Men's Basketball Preview: CSU vs. CSU Pueblo

Nov. 8, 2005

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The Matchup
Colorado State wraps up its exhibition schedule Thursday night when CSU Pueblo comes into Moby Arena for a 7 p.m. tipoff. The Rams cruised to an 87-51 victory over Regis Monday night and will look to go through the preseason unblemished for the fifth time in the last six years.

About CSU Pueblo
The Thunderwolves are 0-1 in exhibition play this season after a 71-47 setback to Wyoming on Nov. 2. Jeff McCall led the team with 11 points in the game while Steve Raquet grabbed a team-high seven rebounds on the night. McCall is the team's leading returner in terms of scoring after averaging 6.8 points per game in 2004-05.

Last Year's Matchup
Colorado State earned a 90-66 exhibition victory over CSUP last year in Moby Arena. Matt Williams paced the Rams with 20 points while Matt Nelson added 15 on the night. Brian Vecchio notched a team-best 14 points for the Thunderwolves including four three-pointers.

EXPERIMENTAL RULES
CSU will use this year's NCAA experimental rules in each of its two preseason exhibition games. The three rules involve: 1) moving the three-point line back; 2) widening the free throw land; and 3) using the NBA's block/charge arc near the basket.

EXCELLENT IN EXHIBITION
Colorado State is 10-1 in exhibition games under head coach Dale Layer. During that time, the Rams have scored 80 or more points in each exhibition tilt. The following is a list of CSU's exhibition games since 2000-01:

2005-06 Regis W 87-51
2004-05 CSU-Pueblo W 90-66
2004-05 Northern State W 80-77
2003-04 Northern Colorado W 88-73
2003-04 EA Sports L 80-82
2002-03 Seattle Stars W 95-82
2002-03 Athletes in Action W 97-79
2001-02 Kilsyth Club W 87-63
2001-02 Athletes in Action W 83-63
2000-01 Nantucket National W 91-79
2000-01 K. Marijampole W 95-62

EXHIBITION BESTS
Monday night, CSU recorded one of the top nights statistically in exhibition play under Dale Layer. Michael Harrison posted a 25-point performance, the best in exhibition play since John Sivesind scored 25 against K. Marijampole on Nov. 3, 2000. Jason Smith's five blocked shots also ranks as the best single-game exhibition performance under Dale Layer.

MOBY UNDER LAYER
Colorado State holds a 50-22 overall record in home games during Dale Layer's five seasons.

Season Games Record
2004-05 15 11-4
2003-04 12 8-4
2002-03 18 14-4
2001-02 14 7-7
2000-01 13 10-3
Totals 72 50-22 (.694)

MOBY NONCONFERENCE RECORD
The Rams are 33-4 (89.2 percent) in home nonconference games under Dale Layer. Colorado State has won nine nonconference home games in a row dating back to a Dec. 10, 2003 loss to Colorado in Moby Arena. The year-by-year nonconference breakdown includes:

Season Record Loss(es)
2004-05 8-0 --
2003-04 4-1 Colorado
2002-03 10-0 --
2001-02 4-2 Colorado,
Arkansas-Little Rock
2000-01 7-1 Creighton
Totals 33-4

ROAD WOES
The Rams will bring a 20-game road losing streak into the 2005-06 season. Colorado State's last win on the road (excluding neutral site games), came Dec. 22, 2003 at South Florida. F Matt Williams' free throw with less than five seconds to play in the game helped Colorado State to a 66-65 victory in Tampa, Fla.

SINCE 1902
Colorado State is in the school's 102nd season of intercollegiate competition in 2004-05. Colorado State has a cumulative record of 1,025-1,054 in 2,079 previous games dating back to 1902.

TALL ORDER
Colorado State's roster in 2005-06 features three players (C Ronnie Aguilar, C Stuart Creason, F Jason Smith) who are at least seven feet tall, and another (F Michael Harrison), who is six-feet, nine-inches tall. The lineup ranks among the tallest in the nation.

THEY COME FROM ALL OVER
Colorado State's lineup consists of 15 players representing seven different states including California (2), Colorado (3), Louisiana (1), Mississippi (1), Nebraska (1), Oklahoma (1) and Texas (6).

THE CENTURY MARK
Colorado State has not allowed an opponent to score 100 points in a game in 129-straight regular-season contests. The last team to put up triple figures on the Rams was Colorado on Dec. 23, 2000 in Boulder. The last time CSU allowed 100 points in Moby Arena was Feb. 21, 1980 against Brigham Young, a span that stretches 368 regular season home games.

