5 takeaways: CSU's depth made the difference in a big-time win over Creighton

DENVER — The Rams are for real. 

The Colorado State men’s basketball team moved to 5-0 on the season with an impressive 95-81 victory over Creighton (4-1) on Sunday. The win is CSU’s second over a Sweet 16 team from last season. It also advanced the Rams to the championship game of the Paradise Jam where they will face Northeastern on Monday night. 

Here are the takeaways from the win. 

David Roddy is the frontrunner for Mountain West Player of the Year

Leading the way for CSU on Sunday was David Roddy. The versatile superstar dropped a career-high 36 points on 13-of-20 shooting and paced the Rams with seven made threes in the win (7-of-10). 

After asserting his will in the post in the win over Bradley in the opening round, Roddy showed that if teams dare him to beat them from the perimeter he just may call their bluff. As the commentators proclaimed, Roddy was out there looking like Reggie Miller.

He was efficient, he was deadly, and most importantly, it was an unselfish 36 points. He wasn’t out there taking heat check shots. The big man from Minnesota was just taking what Creighton was giving him. And when the Blue Jays tried to counter by putting 6-foot-7 forward Ryan Hawkins on Roddy to better defend him from deep, Roddy was able to adjust, put the ball on the floor and attack the hoop once again. He’s looked unstoppable in this event and if he continues to star like this in big games, there’s no question that the accolades are going to come. 

Isaiah Stevens was flawless 

Isaiah Stevens is the best point guard in the Mountain West. It’s not news to CSU fans, it might be to the folks that were oohing and awing at Grant Sherfield’s highlight tapes over the offseason. Anyone that watches Stevens regularly, though, knows that it’s not just that he is a baller, it’s that Stevens makes all of his teammates better too. And that was definitely the case on Sunday. 

Coming off of a game in which he finished 2-of-12 from the floor, I think most expected him to rebound against Creighton. He’s always been a gamer and has shown up in the biggest moments, so it just seemed natural for him to play well in a showdown against Creighton. What Stevens did on Sunday exceeded my wildest expectations though. 

17 points on 70 percent shooting (7-of-10) is impressive in its own right. But he also had 11 assists, three rebounds, a pair of steals and zero turnovers. He was able to convert and score when the opportunities were available. He created for his teammates in a major way. As Steve Ivy said on Twitter, it was a Chris Paul-like showing from the junior guard. It may not have been as flashy as Roddy’s 36 points, but Stevens is a huge reason that the Rams were able to have so many open looks in the win. It was one of the more impressive games I’ve ever seen from a college point guard. 

Dischon Thomas opened things up

Niko Medved has said multiple times that Dischon Thomas is the most improved player on the roster and it’s clear that he was right. 

Not only has Thomas improved on the defensive end and as scorer in the post, he’s also managed to continue to shoot the 3-point ball at an extremely efficient rate. He’s legitimately one of the best shooters from deep on the team and he absolutely went off against Creighton. 

Thomas had a career-best 21 points in just 24 minutes. He finished 5-of-8 from beyond the arc and it was his ability to stretch the floor that really helped offset Creighton’s size advantage. The Rams may not be the biggest team in the world but when Roddy and Thomas can knock down jump shots, it really tests opposing bigs. If they try to come out along the perimeter, CSU’s forwards are too quick on the drive. But if you just give them open jump shots, they might go off for a combined 57 points like they did on Sunday. 

With the way Thomas is producing on both ends right now, it’s clear that he’s the best option to start at the five for CSU on most nights. The Rams are still going to need James Moors to be a big part of this team so it’s not a slight to him in any way. DT is just so versatile that it makes him more dangerous as a scoring threat. And as the old saying goes, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. What the Rams are doing is working right now so there’s no need to tinker.

CSU could use more offensive production from the seniors

Kendle Moore and Adam Thistlewood are extremely important to CSU’s success and their work on the defensive end is not going unnoticed. Having said that, at some point it would be nice to see them come out a little more aggressively on the offensive end. 

The two were a combined 2-of-8 from the floor and really didn’t factor into CSU’s scoring barrage. It wasn’t a huge deal and I’m honestly nitpicking here, but the shots aren’t always going to fall for Roddy, Stevens, Thomas, etc. and CSU needs to be able to count on the most veteran players on the roster to produce if that’s the case. 

Again, there’s no reason to worry and neither guy has been 100 percent healthy for a while now, so it makes sense that they’re kinda easing their way back into the flow of the game. But 8 combined points just isn’t very much production in a combined 44 minutes on the floor. 

Rams must defend the paint better 

CSU allowed 46 points in the paint on Sunday which is far too many. Obviously Creighton had a size advantage but that’s going to be the case in a lot of games that the Rams play this season. 

Part of the issue is CSU can allow too many offensive rebounds at times; though it should be noted that the Rams cleaned things up in the second half on Sunday. A lot of Creighton’s points down low came via uncontested layups though. And that’s definitely a bit concerning. 

I’m not super worried or anything like that. Creighton is a really good team in transition and they have high-level athletes that can get to the rim in a hurry. But it’s something to keep an eye on in the games against similar teams. Ie. Mississippi State, Alabama, San Diego State, etc.