FORT COLLINS, Colo. — Colorado State men’s basketball looked sluggish in Saturday’s home contest against CSU-Pueblo — especially in the first half.
After not getting to consistently practice as a unit over the last three weeks, CSU was sloppy on offense, disorganized on defense, and generally just struggled to maintain any form of early lead. As a result, CSU-Pueblo was able to take a 42-40 lead into the break.
In the first half alone, CSU recorded eight turnovers — twice as many as their Division II counterparts. The Rams were also out-rebounded 19-18 by the Thunderwolves. Considering the unique circumstances, though, and how little time the Rams have gotten to spend on the court as a full team this season, the slow start in an empty arena was no reason for Medved’s squad to panic; and they proved it coming out of halftime.
After trailing by 2 to the smaller sister school at the break, CSU immediately responded with a 5-0 run to reclaim the lead in the opening moments of the second half. From there, the Rams never looked back — as the Green & Gold were able to maintain their lead and ultimately leave Moby Arena with a 89-77 victory.
Leading the way for CSU on Saturday was the sensational sophomore duo of Isaiah Stevens (point guard) and David Roddy (forward). Roddy contributed with a team-high 25 points and pulled down 12 rebounds as well. Most importantly, he provided a steady scoring stream for CSU when things were not functioning particularly well in the early minutes by consistently getting to the rim. Stevens, on the other hand, paced the Rams with six assists. He also led CSU with 18 points on an efficient 7-of-11 shooting from the field.
While the half court offense was not perfect on Saturday, there were multiple instances of Roddy and Stevens creating scoring opportunities for each other through two-man plays. Roommates in their personal lives and partners in action on the floor, the Ram faithful certainly hope their strong connection will continue to pay off for CSU in the long run. In the opener, though, their consistent high-quality play was crucial to preventing the Green & Gold from being upset in their own gym.
Along with the aforementioned, Adam Thistlewood rounded out CSU’s top scorers with 16 points on 4-of-9 shooting from the floor. The junior forward made 3-of-7 attempts from beyond the 3-point arc, including a pair from the corner after CSU-pueblo left him with way too much space to shoot.
When it comes to scoring threats, the coaches know what they have in Stevens and Roddy. Both guys are more athletic than just about anyone else on the floor, and they just seem to have a knack for slowing the game down in the right moments. If Thistlewood can be that consistent shooting threat from deep this season, it’s going to be extremely tough to slow down CSU — particularly with how well Stevens and Roddy get to the rim.
Moving forward, Niko Medved will hope to see much cleaner performance from his squad. But ultimately it’s just good to see the Rams back in action.
Next up: Northern Arizona at Moby Arena on Monday Night. Let’s see what this young squad looks like now that they have a full game under their belts.
