Rams takeaways: Dominant second half propels Colorado State to a 65-50 victory over Fresno State

DENVER — Like a naked Will Ferrell running triumphantly through the streets, Colorado State is now streaking against league competition. 

The Rams (19-3, 9-3), led by David Roddy, took down Fresno State 65-50 at Moby Arena on Friday night. The win over Fresno State (16-8, 6-5) is the seventh in a row in the Niko Medved era but most importantly it’s CSU’s third consecutive win overall, in what has been and will continue to be a difficult stretch of Mountain West games to close out the regular season. 

As we alluded to above, Roddy was masterful in this one, leading the Green & Gold in scoring, rebounding and assists (21 points, 7 rebounds, 8 assists). The 6-foot-6, 255-pound junior guard/forward drove on his opponents and made his presence felt in the paint, he had a variety of highlight passes including a no-look feed to James Moors that would have made Nikola Jokic proud, and he just simply made winning plays all over the floor. 

Insane vision. What a player. pic.twitter.com/VUlQd0lQoj

— DNVR Rams (@DNVR_Rams) February 12, 2022

Whether it was making the extra pass to an open teammate or battling on the boards against a physical Bulldogs team with good size, taking a charge, recording a block, etc, Roddy was absolutely everywhere for CSU on Friday night. He was the team’s best scorer and facilitator. And it wasn’t just a one-way effort. 

There may be a lot of talented players in the conference this season and some of them have legitimate cases to be in the discussion for the best in the Mountain West, however, I’m not sure any of them are quite as versatile as David Roddy, especially after going out and shredding one of the best defenses in the entire country. If Roddy continues to produce in a major way like this and the Rams end up winning 23+ games in the regular season alone, he not only should only be taking home some hardware in the conference but he should honestly be an All-American. There are very few players in college basketball impact winning as much as No. 21. 

Here are some of the other takeaways from an impressive home win. 

Second half team surges

Fresno State looked like they might take CSU down to the wire. At halftime the Bulldogs led 28-25 and Orlando Robinson really put on a show in the early stages of the game with the way he was able to score from just about anywhere that he wanted. Fortunately, for the Ram faithful, Roddy was also hot from the get-go which allowed CSU to withstand Robinson’s 16 first-half points and keep things close. 

In the second half, the Rams completely took control on both ends of the floor. On offense CSU produced 40 points against a team that came into the night only allowing 56 points allowed per game. And on defense the Rams smothered the Bulldogs, holding them to just 22 points on 28 percent shooting from the floor. Considering how talented Fresno State is in 2021-22, I’d say the second half of Friday night’s win was about as impressive as any half of basketball the Rams have played this season.

Defense wins championships

It can be a bit of a cliche but defense is truly what separates contenders from pretenders. You might be able to score with the best of them, if you can’t get stops, though, it’s extremely tough to consistently come out on top against other talented teams. 

They have definitely continued to improve in the process — the 2021-22 Rams are much more refined — but this group has been good on offense for three years now. The difference this season has been that on most nights CSU has been an above-average unit on defense. 

Currently allowing 66.6 points per game on average, the Rams rank 116th out of 358 Division 1 basketball teams in scoring defense, which is good but not a figure that jumps off the page. That said, with the way that the Rams can produce points in a hurry, they don’t necessarily need to be elite on defense, CSU just needs to be competitive. 

Would it be great to see CSU hold teams to 50 points consistently like they did on Friday night? Of course it would be. When CSU has held its opponent to less than 80 points, the Rams are currently 17-1 though. They’re 16-0 when opponents score 74 or fewer points. This is obviously an oversimplification but the winning formula is there. If the opponent can’t reach 75 points, CSU is almost always going to win. 

Give me some Moors 

James Moors has quickly become one of the most important players in the rotation for CSU. His rim protection is huge for a team that doesn’t possess overwhelming size, and we’re really seeing his confidence grow as he continues to get more time on the floor. 

There are things offensively that Moors cannot do as well as Dischon Thomas. He’s not going to put the ball on the floor very often or pop a shot from distance. For most of his career, he’s really been a much less aggressive offensive player than his counterpart at the five spot, and that is something that defenses have tried to exploit in certain situations. 

Recently, though, Moors has looked much more comfortable with the ball in his hands and he’s really developed a nice rapport with Roddy. Moors sets screens for Roddy at the top of the key, opening up a multitude of possibilities in the pick-and-roll. He cuts to the hoop when Roddy gets doubled — something that happened frequently against Fresno State. And he’s just generally looked more sure of himself on the offensive end.

In the win over the Bulldogs Moors finished with 11 points on 5-of-5 shooting from the floor. He did miss a pair of free throws but it was great to see him playing with the same type of assertiveness on offense that he’s always brought defensively. Watching him and Roddy paired together is really intriguing. I look forward to watching that chemistry continue to develop down the back half of the 2021-22 season. 

Isaiah Stevens was Isaiah Stevens

Following the win over Nevada earlier this week, Niko Medved joked that “David Roddy was David Roddy” with his dominant showing in the road win. Well, on Friday, Roddy was definitely his dominant self once again, Isaiah Stevens was quietly a killer though. 

CSU’s junior point guard finished second on the team in scoring with 14 points on just nine attempts from the floor (6-of-9), displaying an ability to impact the scoreboard effectively and efficiently. Stevens was impactful as a facilitator (3 assists) and rebounder (3 rebounds). And although it may not have been a night full of highlights, I really felt like Stevens was timely with his spots of aggressiveness and just provided a calming presence on both ends. 

Stevens has often been compared to Chris Paul by Ram fans for the way that he craftily makes a positive impact for everyone else on the floor with him. Those that aren’t as familiar with Stevens’ game might think that it’s hyperbole or a reach to compare him to one of the best point guards to ever play in the NBA. But as the kids say, real ones know. And real ones know that Stevens is one of the most complete point guards in the country. 

The Rams needed everything they got from Stevens on Friday night.

Next Up

The Rams will attempt to accomplish something extremely difficult on Sunday and that’s winning three games in seven days. 

Due to the schedule getting shuffled after Covid-19 pauses, CSU has to turn around and travel to Boise State for a matchup with one of the top 3 three teams in the Mountain West. Fortunately for the Green & Gold, the Broncos will be playing the game on short rest as well, after UNLV nearly upset them at home late Friday night. 

A win over the Broncos would be huge for CSU’s chances of winning a regular season conference championship and would provide a nice little boost to CSU’s at-large resume for the NCAA Tournament too. Big picture it would also be a symbol of everything the program has worked for over the last half decade, as a victory over the Broncos would give the Rams a third-consecutive 20 win season, something that’s never been done before. 

Get your Super Bowl shopping done on Saturday afternoon, folks. It’s going to be an eventful day for Ram Nation.