Colorado State takes down Northern Colorado in another comeback thriller

FORT COLLINS — The comeback kids strike again. 

The Colorado State men’s basketball team was challenged significantly by the visiting Northern Colorado Bears on Saturday.

For much of the afternoon UNC seemingly couldn’t miss from deep and as a result they were able to establish a double digit lead early in the second half. UNC led for 27:52 in total, so the 15.5 point underdogs were really in position to secure the upset for most of the game. 

“They’re a tough cover,” Niko Medved said of UNC postgame. “I mean, it was no secret, they’re a great 3-point shooting team. Early in the game we left them open and they made us pay.”

The Bears finished 18-of-37 from beyond the arc (49 percent), which is tremendous, but they were shooting north of 50 percent for most of the contest. CSU allowed too many open looks, especially in the first half. The Bears honestly just made some difficult shots as well though. Medved explained that once the Bears were able to get in an early rhythm, you could see their confidence grow and that only increased as they started to make contested shots.

Despite trailing for the majority of the first 30 minutes, much like they did in the Paradise Jam Championship against Northeastern, CSU kept calm, adjusted and then flipped the game with better defense down the stretch.

After getting killed with screens for much of the day, the Rams started to switch one through five in the second half and it allowed them to better defend the perimeter. The outcome was still close because UNC continued to make difficult shots up until the final buzzer. But in the end, CSU’s depth and perseverance allowed the Rams to overcome their in-state foe in an 88-79 victory, CSU’s seventh in a row to begin the 2021-22 campaign.

“To (UNC’s) credit, that’s what they do and you’ve gotta give them a lot of credit for the way that they played. But our kids kept fighting,” Medved said. “Every time we looked like we might get over the hump, they came back and made another play.”

The Rams allowed seven offensive rebounds resulting in 8 second chance points for UNC. Along with the Bears’ stellar day from 3-point range, the second chance opportunities allowed were a big factor in CSU’s early deficit. “We just couldn’t end defensive possessions,” Medved said. “But like our guys do, man, they showed a ton of character and heart.”

“We found a way to get the job done and so we’ll take it and learn from it,” Isaiah Stevens added.

Here are a few more takeaways from the comeback thriller.

The Rams are DEEP

One big factor in Saturday’s win was CSU’s depth. The Rams got 39 points from the bench, which was significantly more than the 14 that UNC head coach Steve Smiley got out of his rotation.

When CSU was in a bit of a rut in the first half, the Rams got 14 points out of John Tonje and Jalen Lake to provide a spark. Tonje was the leading man off the bench with 20 points on 7-of-8 shooting from the floor in the win. 14 of those points came in the second half though, so it was timely scoring from the junior guard too.

Along with Tonje, Chandler Jacobs pitched in with 9 points and was tremendous on the defensive end. Jalen Lake had 8 points on 100 percent shooting. It was a really solid performance from CSU’s rotation.

“It’s just a testament to our team. We’ve got a lot of really good players on this team, man,” Stevens said.

“Any night you never know whose night it might be. I feel like that’s what makes this team so special. Tonight it was John and I. And then the next game it could be anybody else… Everybody had an impact on this game, whether they played 35 minutes or 5 minutes.”

Stevens finished with 20 points to tie Tonje for the team lead in scoring. The veteran point guard never pressed things, not even when it started to feel pretty bleak in the second half. And it was his calm presence, as well as his crucial production from the floor in the final minutes that really made a big difference for CSU in the win.

As impressive as Stevens was, and man was he ballin’ in this one, this was definitely a team victory though. Without being able to go as deep into the rotation as Medved can, this would have probably been a loss under most circumstances.

David Roddy had a quiet game for his standards with 12 points and 10 rebounds. UNC was on absolute fire from deep. It was the perfect recipe for UNC to play spoilers. CSU just proved to be too talented for the team from Greeley to survive for a full 40 minutes.

When will opponents respect Dischon Thomas?

We’ve focused on Dischon Thomas quite a bit in the early stages of the season and it’s because he continues to produce in a major way for this team. Thomas had 13 crucial points in the first half to keep CSU afloat on Saturday. And his ability to stretch the floor from the perimeter made a massive difference for CSU once again.

‘DT’ only played 15 minutes in the win, as CSU opted to primarily go with a small ball lineup in the second half to better deal with UNC’s hot shooting, but without Thomas’ four threes early the Rams would have been trailing by way more at the break.

At some point teams are going to learn to start respecting his jump shot more. And when they do we’ll likely see Thomas put the ball on the floor and use his quickness to get to the hoop. Until opponents start better closing out on his shots though, he’s going to continue to take their lunch money from deep. Thomas isn’t just a good shooter for a big man, he’s a good shooter, period.

This win will look even better in a few months

Coming into the season I had high expectations for the Bears and considered them to be a sleeper pick to win the Big Sky Conference. They hadn’t really lived up to the preseason hype over the first couple of weeks, however, it was easy to see on Saturday why the UNC faithful believe in this group’s potential to make a run at the NCAA Tournament. 

The Bears have multiple shooters that can kill you if left open and going up against the bigger local program, UNC played like a team that genuinely believed in their ability to come into Fort Collins and win. It was a confident showing from a team on the rise. What’s more, though, it was an absurd performance from Bodie Hume and Co.

Hume led UNC with 30 points and absolutely cooked the Green & Gold from the perimeter. At one point Hume was 8-of-11 from 3-point range and it really didn’t seem to matter what CSU tried to throw at him defensively. No matter who was tasked with slowing Hume down, the Sterling, Colo. native was able to get his shot off and it frequently fell for him. He led all scorers and knocked down a game-high nine threes in a valiant effort on the road. 

The big difference between UNC and the Max Abmas show that Oral Roberts brought to town, though, is that Hume isn’t the only weapon UNC has. Colorado-transfer, Daylen Kountz, had 19 points on 50 percent shooting from the floor. Dru Kuxhausen hit four threes in a 12 point game. The Bears may not be as deep as CSU, but that’s a roster with much more talent than most realize and Medved knows it.

“They’re a veteran group,” Medved said. “I think they’re a really good team. If they can stay healthy, they’ve got a chance to contend in their league.”

Medved continued, explaining that he believes all of CSU’s most recent victories have come against quality opponents. Obviously a win over Creighton gets respect from everyone, but he also highlighted Northeastern, who is a contender in the Colonial Conference.

“At the end of the year, I think these are going to be good wins,” Medved said.

Next up: Arkansas Little Rock on December 1.