Colorado State University Athletics
Men's Basketball Preview: CSU vs. TCU
2/20/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 20, 2006
Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
Game #26: Colorado State (13-12, 2-10) vs. TCU (5-21, 1-11)
February 22, 2006 • 7:05 p.m. MST
Fort Collins, Colo. • Moby Arena (8,745)
THE MATCHUP
Colorado State finishes out a two-game homestand Wednesday night against the TCU Horned Frogs. The Rams suffered an 80-72 setback Saturday night against UNLV and are now 13-12 on the year overall. CSU's Jason Smith recorded his sixth career double-double on Wednesday with 24 points and 12 rebounds in the contest. The sophomore is CSU's leading scorer on the year with 17.2 points per game to go with a team-best 7.4 rebounds per night. Michael Harrison (11.4 ppg) and Cory Lewis (10.6 ppg) also average in double figures for the Rams this season with Harrison leading the Mountain West in field goal percenatge (.626) and Lewis leading the leauge in assists (106).
ABOUT TCU
The Horned Frogs bring a 5-21 record into Moby Arena on Wednesday with their only conference victory (1-11) coming at the Rams' expense, 85-72 in Fort Worth on Jan. 21. Nile Murry is the Frogs' leading scorer with 16.1 points per game. Brent Hackett (10.8 ppg) leads the team with 69 assists while Judson Stubbs (10.0 ppg) paces TCU with a 6.5 per game rebounding average. TCU averages only 61.3 points per game as a team while shooting a league-low .358 from the floor on the season.
MOBY UNDER LAYER
Colorado State holds a 58-27 overall record in home games during Dale Layer's six seasons.
Season Games Record
2005-06 13 8-5
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 85 58-27 (.682)
ALL-TIME MOBY RECORD
Colorado State holds an all-time record of 414-164 (.716) in Moby Arena.
THE RAMS IN FEBRUARY
The Rams hold an 9-33 record in the month of February during Dale Layer's tenure as head coach. The Rams have a 4-22 record in February in their last three-plus seasons.
SINCE 1902
Colorado State is in the school's 102nd season of intercollegiate competition in 2005-06. Colorado State has a cumulative record of 1,038-1,066 in 2,104 previous games dating back to 1902.
ON WEDNESDAYS
The Rams hold a 5-13 record in Wednesday games during the Dale Layer era. CSU is 3-6 in Wednesday matchups in 2005-06 including wins over North Dakota State, UCCS and Utah and losses to Kansas State, San Diego State, UNLV, Wyoming, Air Force and New Mexico.
SMITH NAMED ALL-DISTRICT
Sophomore forward Jason Smith was named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) all-district second team. It marks the second-straight year that a CSU player has secured a spot on the second team after Matt Nelson's appearance in 2005.
BLOCK PARTY
Colorado State ranks 13th in the nation in blocked shots per game averaging 6.28 blocks every time out. The Rams boast two of the top three shot blockers in the Mountain West in Michael Harrison (2nd) and Jason Smith (3rd) with Stuart Creason ranking 7th in the league. Harrison ranks 36th in the nation in rejections and twice this year, against Auburn and Pepperdine, CSU posted a school record 12 blocked shots.
THE CENTURY MARK
Colorado State has not allowed an opponent to score 100 points in a game in 154-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 381 regular season home games.
MOUNTAIN WEST ROAD GAMES
Dale Layer holds a 6-36 road record against Mountain West opponents since taking over the CSU program in 2000. CSU snapped a 20-game league road losing streak with last Wednesday's win over Utah in Salt Lake City.
MOBY THREES
Colorado State has hit 88-of-205 three-pointers (.429) in Moby Arena this year. In contrast, the Rams are 64-of-195 (.328) from behind the arc away from home.
POINTS IN THE PAINT
Colorado State has been outscored in the paint just four times this season with two of those five games coming against Mountain West opponents: Wyoming (40-22), and Air Force (24-12).
LEAGUE DEFENSE
After holding opponents to a .379 field goal percentage in non-conference games, CSU has allowed league opponents to shoot at a .493 clip after 12 MWC games. MWC foes are scoring 77.7 points per game on the Rams compared to a 67.0 points per game average in non-conference play.
CHARITY IMPROVEMENT
Colorado State hit 216-of-318 (.679) from the free throw line in non-conference play but has improved its numbers in Mountain West contests making 191-of-250 (.764) from the stripe.
HARRISON NATIONALLY RANKED
Through games on February 13, junior forward Michael Harrison ranks36th in the nation with 2.2 blocks per game.
HOLD ONTO THAT BALL
This season Colorado State is 6-8 when committing more turnovers than its opponent but, conversely, holds a 7-2 mark when forcing more turnovers than their foes.
RAM TOP PERFORMANCES
Several of CSU's top single game performances also rank and the best in the Mountain West Conference in 2005-06. Out of 14 statistical categories, Rams hold nine of the top single game performance this year.
