Kansas City Opens Postseason Play in Quarterfinals Against #7 Denver

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Starting Five

Kansas City Men's Basketball opens postseason play in Sioux Falls on Saturday with the highest conference tournament ranking in program history, tied with the 2005 and 2015 teams. The Roos will look to improve upon their 8-25 all-time conference tournament record and break a six-game postseason losing streak. KC's last win came in the WAC quarterfinals in 2017 against UTRGV.
The Roos raked in Summit League postseason awards, led by Coach of the Year Marvin Menzies. He is the second coach in program history to earn the league's yearly award, joining Rich Zvosec in 2004-05. In addition, Jamar Brown was First Team All-League and Newcomer of the Year, Jayson Petty was Freshman of the Year, Khristion Courseault was Sixth Man of the Year and Babacar Diallo was named to the All-Defensive team. The success marks the most postseason conference honors in program history.
Since the start of conference play, Brown has undoubtedly been one of the most impactful players in the Summit League. In league contests, he ranks top-10 in scoring (7th; 16.5), field goal percentage (5th; 47%), free throw percentage (1st; 91.8%), threes per game (9th; 1.9) and minutes per game (5th; 36.8). He is also top-25 in rebounding, assists, blocks and steals.
Courseault found his role on this team as a pass-first guard, leading the Summit in assists per game and ranking fourth in assist-to-turnover ratio since the start of league play. He is the team's second-leading scorer, but in games where he scores 15-plus points, the Roos are 3-5. Contrarily, when he dishes out five-plus assists, KC holds a 10-4 record.
Kansas City has found a groove with the starting lineup of Diallo/Petty/Brown/Faas/Ebonkoli. The group has started each of the past seven games and KC is outscoring teams by over eight points per game in that span.

Denver Notes

Denver enters the postseason with the seventh seed, but are on a three-game losing streak and have dropped eight of their last 10.
Kansas City took both of the regular season meeting from the Pioneers, holding Tommy Bruner to 12 points in a 85-71 win at home and scoring 46 second half points in a 84-69 win in Denver.
In two games against DU this season, Tyler Andrews is averaging 20.0 points per game, 15 points above his season average.
The Roos lead the all-time series, 10-4, but this will be the first time that these two teams have ever played in a neutral site game.
The Pioneers have one of the best scoring offenses in the nation, averaging 82.6 points per game, 17th in the NCAA. On the flip side, their defense allows 81.9 points, 348th in the nation.
Bruner leads the nation in scoring, averaging 24.5 points per game. Touko Tainamo is a scoring threat as well, averaging 16.3 points.

Kansas City Opens Postseason Play in Quarterfinals Against #7 Denver

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Players Mentioned

Tyler Andrews

Jamar Brown

Khristion Courseault

Babacar Diallo

Jayson Petty

Kansas City Opens Postseason Play in Quarterfinals Against #7 Denver

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Tyler Andrews

Jamar Brown

Khristion Courseault

Babacar Diallo

Jayson Petty

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University of Missouri Kansas City Athletics