 8 game win streaks.

So we have a tough fight coming our way as we enter conference play. Our schedule presents us with a challenge as well since 4 of our first 5 conference games are on the road. We need to be a good road team or we’ll dig ourselves a big early hole in the standings.

We averaged 77.1 ppg offensively (40th best in the nation) and gave up just 63.5 ppg (35th best in the nation). We averaged just 9.9 turnovers per game which was best in the nation.

Youngstown State Penguins

Youngstown State, the first team I coached, goes into Horizon League play with a 4-5 record and the 122nd best RPI in the country. Only two players remain that I recruited and both are now seniors. SG Doylan Anderson is the team’s leading scorer, averaging 13.3 ppg. Lucas Broering subs at SG and is averaging 6.1 ppg.

[PointGuard]

Colorado Buffaloes (8-3, 0-0) at Oregon State Beavers (5-4, 0-0)

The Beavers are led by SF Steffon Trotman (15.2 ppg) and SG Jamaal Darden (13.9 ppg).

It took 2-1/2 minutes before either team scored. We got on the board first when C Ike Minahan dropped in an 8 foot jumper. But our offense was impotent and we fell behind 20-7 with 7:51 to play in the half. We finally got a little mojo to pick up our shooting efficiency from 20% to 35% by the end of the half and close to within 4 at the half, trailing 28-24. C Ike Minahan scored 11 and pulled down 7 boards.

Oregon State came out in the 2nd half on fire and roared away to a 57-36 lead with 13 minutes to play. We never got close after that. Even though we made a small run in the waning moments of the game, we still lost 68-58. Hitting just 36% of your FG attempts and 13% of your 3PA’s doesn’t give you much of a chance to win on the road.

C Ike Minahan was our only player who was productive. He finished with 22 points and 9 rebounds.

It was a disappointing start to our Pac-12 season, but while it’s little solace, all other road teams in the Pac-12 scores lost also:

Arizona-89, Washington State-66
#3 UCLA-88, Arizona State-69
#25 California-69, #17 Oregon-47
USC-65, #19 Stanford-57
#16 Washington-63, Utah-58

[PointGuard]

Game #13: Colorado Buffaloes (8-4, 0-1) @ #25 California Golden Bears (10-2, 1-0)

Super sophomore SG Derrick Jackson is averaging 23.5 ppg (tops in the Pac-12) and has scored 20+ points in 2/3 of Cal’s games and 30+ points in 17% of their games. In games against common opponents, the Golden Bears beat Seton Hall 75-69 while we lost to the Hall 73-69 while against Pennsylvania, Cal won 93-73 and we beat the Quakers 99-83.

Prior to the game we discussed how if we wanted to challenge in the Pac-12 that we needed to win on the road and beat the top teams so this was a big game for us.

Cal’s SG Derrick Jackson hit two quick buckets to begin the game. We shifted to a strict man-to-man so we could double team him and that slowed him down. We played well the first 10 minutes to build a 17-12 lead but then went ice-cold. The Golden Bears scored 16 unanswered points to take a 26-17 lead with 6 minutes left in the half. When the half ended we trailed 36-25. We hit just 36% of our shots and had 8 turnovers while California tossed in 47% of their shots and turned the ball over just 4 times. SF/PF Kenton Dunn and SF Rick Coffey both scored 5 points. Cal’s Derrick Jackson scored 14 points but only hit 5 of 15 field goals.

We fought hard in the 2nd half and slowly ground closer to the Golden Bears. With 9:43 remaining we had cut their lead to 52-48. Cal began pulling away but we doggedly hung in and with 2:27 to go PG Justin Wilson threw down a jam after Rick Coffey intercepted a pass and upcourted the ball the streaking Wilson and we were down by just 3 at 67-64. Then we got tantalizingly close at 69-67 when Matt Conley sunk a 3 with 1:08 on the clock. Cal missed on their next possession and we called a time out with 38 seconds left. Our designed pick-and-roll didn’t work but Justin Wilson was fouled. He went to the line with 2 attempts to tie. He knocked down the first free throw but missed the second to make it 69-68. We fouled and Cal made just one of two shots to make it 70-68. Another time out and this time our play worked with Wilson driving, pulling up and dropping in a 12 foot jumper to tie the game with 23 ticks remaining. Kenton Dunn stole the ball. The Golden Bears were whistled with a foul. Kenton Dunn made just one of his two charity shots but that gave us a 71-70 lead with 14 seconds left to play. Our full court press closed Cal but they put up a quick shot the rimmed out and we rebounded. We avoided their efforts to foul and time expired leaving us with a come-from-behind 71-70 victory.

