Kansas State Wildcats NCAA Wagering

Chris Copeland must have been mistaken. He’s not supposed to be a superstar.

“Sometimes he wants to be magic,” head coach Ricardo Patton said. “We call him tragic.”

With team leader Richard Roby in foul trouble, the senior moved out of his usual support role to guide the Buffs to a 79-75 win over the Kansas State Wildcats Saturday. Copeland scored 17 points, including nine from behind the 3-point line, as Colorado (15-3, 5-2 Big 12) notched its fifth-straight win and cemented its hold on second place in the Big 12.

“It shows the kind of team we have,” Roby said. “We don’t need to rely on one guy to do the work. We’ve got a lot of guys who can play.”

Colorado jumped out to an early 22-13 lead against the Wildcats (12-5, 3-3 Big 12), thanks to strong play in the paint by guard Marcus Hall and forward Martane Freeman. Roby contributed just seven first-half points before getting into foul trouble.

“The first half we had to sit Roby,” Patton said, “and it hurt our offense a little.”

Roby saw action for just 12 minutes after committing two early fouls. With the sophomore on the bench, Copeland, Freeman and Hall had to lead by committee.

Freeman and Hall scored 12 points each, combining for 12 rebounds. Copeland, the tall post, dominated the inside, making 4 blocks and grabbing 7 rebounds.

Playing strong defense on the inside, Colorado never gave up the lead in the first half.

“They haven’t in the past been a team known for taking a lot of 3-point shots so we thought we could zone them,” Patton said.

As Colorado fell back into a 2-3 zone, designed for defending the interior, the Wildcats changed up their strategy and started heating up behind the 3-point line. K-State blasted back into the game, riding a 16-10 run.

“They hadn’t shot a lot of threes prior to this game,” Patton said. “Every piece of film we saw on this team was more dribble penetration and shooting in the lane.”

Relying more on perimeter shooting than penetrating the lane, K-State tied the game at halftime as guard Akeem Wright turned a lay up and a foul into a three-point play.

Wright’s free throw knotted the game at 35-35.

“We had the lead, so there was no reason to risk me getting three fouls; if it got out of hand, coach would probably put me in,” Roby said. “We have a lot of guys on this team who can play. There was no rush to get me back in.”

With Roby back in the second half, the Buffs rushed out to a 48-42 lead. He scored 11 second-half points, leading the team with 18.

Junior forward Cartier Martin scored a team-high 24 points to lead the Wildcats. Junior Lance Harris came off the bench to score 23 for the ‘Cats.

Martin and Harris combined for 31 second-half points, as K-State rallied, but was never able to tie the game again, thanks, in part, to the raucous crowd in attendance.

“Personally, I love playing in front of large crowds,” Copeland said. “The support that the people had tonight was great.”

The announced crowd of 8,074 forced K-State to call three timeouts in the last five minutes.

As the game wound down, the Wildcats resorted to fouling, not allowing the Buffs to run time off the clock.

The worst team in the Big 12 in free throw shooting, the Buffs had to overcome their nagging problems at the foul line to clinch the game.
Colorado bettered its season average of 62%, making 19 of 27 from the foul line.

“Anytime you can win close games, (free throw shooting) helps you,” Patton said. “Overall we shot 70 percent, so that’s better than the last outing.”

The 19 points from the line proved to be the clincher for Colorado. Freeman, Coleman and Roby sunk four free throws in the last minute to seal Colorado’s 79-75 win.

The Buffs will get a week off before their next game, a Feb. 5 matchup at Iowa State.

Just one-half game behind Big 12 leader Texas (17-3, 5-1 Big 12), Colorado now has the chance to take control of the Big 12 with a win and a Texas loss.

Over the break, Patton said, the Buffs will look to retool their schemes and see how they can best accomplish that.

“(The break) gives us a chance to look back at what we’ve done and where we want to go from here,” Patton said.