DENVER — We knew in the moment that Sunday afternoon was big for Colorado State as the Rams were able to come out on top for the fourth time in 10 days and secure an extremely important road win over one of the other top contenders in the Mountain West. 

A few days later, though, the 77-74 overtime victory over Boise State is even more important, because now that No. 22 Wyoming fell at New Mexico on Tuesday night, CSU can pretty much control its own fate. 

With five games remaining in the regular season, CSU (20-3, 10-3) currently sits one game behind both Wyoming (21-4, 10-2) and Boise State (19-6, 10-2) but still has home games remaining against both squads. If the Green & Gold win those matchups at Moby, as well as three tricky road games against New Mexico, UNLV and Utah State, the Rams would at the very least tie with the Cowboys as regular season co-champions in the Mountain West. And considering Wyoming still hosts Air Force, San Diego State, Fresno State and Nevada, in addition to making trips to Fort Collins and Las Vegas (UNLV), the Cowboys very well could end up dropping more than one game down the stretch. So there’s a good chance that if the Rams win the final five, they will end up taking the regular season title outright, something they’ve never done before in the Mountain West. 

Obviously it’s too early to take anyone’s ring sizes — every remaining team on CSU’s schedule has at least one win over one of the top four teams in the league — there really are no ‘gimme wins’ in the conference this season. But it’s a much better feeling to have their own hands on the wheel and to be able to control their own destiny than hoping for a bunch of upsets that may or may not happen. 

With all of this in mind, let’s take a look back at CSU’s most recent winning streak and dive into what’s allowed the Rams to get back on track after suffering a two-game skid against UNLV and Wyoming.

Better defense = more success

In the two games leading up to the winning streak, both of which were losses where the Rams allowed more than 80 points for just the second and third times this season, CSU committed 21 personal fouls and 23 personal fouls, respectively, which are the most the Rams have committed in any games this year. And as a result of this, CSU’s opponents made nearly two times as many free throw attempts than they would against the Rams on a typical night. 

Since those losses, CSU has averaged 13 personal fouls per game, which is much more typical of a 40 minute basketball game. And, of course, because of this CSU’s opponents have averaged just 12 free throw attempts over the last four, much better than the 25 per game the Rams allowed in the two losses.  

As we’ve all seen on Twitter over the past week or so, officiating is extremely subjective. Usually folks are just gonna believe whatever is in the best interest of their team. The reality is that some nights the officials are going to allow the players to be more aggressive, while other nights they’re seemingly going to blow the whistle just to hear the sound it makes and penalize guys for every little ticky tacky thing.

As Niko Medved has said on multiple occasions, the Rams can’t control the officiating, all they can do is play the games. And this is definitely true. A little caveat, though, is being able to feel out how the referees are calling things and then catering their playing style accordingly. In this writer’s opinion, the Rams have done well in that regard and it shows in the numbers of late. 

It’s not easy defending physical, athletic and veteran groups on a nightly basis but the Rams are doing so more consistently and it’s producing the right results. So far this season CSU is 20-1 when opponents score 81 or fewer points. However, including Sunday’s win over Boise State, they’re 17-0 when opponents score 74 or fewer points. We know this group can score with the best of them, their ceiling was always going to be determined by what they were able to do defensively, on the glass, etc. 

Sharing is caring

There has only been one game this season in which the Rams didn’t record at least 10 assists as a team and uncoincidentally it was the 79-49 loss to San Diego State on Jan. 8. On that day the Rams recorded a season-high 16 turnovers and scored the fewest points they have in any game all year. 

CSU’s greatest strength as an offense is the amount of players they have that are capable of beating you. Sure, Isaiah Stevens and David Roddy drive the car but guys like John Tonje, Chandler Jacobs and Kendle Moore have played a ton of big minutes. James Moors and Dischon Thomas have each shown significant growth in 2021-22. And the young guns, Isaiah Rivera and Jalen Lake, have each flashed their abilities from beyond the arc and on the drive as well. 

Top to bottom, CSU easily has the deepest roster in the conference but in order to get everyone involved, the guys on the floor have to be willing to buy into the system and share the basketball. Again, this is nothing new for CSU but over the last four wins the Rams have averaged roughly 15 assists per contest. What’s more, CSU has only averaged eight turnovers over that same span, so as a unit their assist to turnover ratio is close to 2:1 in the winning streak. 

When a team has as much talent as CSU currently does and is also led by unselfish superstars like Roddy and Stevens, good things are going to happen pretty consistently, so long as they don’t beat themselves with turnovers or self-inflicted wounds. Lately the Rams are doing all of the right things on offense and are continuing to grow on the defensive side. That’s a recipe for winning basketball games. 

Owning the paint

CSU has a multitude of guys that can hit a three and at times they can get a little too reliant on that part of the offense. But when the Rams are at their best, they are moving the basketball, playing inside-out and establishing their presence in the paint. Over the last four wins the Rams have averaged 27.5 points in the paint on offense, while they’ve only allowed 21.5 points in the paint on defense. 

A big part of CSU’s success down low is a result of the emergence of James Moors, who has really developed a solid rapport with Roddy on both ends. While Dischon Thomas has shown significant improvement as a defender and a rebounder this season, and also provides an ability to stretch the floor with hit shooting, Moors’ size and strength allows him to be more of a traditional five, which takes some of the rim protection responsibilities off of Roddy. He’s also shown that he can be effective in the pick and roll as well, which creates chances under the rim and for shooters on the outside. 

Against some of the better teams in the conference, groups with more size than CSU, Moors really stepped up and played crucial minutes for the Rams in each of the four wins. They’ll need him to continue to be effective in the games to come, especially against Wyoming and Utah State, both of which have elite bigs. 

Next Up

CSU will look to extend its winning streak to five against UNM on Thursday night. It’s been a few seasons since the Rams have traveled to the Pit, so they better be prepared for the hostile environment that awaits them. The Lobos have ended many great runs from talented teams over the years, including most recently No. 22 Wyoming.

After facing UNM, the Rams will then head to Sin City for a rematch against Bryce Hamilton and the Running Rebels.