This was a game in which the team stats didn’t justify our winning, but our guys just never gave up and did whatever it took to pull off the victory.

C Ike Minahan led our scoring with 14 points with PG Justin Wilson contributing 11 points, and SF/PF Kenton Dunn and PG Matt Conley both adding 10, and SF Rick Coffey scoring 8 while hauling in 11 rebounds, dishing out 3 assists, and making 4 steals. For California it was one-man show with SG Derek Jackson scoring 28, handing out 6 assists, and recording 6 rebounds, 5 steals and 3 blocks.

Other Pac-12 scores:

Utah-72, Arizona-60
USC-78, Arizona State-59
#3 UCLA-77, Washington State-57
#17 Oregon-78, #16 Washington-72
Oregon State-81, #19 Stanford-62

Strangely, after losing to us California moved up from 25th to 18th in the Media Poll but they had beaten #17 Oregon earlier in the week. On the other hand, we remain unranked...a road loss to Oregon State overriding our road win over Cal.

[PointGuard]

Game #14: USC Trojans (8-4, 2-0) @ Colorado Buffaloes (9-4, 1-1)

USC is led by their guards, PG Dennis Evans who’s averaging 12.9 ppg and SG Brendan Trilli with a 13.4 ppg scoring average.

We hit our first 6 FG’s as well as 2 free throws to open a 15-5 lead after 4 minutes of play. We expanded our lead to 14 points, but as the half progressed, our shooting regressed. Our lead shrunk to 4 points before stopped the bleeding. We finished the half ahead by a score of 34-27. SF Rick Coffey paced our offense with 10 points. USC’s PG Dennis Evans carried the Trojans by scoring 20 points.

We scored the first 13 points of the 2nd half to expand our lead to 20 points. We continued to roll and with 4 minutes to play we were up by 24 points. They scored on our subs late in the game to cut the final difference to 76-59. The big difference in the game was our 23-7 turnover advantage.

C Ike Minahan topped our scoring with 15 points followed by PG Matt Conley’s 13 points, and SF/PF Kenton Dunn and SF Rick Coffey both adding 12 points. We held USC’s Dennis Evans scoreless in the 2nd half.

Results of other Pac-12 games:

Arizona-78, #18 California-71
Arizona State-82, Utah-70
#16 Washington-77, #24 Stanford-64
#2 UCLA-86, Oregon State-69
#17 Oregon-90, Washington State-71

UCLA remains the only unbeaten team in conference play. Our win moved us into a six-team tie for 2nd place.

So the good news was we won and are tied for 2nd place. The bad news was that following the game SF/PF Kenton Dunn and SF Rick Coffey were involved in a car accident on their way home from a post-game party. Dunn sustained a mild concussion and Coffey is experiencing back spasms. Both will miss our next game when we travel to take on Arizona State later this week. Both had been drinking and since Coffey was driving, he is likely to have his license suspended. Since other players were also at the party, we had a team meeting to discuss alcohol use/abuse and responsibility to the team.

[PointGuard]

Game #15: Colorado Buffaloes (10-4, 2-1) @ Arizona State Sun Devils (8-4, 1-2)

With Kenton Dunn and Rick Coffey both unavailable due to injuries, we will have to shift our starting lineup with Charles Maors at SF, Primoz Pohek starting at C and Ike Minahan moving to PF.

Arizona State has 3 players scoring in double figures: SG Travis Hawkins (13.4 ppg), C Jeremy Totten (13.0 ppg), and C/PF Marquise Jones (13.3 ppg).
After trailing by as much as 7 points, we finally tied the game at 15-15 with 11 minutes to play in the half. We then hit two straight 3’s to go ahead 21-15. We held onto the lead until the last minute of play as Arizona State took a 36-34 advantage to the locker room. Steve Jackson came off the bench to score 12 points for us.

We kept close to the Sun Devils early in the 2nd half, but then fell apart offensively and defensively and trailed by 17 with 9 minutes left in the game. We made a frenzied run that cut the lead to 3 points with 3 minutes to go. Then with 2 minutes remaining we scored on a perfect pick and roll to make the score 68-67 in favor of the Sun Devils. We fell behind by 5 then hit a field goal with 15 seconds remaining to get within 3. We fouled and they missed the first of a one-and-one. We brought the ball up court and with time expiring Steve Jackson sank a 3 from the corner to tie the game at 72-72 and send the game to overtimes.

On the opening possession of the OT, Jackson hit another 3. With 1-1/2 minutes to go, the Sun Devils hit a 3 to take a 79-77 lead and then on their next possession scored inside to take a 4 point lead. Another 3 by Arizona was a nail in our coffin and we lost 84-77. After coming back to tie at the end of regulation play and they lead for most of the OT, it was a disappointing finish.

