CSU keeps at-large hopes alive with a 72-49 victory over Air Force

FORT COLLINS, CO. — Not. Dead. Yet. 

After not playing for three full weeks, Colorado State men’s basketball was able to escape a difficult situation Saturday afternoon in Moby Arena. 

Despite a sluggish opening in the first 10 minutes that featured nearly as many turnovers (4) by the Rams as points scored (5), CSU was able to close out the first half with a 13-3 run over the final 4:13 to take a narrow lead into the break (25-21). As a whole, the offense was pretty brutal for the opening 16 minutes. CSU struggled with turnovers, failed to knock down open jump shots, and genuinely looked like a team trying to shake off the rust in a live game scenario — a coaches’ worst nightmare. 

Really, without four 3’s from Isaiah Stevens in the opening 20 minutes, Air Force could have easily been up double digits over their in-state foes. A crucial 10-0 run over the course of 1:35 really changed the momentum of the game, though, and 9 of those points came off of Stevens’ wide-open looks from the perimeter. Stevens also broke a cold stretch for the Rams to start the game when he knocked down CSU’s first jump shot of the game — a 3-pointer from the top of the key at the 14:32 mark. 

As mentioned above, CSU did find some success from beyond the arc in this one. Stevens knocked down five from deep and Adam Thistlewood hit four 3’s as well. As a team CSU shot 41 percent from 3-point range, which is impressive considering the Rams missed their first six attempts from deep. 

Coming out of halftime, though, CSU made more of an effort to attack the hoop and it made all the difference in the world for the Green & Gold. Air Force’s match-up zone defense often tempts opponents into taking long jump shots but with CSU owning the advantage in the post, attacking down low allowed the Rams to put more pressure on the undersized Falcons lineup and pull away down the stretch. 

Out of all the players on the floor, David Roddy played the biggest part in CSU’s later offensive success in the paint. After scoring just 6 points in the first half, Roddy scored 6 points in the first few minutes of the second half alone, and ultimately finished with a team-high 19 points and 8 rebounds in the win. In total, the Rams finished with 32 points in the paint — 26 of which came in the second half. 

“Our coaches preach all the time — love the paint, like the three, “Stevens said. “Roddy definitely set the tone for us in the second half.”

“We just wanted to focus on playing inside-out. As soon as we started doing that, we started executing,” Roddy added.

Along with Roddy, Stevens scored 19 points on an efficient 6-of-7 shooting performance from the floor. The sophomore point guard did have a few unforced turnovers but managed to keep the Rams in the game with his hot hand from 3-point range. He also pitched in with 5 rebounds and a team-high 4 assists in the victory.

Moving forward, CSU will definitely look to clean things up a bit on both sides of the floor. Turnovers plagued the Rams in this one and it could have resulted in their demise against a better team. That said, the win over the Falcons keeps CSU’s chances for an at-large bid in the NCAA Tournament alive, as well as a slim shot at earning the No. 1 seed for the Mountain West Tournament. 

“We’re clearly going to have to be better taking care of the ball or it’s just not going to work out,” Niko Medved said. “It gives us something to shoot for and aim to be better with on Monday night.”

At this stage of the season, it’s not about looking pretty, it simply comes down to survival. The Rams were able to that Saturday afternoon. With the same things at stake, we’ll see what this young team can do in Game 2 on Monday night.