Takeaways from a competitive showing against No. 5 San Diego State — Rams play hard but fall short in the end

FORT COLLINS, Colo. — 40 years ago this week, the United States men’s ice hockey team defeated the greatest international juggernaut the world had ever seen. On Tuesday night, Colorado State men’s basketball attempted to pull off its own miracle against No. 5 San Diego State.

For much of the contest, the Rams looked like they might actually upset the Aztecs. Malachi Flynn struggled to get it going from the floor, CSU played quality team defense and a strong showing from the bench players sparked the Rams to a slim halftime lead.

Unfortunately for CSU, though, the shots just didn’t fall in the crunch time and SDSU was able to do enough to steal a 66-60 victory — despite trailing for roughly 63 percent of the game.

Here’s a rundown of everything that went down Tuesday night and a pair of takeaways from the outcome.

Quick Hitters

Nico Carvacho paced the Rams in scoring with 17 points. The senior center hit six of his eight attempts from the floor and did a nice job of looking to score when he was able to get the ball deep in the post.

Carvacho only ended up recording seven rebounds in the loss but it wasn’t for a lack of effort — his teammates just did a much better job of attacking the glass than they did against UNLV last week.

Along with Carvacho, Isaiah Stevens was CSU’s other leading scorer with 12 points on 4-of-12 shooting from the floor and Dischon Thomas nearly finished the night with double-digit figures as well (9 points on 3-of-4 shooting).

The problem was that when the game got tight down the stretch, nobody on CSU could find a way to get a bucket. It may not be obvious in the final box score because the Rams still shot 40 percent from the floor for the game but CSU really struggled to get in a flow offensively.

In all, the Rams finished the second half 7-of-25 from the field (28 percent) and 1-of-10 from beyond the arc (10 percent), which is a major reason why they weren’t able to hold on for the upset in the end.

Team Stats

Field Goal Percentage: CSU (40) | SDSU (35)

3-point Percentage: CSU: (25) | SDSU (33.3)

Total Rebounds: CSU (36) | SDSU (34)

Turnovers: CSU (14) | SDSU (12)

Points in the Paint: CSU (24) | SDSU (12)

Fastbreak Points: CSU (10) | SDSU (16)

Dischon Thomas was a steal

Nobody made the most of their time on the floor quite like Dischon Thomas did on Tuesday.

The freshman forward played 14 huge minutes and genuinely looked like one of the best players on the floor while he was out there. Not only did Thomas hit the first two 3’s of his career but he also showed the confidence to put the ball on the floor and back a defender into the post.

In total, Thomas scored nine points and pulled down three rebounds. After scoring 13 points in the win over San Jose State over the weekend, it was good to see Thomas come out with the same aggressive mindset — even if he did pick up four personal fouls fairly quickly.

If the Rams are going to make any sort of run at the postseason next week, getting quality minutes from Thomas could be a pretty big factor. The one-time Nevada commit seems to consistently provide a spark off the bench and his ability to knock down open jump shots is huge for spacing purposes. If opposing big men know they have to come out and respect Thomas’ jumper, it’s only going to make it that much easier for the Rams to get in the paint.

Heading into next season, I’m looking forward to see if Thomas can take the next step defensively because it’s very clear that he plays with a ton of skill on the offensive end and is a quality teammate in the locker room.

Rams will likely be the 6 seed in Las Vegas

Aside from missing out on a chance to make history, the most disappointing aspect of the Rams losing Tuesday night is it pretty much assures that CSU will not get a bye on the first day of the Mountain West Tournament.

As of Wednesday morning, the Rams hold a four game advantage over New Mexico, who is contending with Fresno State for the 7 seed. The issue is that the two teams ahead of CSU in the standings, UNLV (No. 5) and Boise State (No.4), both hold tiebreakers over the green and gold.

The Rams only played Boise State once in the regular season so if they finish with the same record as CSU, they would hold the advantage. And despite splitting the two-game series with the Runnin’ Rebels, UNLV’s recent upset of the Aztecs would give them the bump, due to having a better record against the highest-seeded team that is not involved in the tiebreaker — even though the Rams have a significantly higher RPI ranking.

If CSU defeats Air Force on Saturday and the Rebels lose to both Boise State and San Jose State this week, the Rams could still technically leapfrog UNLV in the standings. Considering the Spartans were trailing 51-14 at halftime on Tuesday night, though, I wouldn’t hold your breath.

Mountain West standings (Feb. 25)

1. SDSU (27-1, 16-1)
2. Utah State (23-7, 12-5)
3. Nevada (19-10, 12-5)
4. Boise State (19-10, 11-5)
5. UNLV (15-14, 10-6)
6. CSU (19-10, 10-7)
7. New Mexico (17-12, 6-10)
8. Fresno State (10-18, 6-11)
9. Air Force (10-18, 4-12)
10. San Jose State (7-22, 3-14)
11. Wyoming (7-22, 2-15)