Players Category Stat Opponent Date
Sean Morris Scoring 34 vs. Colorado 11/21/05
Michael Harrison FG Made 11 vs. Western Michigan 12/20/05
Michael Harrison FG Percentage .917 vs. Western Michigan 12/20/05
Sean Morris 3FG Made 9 vs. Colorado 11/21/05
Sean Morris 3FG Attempted 16 vs. Colorado 11/21/05
Sean Morris 3 FG Percentage .833 at Utah 2/15/06
Jason Smith FT Made 12 at New Mexico 1/7/06
Jason Smith FT Percentage 1.000 at New Mexico 1/7/06
Cory Lewis Assists 9 vs. Iowa State 12/23/05
PLAYER TIDBITS
#1 Sean Morris
• Morris is 33-of-36 (.917) from the free throw line in his last 19 games.
• Hit for 34 points including a school-record nine three-pointers against Colorado. The 34-point game is the highest individual point total by anyone in the Mountain West this season.
• Scored once in the first six games of his career but has since scored in 38 consecutive games.
• Has hit a three in 12 of his last 13 games including his last four games.
#4 Cory Lewis
• Lewis has had an assist in 23 of 24 games this season including 21 multi-assist games on the year.
• Has led CSU in assists in his last seven games and 18 times during the season.
• Has hit 26-of-30 (.867) free throws in his last seven games.
• Has played in 30+ minutes in five of his last six games and 14 times during the season.
#13 Freddy Robinson
• Scored a season-high 15 points versus New Mexico. It was his highest-scoring game since he scored 19 versus the Lobos on Mar. 6, 2004.
• Has gathered 24 rebounds in his last five games including a career-high eight versus San Diego State.
• Is 15-of-24 (.625) from the floor in his last four games.
#14 Jason Smith
• Has scored in double figures in 23 of 25 games this season and in 36 of 51 games in his collegiate career.
• Has had six or more rebounds in 18 of 25 games and in six consecutive games.
• Recorded his fifth double-double of the year (sixth of his career) with 24 points and 12 rebounds against UNLV.
• Has recorded at least one assist in 15 straight games.
#21 Andrew Patterson
• Patterson is 8-of-15 (.533) from three-point range in his last 10 games.
#30 Stuart Creason
• Creason is 9-of-13 (.692) from the field in his last four games.
#33 Stephan Gilling
• Has hit a three-pointer in 20 of 25 games and has had multiple three-pointers in 15 games this year.
• Ranks fourth in the CSU freshman record books in games started (19).
#55 Michael Harrison
• After starting the season 27-of-65 (.415) from the free throw line, Harrison has hit 13 of his last 19 (.684) in his last six games.
• Has 11 assists in his last four games.
FOES UNDER 40
Colorado State 9-1 when holding an opponent to less than 40 percent shooting from the floor including the following games:
Date Game FG-A Pct.
Nov. 18 Northern Colorado (W) 20-65 .308
Nov. 23 North Dakota State (W) 18-58 .310
Nov. 26 Denver (W) 17-50 .340
Nov. 28 Auburn (W) 26-70 .371
Dec. 3 IUPUI (W) 21-56 .375
Dec. 7 Kansas State (L) 20-56 .357
Dec. 10 Pepperdine (W) 19-65 .292
Dec. 22 Hawai'i (W) 18-52 .346
Dec. 30 Arkansas Tech (W) 23-64 .359
Feb. 15 Utah (W) 19-49 .388
RAMS PLUS 50
Colorado State is 8-3 when shooting better than 50 percent from the floor. Those games include:
Date Game FG-A Pct.
Nov. 21 Colorado (W) 26-50 .520
Nov. 28 Auburn (W) 25-50 .500
Dec. 3 IUPUI (W) 25-44 .568
Dec. 20 Western Michigan (W) 33-54 .611
Dec. 28 UCCS (W) 37-56 .661
Dec. 30 Arkansas Tech (W) 31-57 .544
Jan. 14 Utah (W) 32-50 .640
Jan. 28 BYU (L) 28-48 .583
Feb. 4 San Diego State (L) 30-57 .526
Feb. 8 New Mexico (L) 27-47 .574
Feb. 15 Utah (W) 24-47 .511
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
Cory Lewis 1 20
Micheal Morris 0 20
Jason Smith 9 19
Sean Morris 6 16
Stuart Creason 1 11
Freddy Robinson 3 10
Michael Harrison 2 7
Stephan Gilling 0 6
Andrew Patterson 1 5
Ryan Brown 1 4
C.J. Clark 2 2
Chris Harris 0 2
THE MAGIC NUMBER IS 70
Over the past two seasons, Colorado State is 3-15 when scoring less than 70 points in a game. In contrast the Rams are 21-13 when hitting 70 and 11-4 when reaching the 80-point plateau.
SHOOTING COMPARISON
Coming into conference play, Colorado State opponents had held the upper hand in shooting percentage just once (Colorado) in 13 games. After 12 contests of Mountain West play, CSU opponents have outshot the Rams eight times resulting in eight Ram losses.
CSU BASKETBALL TICKET INFORMATION
Tickets to all home games are available by calling 1-800-491-RAMS or online at CSURAMS.com, or at any King Soopers or City Market grocery store location throughout the state of Colorado.
LIVE STATS
Live statistics for all Colorado State home games may be obtained by going to CSURams.com and going to the men's basketball schedule/results page. Live statistics tracked through College Sports Online's Game tracker.
SOLID DOWN THE STRETCH
Colorado State has hit 128-of-160 (.800) free throws in the final five minutes of games plus overtime this year led by Micheal Morris who is hitting at a .938 (15-of-16) clip.
