3 takeaways: Colorado State ties its best start in program history with a scrappy win over New Mexico

DENVER — Colorado State men’s basketball has tied its best-ever start through 15 games. 

With Wednesday’s 80-74 victory New Mexico the Rams are now 14-1 overall, matching the 2014-15 team. A victory over Air Force on Saturday, though, would give the current group the best start in program history, period. 

Here’s how things went down against the Lobos.  

In front of 3,850 students, the most to ever be at Moby Arena for a single game, CSU was able to outlast UNM in a competitive contest between longtime conference foes. 

Tonight’s @CSUMBasketball Student Crowd is the-

❗️𝗟𝗔𝗥𝗚𝗘𝗦𝗧 𝗜𝗡 𝗦𝗖𝗛𝗢𝗢𝗟 𝗛𝗜𝗦𝗧𝗢𝗥𝗬❗️

3,850 – 160% of capacity! 🔥 pic.twitter.com/CKftOIAlNC

— Colorado State Rams 🐏 (@CSURams) January 20, 2022

The Lobos hit 14 threes and shot 42 percent from deep in the game. They also had four players score 13 or more points, so it wasn’t just an instance of one person going off to keep them in it. For a team that has yet to win against Mountain West competition, it was honestly a pretty impressive showing of talent from UNM. KJ Jenkins and Javont Johnson combined to go 64 percent from deep (9-of-14). Jamal Mashburn Jr. and Jaelen House were able to create for themselves all over the floor. House was particularly impressive with 18 points and seven assists, his ability to blow past defenders really stands out. 

Fortunately, CSU is just better. And while UNM did do enough to win offensively, the same could not be said for their defense. Until Richard Pitino’s team invests as much defensively as they do on the other end, UNM is going to continue to lose tight games, even if they shoot lights out. But it is clear that there are some guys that can really hoop on that roster. It will be interesting to see if they can buy in at all on that end of the floor, because if they do then UNM could be a sneaky group to pull an upset in the Mountain West Tournament in March.

Flipping things over to CSU, the Rams had five different individuals score 10 or more points. David Roddy led the way with 21 points, six rebounds and seven assists. But Isaiah Stevens had 16 points, three rebounds and three assists, Dischon Thomas had 12 points, five boards, and John Tonje (10) and Chandler Jacobs (12) combined for 22 points and 15 rebounds off the bench. Jacobs actually had a double-double with 12 points, 10 rebounds. All together it was a pretty complete team victory and a strong indicator of CSU’s depth. 

Here are the takeaways from Wednesday night. 

It wasn’t a knockout, but CSU rolled with the punches and found a way to win the fight

Despite not coming close to covering the 16 point spread, CSU did create a lot of quality scoring chances, the jump shots just weren’t falling from the perimeter for Niko Medved’s squad (6-of-20). So, with UNM shooting lights out from deep for most of the night, CSU had to compensate with production in the paint (+16) and at the free throw line (+18), both areas where the Rams dominated. 

Sometimes winning basketball isn’t sexy. Sometimes it’s taking advantage of the other team hacking you by capitalizing at the free throw line, or it’s limiting turnovers and scoring off of the other team’s giveaways. It’s just making enough plays to get it done. And that’s what CSU did Wednesday night. Ideally they would have been a little more convincing with the outcome, maybe buried UNM a little bit earlier, but a win is a win and they all count the same. 

The CSU OG’s continue to struggle to score

My admiration for Kendle Moore and Adam Thistlewood is no secret. Those guys have given everything to this school for the last four years. And their roles in helping turn around what was a program in freefall should never be understated. They’re the exact type of glue guys you need in a locker room while a team is going through transition. 

As much as I appreciate what the aforementioned seniors have done for CSU and the type of people they are off the court, the lack of offensive production in 2021-22 has been pretty alarming. Neither was 100 percent healthy coming into the season, so it’s not like they were projected to be all-conference players or anything like that, but a combined 15-20 points per night seemed like a realistic expectation for Moore and ‘AT’. Unfortunately, though, so far they have not even come close to that type of production. 

Against UNM they combined for 2 points on 1-of-5 attempts from the floor, so at least they weren’t out there jacking up shots at a high volume. However, what’s really been concerning is the amount of wide-open shots these guys have consistently missed all year. If they cannot score easy buckets, outside of the respect they’ve earned at this point of their careers, it’s going to be tougher and tougher for Medved to keep them on the floor in crucial situations. They may stay in the starting lineup, largely out of appreciation for their careers, a lot of the key minutes in the second half are going to be assumed by guys like Chandler Jacobs and Jalen Lake though. 

Again, this is not some call to drastically shake up the starting lineup. CSU is 14-1 and their rotation is clearly producing the right results. Plus, like I’ve said many times this season, it matters more who finishes on the floor than who starts on it. The starting seniors coming out of their shooting slump down the stretch would be a welcome site for Ram fans though. Nobody wants to root for foundational players to lose their spots on the floor. Hopefully they can snap out of it and find the bottom of the net in the coming weeks. 

Chandler Jacobs has found his role and it’s what the Rams need

It’s not often that you see a player as decorated as Jacobs transfer to a new team and selflessly accept a much smaller role. When you’re used to being the guy in the spotlight, the face of the program, it takes a real sense of maturity and a team-first mindset to transition into a sixth man. But so far, it’s been so good for Jacobs when it comes to handling that unique transition. And we’re seeing him play a bigger and bigger role for the Rams in the most critical situations. 

Jacobs has averaged 19 minutes per game through the first 15 matchups of 2021-22. In conference games, however, his time on the floor has averaged out to 22 minutes of run a night, which makes sense considering the impact he’s making on both ends of the floor. He’s creating steals, he’s occasionally coming up with blocks and he’s really displayed a killer instinct with the way he’s been attacking the hoop of late. Jacobs has been clutch at the free throw line as well, he was 8-of-8 at the line against Utah State and made all six of his free throws against UNM. 

Having another reliable scoring option to lean on has been such a huge boost for the Green & Gold, especially with the production Medved has been getting out of ‘DT’, Tonje and Lake. I have a feeling that at the end of the season we’ll look back and view Jacobs as one of the biggest ‘X-factors’ in CSU’s success. He’s uniquely composed and an incredible athlete. It’s safe to say that the staff knocked it out of the park with his addition to the team. 

Next up: The Rams will look to sweep Air Force in the regular season series on Saturday afternoon.