2 takeaways: CSU advances to MW Tournament Semifinals with a win over Fresno State

FORT COLLINS, CO. — Survive and advance. 

Coming into the Mountain West Tournament, Colorado State men’s basketball knew what it must accomplish to have a chance to go dancing this spring. With a regular season resume that has the Rams firmly on the bubble for the NCAA Tournament, another first round exit in Sin City would have likely been a death blow for the Green & Gold. 

With the season on the line and a pesky opponent standing in their way, though, the Rams stepped up when it mattered most, taking down Fresno State, 72-62, to advance to the semifinals of the MW Tournament. It was far from an easy matchup. Fresno State gave CSU everything it could handle Thursday night — much like they did to UNLV, Boise State and Utah State in previous weeks. 

With 06:43 left in the game, Fresno State’s Orlando Robinson even brought the Bulldogs within a single point of tying things up (58-57). The 7-footer led his squad with 16 points and 10 boards in 34 minutes of action. 

Fortunately for the Ram Faithful, though, CSU responded by closing out the night on a 14-5 run, slamming the door on any hopes of the sixth-seeded Bulldogs stealing an upset. 

Here are the takeaways from Thursday night’s win over Fresno State.

Teamwork makes the dream work

From a scoring perspective CSU was led by its core starters in this one. Isaiah Stevens paced the team with 16 points on 50 percent shooting from the floor (7-of-14). Surprisingly, Stevens finished without an assist for just the third time this season but he did have five rebounds and play a team-high 37 minutes while only recording two turnovers. 

Along with Stevens, David Roddy had 15 points and seven rebounds. Kendle Moore had 15 points on an efficient 6-of-9 shooting (67 percent). Adam Thistlewood was solid as well with 10 points and seven rebounds. 

While he did make an impact offensively, Thistlewood was even better on the defensive end, often providing help for the bigs against Robinson down low and helping the Rams secure important rebounds. Without his dirty work on this end of the floor, it would have been a really tough situation for Roddy and the bigs. But between Thistlewood’s help and a really strong defensive performance from James Moors, CSU was able to limit Fresno State to just 20 points in the paint and keep the rebounds tight — a big reason why the Rams were able to come out victorious in the end. 

That’s what made this victory impressive, though. Everyone was willing to chip in and fulfil their roles on the floor. As stated above, it was the starters that shouldered most of the scoring but the bench guys were also paramount to CSU’s success.

In 17 minutes on the floor P.J. Byrd had 8 points, a pair of assists, and two defensive rebounds. Dischon Thomas threw down a monster dunk and helped relieve Moors in his tough role against Robinson. And John Tonje had a couple of assists and a pair of rebounds in a limited role. 

The fact that Medved can trust any of these reserve guys to come in and play big minutes is such an advantage for the Rams in a tournament setting. Winning multiple games in multiple days is tough anyways — let alone when you factor in the added pressure of having March Madness on the line. It’s going to take far more than five individuals for the Rams to make a deep run this spring. I have a feeling we’ll get a signature moment from just about everyone currently being featured regularly in the rotation at one point or another. 

Automatic bid still on the table 

After beating the Bulldogs for a third time this season, CSU keeps a perfect record in games outside of Quad 2. But more importantly, it keeps Niko Medved’s squad’s chances of securing the league’s auto bid alive. 

Quite frankly, the Rams are deserving of an at-large bid regardless of Friday night’s outcome against Utah State, however, we all know the politics of the selection process tend to favor power conferences. 

As frustrating as the process for determining the regular season Mountain West champion was, the reality is winning the auto bid is still more beneficial in the end. The Rams can take all of the pressure out of Selection Sunday, and work out any and all frustrations they have about the regular season by winning two more games against opponents they have already beaten at various points this year. 

It’s right there for the taking. Can the Rams get it done?

Next Up:

CSU (18-5) will take on Utah State (20-7) Friday night at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas. Tip-off is slated for 10 p.m. MT on CBS Sports Network.