INJURY BUG
Injuries continue to haunt Colorado State. In 2004-05, CSU players missed a total of 46 games played (Freddy Robinson-28, Sean Morris-8, Matt Williams-5, Jason Smith-2, Nick Ball-1, Stuart Creason-1, Matt Nelson-1) due to injury or illness. In Dale Layer's five seasons as head coach, CSU players have missed a total of 170 games due to injury or illness. That figure averages out to be 1.1 players missed per game and 34 players per season.

CLOSE CALLS
Last year, CSU was just 2-5 in games decided by 5 points or less and 4-9 in games decided by 9 or fewer.

GETTING TO THE STRIPE
CSU has lost its last 13 games when getting to the free throw line fewer times than its opponent. Over the last two years, Colorado State has lost 23 of its last 24 when getting to the line less than its opponent.

PERSONAL FOULS
Colorado State was 0-11 when committing more fouls than its opponent in 2004-05. Dating back to 2003-04, the Rams have lost their last 20 games when the foul total is heavy in their column.

PLAYER TIDBITS
MORRIS MAGIC -
 Senior guard Micheal Morris is 6th on the school's career list with 111 blocked shots.
 Ranks 9th in career assists at CSU with 304 in his three-year career.
 Has led CSU in assists in seven of the last 11 games.
 Dished out a career-high 11 assists against San Diego State marking the first time a Ram had hit that mark since 1997.
 Has had 32 assists in his last five games.

SMITH, NO MYTH -
 Sophomore forward Jason Smith , from nearby Kersey, Colo., scored in double figures 13 times in 26 games in 2004-05.
 Ranked third on the team with a 10.5 per-game scoring average and was the only freshman to rank in the MWC in scoring (16th), rebounding (9th) or field goal percentage (5th).
 Has gathered four or more rebounds in his last 15 games. In the last five games, he has a total of 41 rebounds. He has had five or more rebounds 18 times in 26 games.

MORE MORRIS -
Sophomore guard Sean Morris tied a school record for three-pointers in a game (9) against UNLV.
 Pulled down a career-best nine rebounds against New Mexico.
 Second in the conference in three-pointers made per game (2.57) in league contests. He also ranked third in the Mountain West in three-point field goal percentage (.486) in league play.
 In two games against UNLV last year, Morris scored 50 points (31 and 19) marking the top two scoring games of his career.
 In his last five games he has hit 14-of-26 (.538) three-pointers.

WINNING BIG Five of Colorado State's 11 victories last season were by 20 points or more while winning by double figures seven of 11 times.

DOUBLE-FIGURE LEADS
Colorado State squandered double-figure leads twice last season. At Wyoming the Rams led by 12 before falling 69-56 and against UNLV, CSU led by 13 in the first half and lost 81-79. CSU was 9-2 last year when leading an opponent by double figures.

THE MAGIC NUMBER IS 70
Colorado State was 0-11 when scoring less than 70 points in a game this season. In contrast the Rams were 11-5 when hitting 70 and 6-1 when reaching the 80-point plateau.

MORE ON TELEVISION
The Colorado State Rams will appear on national or regional television at least four times in the 2005-06 season. These dates include:

Date Opponent Network
Nov. 21 Colorado Fox Sports Net
Nov. 26 vs. Denver Fox Sports Net
Feb. 18 UNLV ESPN+Plus
Feb. 25 at Wyoming ESPN2

TURNOVERS BY HALF
Colorado State committed 266 of its 446 turnovers (59.6 percent) in the first half last year. Only eight times during the season had the Rams committed more turnovers in the second half than they did in the first.

FOULING OUT
Senior guard Micheal Morris has gone a team-high 38 consecutive games without fouling out. In fact, Morris has only fouled out once in 85 career games with the Rams. Morris was disqualified against UNLV on Jan. 26, 2004 with 2:34 remaining in regulation in an overtime game that featured six players who notched five fouls (five from UNLV), as CSU went on to win 89-83. Consecutive Games Without Fouling Out: Micheal Morris 38, Sean Morris 20, Andrew Patterson 12, Freddy Robinson 11, Jason Smith 7, Stuart Creason 5.

CONSECUTIVE FREE THROWS Following is a list of consecutive free throws made by current Colorado State players along with their all-time longest streak at CSU:

Player Current All-Time Micheal Morris 0 20 Sean Morris 4 12 Jason Smith 2 11 Stuart Creason 4 7 Freddy Robinson 1 7 Andrew Patterson 0 5

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