Rams push late but fall to the Aztecs 78-65 in rematch at Viejas Arena

FORT COLLINS, CO. — Coming off of a historic comeback win over San Diego State on Saturday, the Rams had little time to enjoy the moment. With the Mountain West electing to go with a two-game series rather than the traditional home and home model for the conference slate, Colorado State had to turn around and face San Diego State once again Monday night. 

Playing without guard Kendle Moore, a three-year starter and key contributor on both ends of the floor, the Rams got off to another brutally slow start on offense. Part of the problem was SDSU’s on-ball pressure and help defense were both relentless. Whenever CSU tried to get any kind of momentum going the Aztecs would swarm the ball and protect their end of the floor like a colony of bees trying to defend their queen. 

As a result of the intense Aztecs defense the Rams recorded 12 turnovers in the first half alone — a big reason why they trailed by 29 at one point. “I thought that was the key right there,” head coach Niko Medved acknowledged postgame.

But another part of the problem was that CSU missed a lot of open looks early. As a team CSU missed eight 3’s before John Tonje broke the seal late in the first half, and the vast majority of them were in rhythm and lightly contested. Following the game, Medved referenced this when explaining what went wrong for his squad. The third-year coach explained the he liked the looks, however, they just didn’t fall.

Between the turnover and missed shots, CSU just execute well enough to keep pace with one of the top 25 teams in the country.** (I don’t care what the AP says. That’s a top 25 team.)

And once the Aztecs got up big it was easy to see that they were a team determined to prove a point after embarrassing themselves over the weekend. They never stopped attacking on either end and consistently matched any run that the Rams had with a barrage of 3’s of their own. 

Leading the way for SDSU on the offensive end was Jordan Schakel, as he went off with 28 points on 9-of-12 shooting from the floor. The senior guard hit eight 3’s on the night and genuinely looked unstoppable at times with his confident stroke from beyond the arc (8-of-11). After fouling out on Tonje’s game-winner Saturday, it really looked like Schakel took Monday’s matchup with the Green & Gold personally — at least his kill-first mindset made it seem that way. 

For CSU, going down big was somewhat disappointing considering there was like a large audience tuned in after what went down on Saturday. The silver lining, though, is that the Rams once again showed tremendous grit with their backs against the wall. Without one of their leaders on the floor, and all of the momentum working against them, the Rams punched back enough to make the Aztecs sweat in the second half.

If you would have told Ram Nation going into the series that CSU split at Viejas Arena, most would’ve be ecstatic — especially considering the resume SDSU had coming in. Sure, it would have been exciting to see a sweep, but ultimately this was a road trip that the Rams can feel good about and build off of moving forward.

We’ve now seen that this is a group that must be respected in the Mountain West. Time to see if they can keep that respect for the rest of the season and make a push for the NCAA Tournament.