Men's Basketball Preview: CSU vs. New Mexico

Feb. 6, 2006

Game #23: Colorado State (12-10, 1-8) vs. New Mexico (13-9, 4-5)
February 8, 2006  7:05 p.m. MST
Fort Collins, Colo.  Moby Arena (8,745)

THE MATCHUP
Colorado State returns to Moby Arena Wednesday night to host the New Mexico Lobos in a 7 p.m. tipoff. The Rams will be in search of their first win in seven tries when they meet UNM on Wednesday and will be looking to defeat the Lobos for the third time in four years in Fort Collins. CSU suffered an 85-81 setback to league-leading San Diego State on Saturday when the Rams' late-game rally fell just short sending their record to 12-10, 1-8 MWC on the season. Junior guard Cory Lewis registered a career-best 26 points to go with four assists, three rebounds and three steals in the game.

ABOUT NEW MEXICO
The Lobos will bring a 13-9 overall record into Fort Collins on Wednesday after breaking a three-game losing streak with a 64-53 victory over Utah in Albuquerque Saturday. New Mexico will be looking for its first road win of the season after going 0-8 away from The Pit this year. Mark Walters (15.8 ppg) and David Chiotti (12.9 ppg) are the Lobos' leading scorers on the season with Walters leading the team with 64 assists and Chiotti recording a team-best 6.2 rebounds per game.

MOBY UNDER LAYER
Colorado State holds a 58-25 overall record in home games during Dale Layer's six seasons.

Season Games Record
2005-06 11 8-3
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 83 58-25 (.699)

ALL-TIME MOBY RECORD
Colorado State holds an all-time record of 414-162 (.719) in Moby Arena.

THE RAMS IN FEBRUARY
The Rams hold an 8-31 record in the month of February during Dale Layer's tenure as head coach. The Rams have a 3-20 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 1,037-1,064 in 2,101 previous games dating back to 1902.

ON WEDNESDAYS
The Rams hold a 4-12 record in Wednesday games during the Dale Layer era. CSU is 2-5 in Wednesday matchups in 2005-06 including wins over North Dakota State and UCCS and losses to Kansas State, San Diego State, UNLV, Wyoming and Air Force.

CLOSING IN ON 250
Head Coach Dale Layer is closing in on career victory number 250. Heading into Wednesday's game against New Mexico, Layer holds a 249-175 career mark including an 82-88 record at Colorado State.

BLOCK PARTY
Colorado State ranks ninth in the nation in blocked shots per game averaging 6.18 blocks every time out. The Rams boast three of the top five shot blockers in the Mountain West in Michael Harrison (2nd), Jason Smith (3rd) and Stuart Creason (4th). Harrison ranks 28th 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 151-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 379 regular season home games.

MOUNTAIN WEST ROAD GAMES
Dale Layer holds a 5-36 road record against Mountain West opponents since taking over the CSU program in 2000. CSU has a 20-game road losing streak in Mountain West play dating back to a 66-65 win at Utah on March 6, 2003.

MOBY THREES
Colorado State has hit 79-of-179 three-pointers (.441) in Moby Arena this year. In contrast, the Rams are 56-of-181 (.309) from behind the arc away from home.

POINTS IN THE PAINT
Colorado State has been outscored in the paint just four times this season including games against Colorado (44-18), Auburn (40-38), 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 .507 clip after seven MWC games. MWC foes are scoring 79.0 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 145-of-184 (.788) from the stripe.

HARRISON NATIONALLY RANKED
Through games on January 30, junior forward Michael Harrison ranks ninth in the nation in field goal percentage (.622) and 28th in the country in blocked shots (2.2 bpg).

PLAYER TIDBITS
Jason Smith -
 Sophomore forward Jason Smith has gathered six or more rebounds in 16 of his last 23 games and has scored in double figures in 23 of his last 24 games. He has scored in double figures in 15-straight games, the longest active streak in the MWC.  Ranks 3rd in the Mountain West in scoring (17.4 ppg), 4th in rebounding (7.1 rpg), 6th in field goal percentage (.538), 8th in free throw percentage (.766) and 3rd in blocked shots (1.86 bpg)  Ranks 8th in on the school's list in blocked shots (77) and ranks 8th in career field goal percentage (.544).

Micheal Morris -
 Senior guard Micheal Morris is 5th on the school's career blocked shots list with 128, 6th in career assists with 360 and 9th in career steals with 94. He is the first player in school history to rank in all three categories.

Sean Morris -
 Ranks 8th in career three-point field goal percentage (.401) at CSU.

Michael Harrison -
 Junior forward Michael Harrison ranks 2nd in the Mountain West in field goal percentage (.622) and 2nd in blocked shots with 2.23 per game.  Ranks 28th in the nation in blocks per game (2.3 bpg) and 9th in field goal percentage (.622).  Has had four or more rebounds in 17 of 22 games this year.  Ranks 1st in career field goal percentage (.622) at CSU.

Cory Lewis -
 Junior guard Cory Lewis ranks 1st in the MWC in assists (4.24 apg), 5th in free throw percentage (.795), 8th in steals (1.57 spg) and 4th in assist/turnover ratio (1.41).

Stuart Creason -
 Sophomore center Stuart Creason ranks 4th in the MWC in blocked shots (1.21 bpg).  Ranks 7th in the CSU record books in career field goal percentage (.557).

Stephan Gilling -
 Freshman guard Stephan Gilling ranks 6th in the MWC in three-point field goal percentage (.411) and 8th in three-point field goals made (2.00 pg).

NOTING THE SAN DIEGO STATE GAME
 CSU's loss ends a three-game Moby Arena win streak by the Rams against SDSU.  Saturday's game marks the first time in the past four games guard Stephan Gilling did not make at least three three-point goals in a game.  Cory Lewis' 26 points is a career high (19 earlier this season vs. Utah). It is the highest scoring total by a CSU guard since the second game of the year when G Sean Morris had 34 points in a win over Colorado.  F Jason Smith has scored in double figures 15 games in a row, the longest such streak in the Mountain West Conference.  Lewis entered Saturday's game having made just 1-of-7 field goals at Air Force, but made 9-of-15 attempts including 3-of-5 three-point goals vs. SDSU.

FOES UNDER 40
Colorado State 8-1 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

RAMS PLUS 50
Colorado State is 7-2 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

MORE ON TELEVISION
The Colorado State Rams will appear on national or regional television at least five 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
Dec. 7 at Kansas State Fox Sports Midwest
Feb. 18 UNLV ESPN+Plus
Feb. 25 at Wyoming ESPN2

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 1 20
Jason Smith 0 19
Sean Morris 4 16
Cory Lewis 12 12
Stuart Creason 6 11
Freddy Robinson 8 8
Stephan Gilling 0 6
Michael Harrison 5 6
Andrew Patterson 5 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 2-15 when scoring less than 70 points in a game. In contrast the Rams are 21-11 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 nine contests of Mountain West play, CSU opponents have outshot the Rams seven times resulting in seven 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 116-of-143 (.811) free throws in the final five minutes of games this year led by Micheal Morris who is hitting at a .938 (15-of-16) clip.

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