FORT COLLINS, CO. — Colorado State and San Jose State didn’t have a traditional basketball arena to play in. With the Spartans being displaced due to COVID-19 restrictions in California, the Mountain West opponents played at the Ability 360 Sport and Fitness Center in Phoenix, AZ. Thursday night.
With no fans, no TV coverage, and a setting that would have seemed like a stretch for a basketball movie, let alone an actual Division 1 game, the Rams beat the Spartans 90-57 on their “home” floor.
“It was a little different,” Kendle Moore said postgame. “Kinda brought me back to the AAU days, playing in a regular gym.”
Led by Moore, who paced CSU with 18 points, David Roddy (17 points) and Isaiah Stevens (14 points), CSU was in complete control throughout. In fact, the odd setting didn’t seem to bother the road squad a bit, as the Rams never trailed once in the contest. Diving into the boxscore it’s easy to see why.
CSU (55 percent) was significantly better from the field than SJSU (34 percent). They won battle on the glass as well, edging out the Spartans by 11 total rebounds. Where the game was really won, though, was in transition. Putting things politely, the Spartans could not keep up with the Rams on the fast break. CSU outscored SJSU 24-3 in this part of the competition and it really was just the product of quality defense followed by unselfish offense.
“Transition is a major part of our scoring,” Moore said. “As long as we get stops, I don’t see a lot of teams keeping up.”
In addition to the success in transition, and a strong collective effort on the boards highlighted by 14 rebounds from Roddy, another big reason why the Rams were able to take it to the Spartans was the stark difference in depth. While SJSU did get a phenomenal performance out of Richard Washington (35 points, 5 rebounds), nobody else did much of anything until the game was well out of reach.
Comparatively, CSU had three different starters finish with at least 14 points — all on efficient showings. (45 percent or higher). But the Rams also got 13 points out of John Tonje, who proved once again to be a spark plug in his 21 minutes on the floor. Plus, with four more Rams pitching in with at least 5 points apiece, CSU just had too many weapons for a depleted SJSU roster to keep up with.
After taking the first of what is slated to be a four-game road trip, the Rams will attempt to complete a third sweep of a league opponent with another win on Saturday afternoon. Given the way Niko Medved’s team looked tonight, there is certainly room for confidence going into Game 2 against the Spartans. That said, SJSU has proven to be feisty in their second games against Mountain West teams this season, so it’s definitely not a situation where the Rams want to drop a winnable one — especially before a really difficult trip to Utah State looming.
While the Rams will certainly want to keep their foot on the gas going forward, a 6-1 start against the conference is the best CSU has produced in the modern era. Most importantly, CSU has consistently displayed a type of toughness and resiliency that true contenders always possess. It doesn’t matter if CSU is up by 20 or down by 26, this team just does its thing.
Next Up: San Jose State on Saturday.
