Year-in-review: John Tonje shined as Colorado State's sixth man

FORT COLLINS, CO. — The call will live on forever.

”Unbelievable! One of the biggest comebacks you will ever see. Down 26, Colorado State comes roaring back on San Diego State’s home floor and wins this game.”

The 70-67 victory over San Diego State on Jan. 02 was more than just a comeback win for the Rams. Sure, it was a historical victory, as CSU miraculously erased just shy of a 30 point deficit in one of the toughest venues in the country. 

Really, though, it was a defining moment for the program — an announcement that CSU men’s basketball is a team to be feared. Taking down the Aztecs, on the road, and on national TV, was the validation that CSU needed to be considered a legitimate contender in the Mountain West. It caught the attention of anyone that follows the sport closely and streamlined CSU’s NCAA Tournament chances. 

Obviously, CSU didn’t end up reaching the big dance in 2021. But even so, there’s no doubt that the win will be a moment that fans of the Green & Gold look back on for decades to come — potentially even as the key comeback that sparked the next great run from the program — something that the Ram faithful have been craving since the end of the Tim Miles era. The win was truly that spectacular. 

While there were plenty of key stretches to highlight from that crazy night, without John Tonje, there would have been no great moment to write about. It was Tonje that kept CSU alive with a crucial offensive rebound with the Rams trailing by 7 with 1:01 to go. It was Tonje that cut SDSU’s lead to 3 about 14 seconds later (67-64). And it was Tonje that converted the game-winning 4-point play, after being fouled on his successful 3-point attempt from the corner (68-67). 

Without him, instead of a transcending road win (70-67), the night would have simply been deemed a “moral victory” for making the matchup competitive. Alas, that’s the funny thing about sports. Sometimes all it takes is 1 minute to forever be considered a legend. And Tonje certainly made himself a Rams legend with his play over that final minute at Viejas Arena. 

Pt. 2 “Tonje Time”

Now that we are all nice and fired up after re-living the glorious comeback win over SDSU, let’s dive into Tonje’s season as a whole and how he positively impacts the team as CSU’s “sixth man”. 

Tonje could start for most teams across the country and be an impactful player for any of them. The 6-foot-5 guard out of Omaha, Nebraska is a pure scorer with above-average athleticism and a killer mindset. When he is out on the floor, there are very few players at this level that can match his explosiveness or confidence. 

What’s ironic about that assessment is that precisely what makes Tonje such a tricky matchup for opponents is also what makes him a solid option to come off the bench in CSU’s current rotation. With Isaiah Stevens running the point and Kendle Moore established as his running mate in the starting lineup, Tonje is able to come in as the spark plug and shake up the pace of play with his aggressive approach. He still has to play within the flow of the offense, but when Niko Medved puts Tonje on the floor, it’s generally to go out and get buckets, not be a facilitator. 

So far in his career, it’s worked really well — especially because it’s allowed Tonje some time to grow as a defender — an area where he still needs to improve, but has shown great progress. In a significantly increased role from his freshman campaign, Tonje played 12 more minutes per game this season, he was able to improve his defensive rating (99.5) by roughly 7 points per 100 possessions (Basketball Reference). 

There have never been any doubts about Tonje’s ability to impact the game as a scorer. The key now is that Medved can trust him on both ends of the floor for significant amounts of time, and that’s why his role was elevated so much. Tonje (20.2 MPG) played 7 minutes more per game than anybody else coming off the bench and actually averaged more playing time than James Moors (19.2 MPG). 

Moving forward, it wouldn’t be shocking to see Medved explore inserting Tonje into the starting lineup every now and then. CSU was best offensively when operating with smaller lineups in 2020-21. In some matchups moving forward it could benefit the Rams to go with three guards on the floor and have Adam Thistlewood come off the bench. “AT” needs to find his jump shot again but much like Tonje this year, he could do well in a role that allows him to just come in and get up shots. Or Thistlewood could also slide to the four, and Roddy would then become the defacto center, which is something we saw him do fairly well this year. 

Regardless of whether he is starting or coming off the bench, though, Ram fans can expect Tonje to find a way to positively contribute. Much like Gian Clavell back in the day, when Tonje gets hot from the corner, he is as lethal as they come.  And with bounce like Stanton Kidd, Tonje is always ready to throw down a monster jam for the Moby crowd.

With fans back in the stands and an electric atmosphere to feed off of, I wouldn’t be surprised if we get quite a few more jaw-dropping moments from Tonje next season. He’s just one of those guys that shines brightest on the biggest stage.