2 takeaways from Wednesday night's loss to Nevada

FORT COLLINS, Colo. — Colorado State men’s basketball fell to 0-3 in the Mountain West Conference with a 67-61 loss to Nevada Wednesday night.

In the New Year’s Day matchup the Rams (9-7, 0-3) struggled to score early and as a result, Nevada took a 14 point lead into halftime (39-25). By the 13:11 mark of the second half, Nevada (9-5, 0-2) extended its lead to 19 with a 3-pointer from Jazz Johnson — from there, though, the Rams made things interesting.

Over the final 10 minutes, CSU managed to outscore Nevada 24-13 to get within two scores. But in the end, the slow start was just too much for the Rams to make up for, especially without the team’s best 3-point shooter, sophomore forward Adam Thistlewood, who missed a second consecutive game with an ankle sprain.

Starting in place of Thistlewood, freshman forward David Roddy, was excellent in the second half. The big man from Minnesota had a few sloppy turnovers early —  but his consistent hustle and ability to get to the rim was crucial down the stretch. When it was all said and done, Roddy finished with a team-high 17 points and also pulled down five rebounds in 31 minutes of action Wednesday night.

Along with Roddy, Nico Carvacho (13 points) and Isaiah Stevens (13 points) each finished with double-digit figures. The problem was that the rest of the roster only combined for 18 points on 24 percent shooting from the floor (5-of-21).

Between the lack of scoring and the Rams having no answers for Jalen Harris on defense, there was just one too many hurdles for CSU to overcome. The former Louisiana Tech guard was brilliant in the win and consistently proved to be a mismatch for CSU, as he finished with a game-high 20 points, dished out four assists and paced the Wolf Pack with seven rebounds as well.

Here are two more takeaways from Wednesday night’s loss.

Rams are now playing for seeding

CSU went 9-4 in non-conference play which was actually pretty impressive with how young this year’s roster is. But after starting 0-3 in the league portion of the schedule, it’s fairly safe to say that the Rams are not going to win the regular season conference title for the 2019-20 season.

Now, do not panic — this is not that big of a deal. If we’re being realistic, nobody expected CSU to be a contender this year. But what this means is that from here on out, CSU is playing for seeding in the Mountain West Tournament and future development.

Like the Rams proved back in 2003, regardless of how the regular season plays out, anything can happen in a single-elimination style tournament. Securing a desirable matchup always helps your chances of going far, though. And to be able to do that, CSU is still going to need to finish in the top half of the league.

CSU’s grit will pay off down the line

As frustratingly inconsistent as this team has been this year, the one thing that has been evident from the start is that this young squad will not quit.

Trailing by nearly 20 in a hostile environment, last year’s team would have folded and likely gotten run out of the gym. This Rams team is different, though, and I’m confident that it’s going to pay off in the long run.