PG Matt Conley and SG Steve Jackson both dropped in 17 points while C Ike Minahan scored 14 and hauled down 12 boards. Conley also had 8 assists.

[PointGuard]

Game #16: Colorado Buffaloes (10-5, 2-2) @ Utah Utes (7-7, 1-3)

Man, I’m tired of all these away games. This is our 4th in our first 5 Pac-12 games. To make matters worse, SF Rick Coffey’s back spasms have worsened so he will miss this game and possibly our next one.

Utah’s lackluster record isn’t indicative of their capabilities. Other than a 2nd round loss in a pre-conference tournament, their other 6 losses have been while playing on the road. They own a spotless home record including a win over Virginia, a team that is now ranked 5th in the polls. Utah’s C Marc Fife is averaging 13.6 ppg and PF Mark Wall has scored 12.0 ppg. Fife is also a beast on the boards, averaging over 10 rpg.

We missed our first 4 shots while Utah connected on their first 3 shots to quickly move out to an 8-1 lead. We continued to shoot poorly, hitting just 3 of our first 15 shots. Meanwhile the Utes’ PG Jason Swygart was tearing us up, scoring 11 points and we trailed 21-9 with 10-1/2 minutes left in the first half. Had it not been for Utah turning the ball over 8 times at that point, we’d have been totally buried. We cut the lead to 5 several times but could whittle it no further and we fell behind 42-31 at the end of the half. Utah outshot us 58% to 32% and out-rebounded us 23-7. Countering this we held a 16-7 turnover advantage. Steve Jackson scored over half our points with 17 points. PG Jason Swygart finished with 14 points for the Utes.

Our 2nd half chore was to apply a staunch defense, but we let Utah score 5 unanswered points in the first minute. We scored 10 straight points to get within 7 points with 15 minutes to play. We again repeatedly got within 7, but never could get close enough to mount a serious threat. The game ended with us on the short end of a 76-65 score. A porous defense which allowed them to hit 55% of their FG attempts and 46% of their 3PA’s allowed Utah to hold us at arms’ length.

SG Steve Jackson scored 20, PG Matt Conley added 13, and C Ike Minahan contributed 11 points. Utah’s PG Jason Swygart scored 21 points.

Pac-12 Scores:

#18 California-91, Utah 85 (OT) (Cal’s SG Derek Jackson tossed in 33 points and pulled down 9 rebounds)
Arizona-82, USC-70 (The Wildcats fell behind by 17 early in the game but then gradually pulled away)
#17 Oregon-81, #24 Stanford-79 (after trailing by 20, the Ducks pulled out a win late in the game)
Washington State-83, Oregon State-59 (big upset win on the road by the Cougars)
#16 Washington-56, #2 UCLA-49 (great defensive battle with the Huskies holding UCLA’s shooting to 29%)

With the loss by UCLA there no longer are any teams with no losses in conference play. Stanford is now 0-4 in Pac-12 play, but 3 of their 4 games have been on the road.

[PointGuard]

Game #17: Arizona Wildcats (8-6, 4-1) @ Colorado Buffaloes (10-6, 2-3)

Arizona has turned around their season and leads the league. So a team that appeared beleaguered in pre-conference play has become a force to be reckoned with. The Wildcats’ offensive leaders are SF Rolan Bell who is averaging 14.4 ppg and PF Curtis Grace who is scoring 14.2 ppg and pulling down 8.1 rpg. C Cliff Rivera anchors their interior with 9.9 ppg and 9.6 rpg. Arizona has forced their opponents to make 17.2 topg. So we finally get another home game, but have to take on a team loaded with 5-star players.

SF Rick Coffey’s has been cleared to play, but he’s still not 100%, so I’m hoping we can play well enough to give him some more rest.

We hung with Arizona for 12 minutes but then our offense went south and the Wildcats’ PG Tim Petty kept chunking in shots from outside. By the end of the half we trailed 34-26. We hit just 29% of our shots. C Ike Minahan scored 8 points. PG Tim Petty popped in 14 for Arizona.

