DENVER — Welcome to paradise.
The Colorado State men’s basketball team opened the 2021 Paradise Jam with a 66-60 win over Bradley on Friday afternoon.
It was a less-than-stellar showing from the Green & Gold early on. Kendle Moore returned to the starting lineup for the first time since injuring his foot in the opening night victory over Oral Roberts. Despite getting one of the team leaders back, though, the Rams came out slow on the offensive end with just 21 points on 24 percent shooting in the first half.
Part of the problem was that jump shots weren’t falling for CSU. The bigger issue was that many of them came early in possessions. Instead of working the basketball around like the Rams typically do, the ball movement was nonexistent. Far too frequently it was an individual trying to press things by himself and against a lengthy Braves defense, it simply wasn’t working.
Quite honestly, CSU was fortunate to only be trailing 27-21 at the break, especially with how the Rams were dominated on the glass and in the paint. In the first 20 minutes Bradley held an 18-2 advantage in the paint and a 26-18 advantage in total rebounds. Luckily for Niko Medved and company, Bradley only shot 32 percent from the floor and 12.5 percent from deep, which allowed CSU to hang around early. John Tonje’s nine first-half points off the bench were massively important as well.
In the second half the Rams were able to get in a better groove offensively. It started with David Roddy converting a layup on a nice slip screen just 10 seconds in and the confidence continued to grow as CSU started 3-of-3 from the floor coming out of the break. After scoring just 21 in the first half, CSU, led by Roddy, heated up in a hurry in the second with 22 in the first nine minutes of the final period. 12 of those points came from Roddy as the Braves had absolutely no answers for him down low. In total Roddy finished with 30 points on 10-of-14 shooting. 23 of his points came in the second half though. It was the most dominant individual showing I’ve seen since Gian Clavell dropped 37 at Viejas Arena back in 2017.
Despite really struggling to put the ball in the hoop early on, the initial second-half spark on offense seemed to provide the Rams the boost they needed to take charge of the game and complete the comeback. Well, that and just an absurdly impressive performance from Roddy with the game on the line.
No matter who they end up facing, whether it’s Creighton or Brown, hopefully CSU is able to get off to a faster start in the second round. Playing from behind is never the desired route. As frustrating as things were early, though, getting tested in a single-elimination setting and responding in the process was a really encouraging sign for this team’s potential.
Let’s make it 5-0.
