FORT COLLINS, CO. — After struggling to knock down jump shots in Monday night’s win over the Falcons, Adam Thistlewood and Kendle Moore stayed late to work on their 3-point shooting. The duo had just played 27 and 33 minutes respectively in a 30 point victory over Air Force — but after combining to go 1-of-13 from the perimeter — the two most experienced players on the roster decided a little extra work was necessary.
“I told them to go home,” head coach Niko Medved joked postgame. “What I love about those guys, those upperclassmen leaders, is that even though they weren’t making shots tonight, their effort was just unbelievable. It was never about them and their frustration, it was about the team. When winning becomes the most important thing for your team you have a chance to be successful. And I think those two guys set the standard for us right now.
Medved continued, explaining that Thistlewood’s work on the glass and Moore’s effort on defense made all the difference for the Rams, who ended up pulling away from their in-state foes in the second half — even in spite of an up-and-down night on the offensive end.
David Roddy, the team’s leading scorer on Monday night and one of the frontrunners for Mountain West Player of the Year, echoed his coaches’ sentiments.
“Those are the biggest plays. Those are winning plays,” Roddy said of Thistlewood securing multiple 50-50 balls and working the glass. “He is another guy that leads by example and does everything right. He’s the poster child of the program. That’s somebody that you want to be like — off the court and on the court.”
While Thistlewood earned brownie points with his coaches and teammates for his willingness to do the dirty work against Air Force the other night, the junior forward didn’t have to embrace the “A for effort” mentality on Wednesday night. Thistlewood was a walking bucket in the 87-73 win over the Lobos.
The 6-foot-6 forward scored 7 points and grabbed a pair of rebounds in the first 4 minutes of action alone and he never slowed down from there. In the 11 minutes that Thistlewood played in the first half, he scored 17 points on 7-of-8 shooting, including 75 percent of his looks from deep (3-of-4). The scoring flury was more points than Thistlewood had previously totaled in all but one game this season (Boise State | Jan. 29) — and he essentially did it in just over 10 minutes of play.
Simply put, Thistlewood was feeling himself early, and it allowed the Green & Gold to establish an early lead that they never let go of. When the final buzzer sounded, Thistlewood tallied a career-best 27 points on 11-of-13 shooting. He pitched in with five rebounds as well.
In addition to Thistlewood, Moore was much more polished from the perimeter as well. The versatile guard finished 3-of-6 from 3-point land (6-of-11 from the floor) and scored 17 points in 31 minutes played. Finally, Roddy flirted with a triple-double with 12 points, 14 rebounds and 9 assists in the victory.
CSU will conclude the regular season Friday night in Reno, NV. The Rams cannot control their own fate when it comes to the regular season conference championship but they can lock down the No. 2 seed in the MW Tournament with a win over the Wolf Pack. A fourth win in seven days should also help solidify CSU’s at-large resume for the NCAA Tournament.
