Rams Return To Warmth of Moby Arena To Play Utah Valley Dec. 1

2019-20 Colorado State Men's Basketball
Game #3 - Colorado State (5-3) vs. Utah Valley (4-4)
Dec. 1, 2019 • 2:30 p.m. MT • Moby Arena (8,083) - Fort Collins, Colo.

Buy Tickets Online
Video: MW Network
Radio: Colorado State Sports Network (Play-by-Play: Brian Roth / Color Analyst: Adam Nigon)
Flagship: KARS 102.9 FM (Fort Collins) / Affiliates: KDCO 104.7 FM (Denver), KMTS 99.1 FM (Glenwood Springs), KMTS 96.7 FM (West Glenwood Springs), KRDO 105.5 FM (Colorado Springs), KKVT 100.7 FM (Grand Junction), KMTS/KKVT 99.5/100.3 FM (Rifle), KKVT 97.1 FM (Delta), KKVT 98.1 FM (Montrose), KRFD 100.1 FM (Sterling), KNEC 100.9 FM (Yuma), KNAB 1140 AM (Burlington), KLMR 920 AM (Lamar) / TuneIn App
Live Stats: Colorado State
Complete Game Notes: Colorado State / Utah Valley

Opening Tip
• The Rams return home to host Utah Valley on Sat., Dec. 1 at 2:30 p.m., with the video on Mountain West Network.
• Live audio is available on the Colorado State Sports Network, including Power 102.9 FM (flagship). Brian Roth is on the play-by-play for the Rams, with Adam Nigon handling the analysis. Audio is also available via CSURams.com and the TuneIn App on all smart phones and mobile devices.
• The game will also have live stats on CSURams.com

The Leaders
• Colorado State Head Coach Niko Medved (Minnesota, '97) is in his second season at CSU as head coach with a 15-23 mark and has a 95-1110 overall record is in his seventh season as a head coach.
• Utah Valley Head Coach Mark Madsen (Stanford, 2000) is in his first season at Utah Valley and as a head coach overall with a 4-4 record. Madsen was a standout for the Cardinal and spent 10 seasons as a player in the NBA and seven as an assistant coach.

A Quick Look at Utah Valley
• Returning two starters and two letterwinners from last season's 25-10 squad that finished second in the Western Athletic Conference with a 12-4 mark, the Wolverines were picked to finish sixth in the league's preseason poll.
• Senior guard TJ Washington paces UVU in minutes and points, while junior guard Isaiah White is the top rebounder. Newcomers Cavit Ege Havsa (assists, steals), Casdon Jardine (three-pointers, three-point percentage, free throw percentage) and Emmanuel Olojakpoke (blocks, field goal percentage) are also making a contribution.

History Versus Utah Valley
• The two teams have never met in college basketball. The teams have a common opponent played, as CSU defeated Denver in its season opener, while Utah Valley fell at Denver, 74-62, in its second game of the season.
• CSU is 16-10 all-time against Western Athletic Conference foes in history.
• CSU leader Niko Medved has never faced Utah Valley as a head coach. He is just 1-2 against WAC opponents all-time.

UTAH VALLEY - First Meeting

CSU vs. Western Athletic Conference
School                     Overall Home Away Neut.Cal State Bakersfield      1-1            1-1            -               -
Chicago State              1-0        1-0        -          -
New Mexico State       5-4       4-1       1-2       0-1
Seattle                        3-5       3-1      0-4        -
UT Rio Grande Valley 6-0       4-0      2-0        -
Totals                        16-10    13-3     3-6      0-1

Basketball Staff
• Head coach Niko Medved brought four members of his staff from Drake with him last season and the crew stayed together for this season. Dave Thorson, JR Blount and Ali Farokhmanesh were assistant coaches with Medved, while Aaron Katsuma joined him again as Director of Basketball Operations. Thorson has extensive experience as a high school coach and had previously worked with Medved at the University of Minnesota. Blount and Farokhmanesh also bring extensive recent playing experience with them as Blount played at Loyola Chicago, graduating in 2009, and Farokhmanesh was a key part of a Northern Iowa squad that knocked off No. 1 Kansas in the NCAA Tournament in his senior year in 2010.

Moby Arena Home Court Advantage
• CSU has a record of 555-236 (.701) record all-time at Moby Arena.
• The Rams had finished at least .500 in each of the last nine years prior to last season. This dated back to the 2008-09 season when the program was 6-9, prior to 2018-19's 8-9 mark.
• Current head coach Niko Medved was part of a coaching staff at CSU that posted two of the top records in program history at home, as the 2012-13 team set the best mark at 16-1 with the 2011-12 team going 14-1. Overall as an assistant at CSU, he was part of a team that went 97-97 overall and 59-30 in Moby Arena and improved their overall record in each successive season.

