Colorado State Uses Second Half Run to Defeat Roos

Friday, November 17

Fort Collins, CO

8:00 PM

Kansas City

2-2,0-0Summit League

Colorado State

4-0,0-0Mountain West

Kansas City

Colorado St.

Colorado State Uses Second Half Run to Defeat Roos

11/17/2023 10:23:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Highlights

Anderson Kopp stuffed the stat sheet, but it was not enough against a hot-shooting Rams squad

FORT COLLINS, Colo. - Kansas City Men's Basketball (2-2) looked as if it was up to the challenge early in the second half against Colorado State (4-0) this evening, but a run by the Rams midway through the second frame put the game out of reach as Kansas City fell, 84-61. Anderson Kopp showed his promise as a leader of the Roos' squad, finishing with a team-high 14 points on 50% shooting, adding nine rebounds and six assists.

The Rams got out to a quick start from the tipoff, building a double-digit lead early and taking control of the game. Kansas City was able to whittle away at the lead, but still trailed by 11 going into the half. Coming out of the break, KC continued to chip away, cutting the lead down to as few as six points, but then went cold from the floor and Colorado State used a 15-2 run to take command of the game.

Right behind Kopp was Allen David Mukeba Jr., finishing with 11 points, and then Cameron Faas with 10 points for his first double-digit scoring game as a Roo. Kansas City's defense had trouble stopping the Rams from the field, allowing 57.8% shooting from the floor and 45.5% shooting from three-point range. Four CSU players finished in double-digits on the night.

KEY MOMENTS

1H - 15:10 / 2-13 | Colorado State scored the first 13 points of the game, and it was Kopp that finally got the Roos going, working for a turnaround jumper in the paint to get KC on the board.
1H - 11:29 / 8-17 | Mukeba got his first bucket of the night to cut the Rams' lead down to single digits, but CSU would quickly respond with a bucket of its own and proceed to expand the lead back out to as many as 15 points.
1H - 4:28 / 22-30 | Kopp found Faas, who used a pump fake to shake loose and nailed a three-pointer, and on the next trip down the court Faas dished to Jamar Brown, who earned a tough finish and cut the lead to eight.
1H - 1:01 / 27-34 | In an isolation on the left side of the court, Kopp backed his man down, using multiple moves and finishing through conntact for an and-one bucket that trimmed the lead as small as it had been since the 18:12 mark. The Rams finished the half on a four-point run to take a double-digit lead into the break.
2H - 18:45 / 33-38 | Kansas City scored the first six points of the second half, first another and-one by Kopp, then Artese Stapleton hit a step-back triple and trimmed the lead down to five.
2H - 16:04 / 39-45 | Brown pulled down an offensive rebound on his own miss, putting it back and keeping KC within six points. From there, CSU would score the next 12 points, going on a 15-2 run over the next five minutes.
2H - 10:08 / 43-60 | It was another bucket by Brown that put an end to the Rams' run, using an assist by Kopp. Across the final 10 minutes of game time, the Roos hit just three more shots from the field.

STATS TO NOTE

Kopp's 14-point outing tonight kept his season average at 14.0 points per game, overtaking Brown as the team's scoring leader. He also leads the team in rebounding and assists.
Kansas City had its best night from the free throw line of the young season, connecting on 15-of-19 attempts for a 78.9% clip. Entering the night, the Roos were shooting just 58.3% from the charity stripe on the season.
The Roos finished the night with 10 assists, continuing the trend of breaking double-digits in every game so far this year. However, KC finished with 18 turnovers on the game, a season-high.
Despite entering the game averaging 10.7 steals and 4.7 blocks per game, KC notched just one block and two steals against the Rams, both season-lows. The Roos also committed 26 fouls, a season-high.

UP NEXT
Kansas City will travel to the Bahamas next week for the 2023 Baha Mar Hoops Nassau Championship, playing UNC Greensboro in the First Round on Friday, Nov. 24. The Spartans took down No. 14 Arkansas in a matchup this evening.