We fought hard to try to derail Arizona in the 2nd half and with 12:36 to play took our first lead at 44-43 when Charles Maors hit a 14 footer from just outside the key. With 6 minutes we led by 8 as our defense was stellar. We led 70-64 with 3 minutes to go. Things got tough at that point. Our lead dwinded to 70-67 with 1:10 to play, but then C Ike Minahan was fouled on a contested shot inside that fell through the basket. Minahan missed his free throw but we were up by 5 with 51 seconds left. Arizona set up a 3 point shot coming off their time out, but it bounced off the rim. We rebounded and PG Matt Conley was intentionally fouled with 35 ticks remaining. Conley calmly dropped in both shots to give us a 7 point lead. The Wildcats missed two 3-point attempts on their next possession. SF Kenton Dunn was fouled and he sunk both shots. That concluded the scoring and we came away with a satisfying 76-67 victory over a talented Arizona team. We outscored the Wildcats 50-33 in the 2nd half. Arizona was unable to rattle us as we only made 9 turnovers the entire game.

SG Camah Griffin was our sparkplug in the 2nd half and scored 16 points. C Ike Minahan scored 13 points and grabbed 11 rebounds plus had 5 blocks and a steal. SG Steve Jackson added 12 points. For Arizona PG Tim Petty finished with 18 points, PF Curtis Grace had 10 points and 10 rebounds, and C Cliff Rivera scored 9 and pulled down 13 boards.

Results of other Pac-12 games:

#18 California-68, Arizona State-60
USC-69, Utah-64
#17 Oregon-74, Oregon State-53
Stanford-69, #2 UCLA-67
#15 Washington-72, Washington State-61

We’re firmly ensconced in the middle of the pack in the standings but only a game behind five teams tied for 1st place with 4-2 records.

[PointGuard]

Game #18: Colorado Buffaloes (11-6, 3-3) @ #19 Oregon Ducks (11-5, 4-2)

On the road again. And taking on the Ducks who are tied for the league lead. This is the first of two games this week against Oregon. The Ducks are led offensively by freshman SF JJ Robinson who is averaging 15.6 ppg.

Oregon came out firing away from outside and hitting over 70% of their shots to forge ahead 27-11 after 7-1/2 minutes of play. We cooled them slightly (they finished the half knocking down 61% of their FG attempts and 57% of their 3’s), to cut their lead to 49-40 at the break. C Ike Minahan dropped in 16 points for us while SF JJ Robinson had 12 for Oregon.

We cut the Ducks’ Lead to 56-51 with 14:19 remaining. We continued to creep closer and Kenton Dunn’s 3 with 10 minutes to go made it 63-60. Then Ike Minahan knocked down a 3 to tie the game at 65-65 with 8-1/2 minutes left. As our defense shut down Oregon, we then ever-so-slowly ground ahead and finished with a surprising 80-71 victory. My guys had dedicated the game to my father and overnighted the game ball to him. He was happy to receive it in the hospital.

C Ike Minahan scored 16 and pulled down 7 rebounds, SF Kenton Dunn had 15 points, and SG Camah Griffin tossed in 11 points. Oregon’s C Ronald Greenwalt led their scoring with 18 points.

Pac-12 results tonight:

Arizona-81, Stanford-72
#14 Washington-70, Arizona State-65
Washington State-74, #15 California-71 (the Cougars overcame 34 points from Cal’s SG Derek Jackson)
#3 UCLA-94, USC-48
Utah-76, Oregon State-69

Our big road win moved us into a 3-way tie for 4th place in the conference.

[PointGuard]

Game #19: #19 Oregon Ducks (11-6, 4-3) @ Colorado Buffaloes (12-6, 4-3)

Following our big win against the Ducks in Eugene the two teams came to Boulder for the follow-up game. Expectations were high within our fans. I remained with my father, so was unable to be with my team. 1st Assistant Coach Bryant Marshack again coached our team.

The game was close throughout the first half and defense predominated on both ends of the court, but we managed to gain a 34-30 halftime advantage. SF Kenton Dunn hit for 11 points.

Oregon tried to beat us with 3’s but they had difficulty connecting and were unable to wrest the lead from us. While we didn’t set the nets on fire, we held the Ducks off and pulled away in the final minutes as Oregon was forced to foul. We finished with yet another win over Oregon, this time by a score of 75-64.

SF Kenton Dunn hit for 16, SG Camah Griffin scored 12, and PF Charles Maors added 10 points.

Two big wins over the Ducks with me away. Bryant did a heckuva job coaching the team!

Results of other Pac-12 games:

Arizona-80, #14 Washington-62 (Curtis Grace led Arizona to their with with 32 points and 8 boards)
Washington State-77, Arizona State-72
#15 California-80, #3 UCLA-74 (close all the way with 18 lead changes and 7 ties)
USC-74, Oregon State-56
Utah-81, Stanford-74 (Mark Wall scored 30 and had 9 rebounds for Utah)

Improving our Pac-12 record to 5-3 we are now in a 4-way tie for 2nd place, one game behind Arizona.