National Rankings (Team/Players)
(through Nov. 29, 2019)
Team (Top 70 of 351 Division I teams)
Free Throws Made                                 123          30th
Free Throws Attempted                           182          20th

Players (top 100 nationally)
Nico Carvacho
Free Throw Attempts                              54            10th
Defensive Rebounds Per Game                7.63         19th
Double-Doubles                                    3            29th
Rebounds Per Game                              9.6          37th
Free Throws Made                                 30           80th

Carvacho Growing On the Floor
• Redshirt-senior center Nico Carvacho showed his increased comfort level on the floor, growing extensively the last two seasons.
• Last season, Carvacho was effective, recording double-doubles in a school-record 22 games and averaged a team-high 16.1 points and a nation-leading 12.9 rebounds per game while shooting a league-best 59.2 percent from the floor (31st in NCAA).
• He recorded his second 20-20 game of his career when he finished with 23 points and a career-high 22 rebounds at Long Beach State, Dec. 22. The 22 rebounds are tied for the sixth-best single-game performance in CSU history.
• Carvacho's 23-point/22-rebound game was the second of his career, matching Smith as the only Rams with multiple 20/20 games in their career.
• At UNLV Jan. 2, Carvacho set a new career best with 28 points and added 20 rebounds for his second 20-20 game of the year and school-record third of his career.
• Carvacho also was named First Team All-Mountain West and All-Defensive Team by the league's media, in 2018-19.
• In addition, Carvacho was honored on the US Basketball Writers Association All-District squad last season.
• Carvacho started the 2018-19 season No. 20 on the CSU career rebounding chart. With his 12 rebounds against San Diego State Feb. 12, he became the all-time leading rebounder at CSU. He now has a Mountain-West record 1027 (tops in NCAA among current active players), passing previous leader Pat Durham (1985-89) at 851.
• Carvacho also is first in CSU offensive rebounds with 361 and in CSU career defensive rebounds with 676 (since tracking of the two categories began).
• He is now the leader in Mountain West-only double-doubles with 25, passing San Diego State's Kawhi Leonard (2009-11) and Nevada's Jordan Caroline. His 37 career double-doubles are fourth in the league's history (tied for second among current active NCAA Division I players).
• Carvacho became the 29th CSU player in history to reach the 1,000 point mark in his career, accomplishing that feat in the opening round of the 2019 MW Championship.
• With his five rebounds against Arkansas State Nov. 20, he became the first player in league history with 1,000 career points and 1,000 career rebounds.
• He was also named to the preseason watch list for the 2020 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Award, the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame announced. Last year, he was a finalist as one of final 10 players from which the top center in men's college basketball will be recognized.
• Carvacho was named to the Preseason All-MW team entering this season by the league's media representatives.
• For his play against Omaha and in the three contests in Grand Cayman as CSU went 3-1 combined, Carvacho was named to the Cayman Islands Classic All-Tournament Team. He posted a pair of double-doubles and averaged 14.8 points, 11.3 rebounds and 2.8 assists in those games.

NCAA D-I Active Career Rankings (through Nov. 29, 2019)
1.       Total Rebounds                                          1027
t-1.     Double-Doubles                                           38
4.      Rebounding Average                                    9.5
7.            Consecutive Starts                                  105
35.    Field Goal Percentage                                 55.5

Martin Stepping Up His Role
• Redshirt-senior Kris Martin is expected to be one of the leaders this season.
• He started last 16 of 27 games played in 2018-19, averaging 9.2 points (fourth for the Rams), 3.6 rebounds and 2.6 assists in 29.5 minutes a game
• He scored in double digits in 13 games, with two of 20+
• The guard made his season debut in 2018-19 against South Dakota State, Nov. 21, and tallied 11 points in 30 minutes of action.
• He led CSU with 21 points at Colorado, Dec. 1.
• Martin recorded his first CSU career double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds against Utah State, March 5.
• The guard led CSU in its opening win over Denver, Nov. 5, scoring a team-high 18 points and adding five rebounds, two assists and two steals.
• The senior currently is fourth for CSU at 9.1 points per game while playing 29.1 minutes a contest, fourth on the team. He is shooting 37.0 percent from the field and 71.4 from the charity stripe while also adding 4.5 rebounds and 2.0 assists a game.

Moving On Up
• Sophomores Kendle Moore and Adam Thistlewood are going to be looked at to help lead this team as two of the four returning starters.
• Thistlewood was fifth on last year's team at 8.9 points per game and Moore is sixth at 8.8 points per game. Thistlewood scored in double figures in 16 contests, with Moore with 11 10+ point games.
• Thistlewood scored in double figures in each of the last six games and ranked third in the MW in three-point field goal percentage in conference games.
• Moore and Thistlewood each shot 78 percent or better from the charity stripe.

This season
• Thistlewood and Moore both had a solid game in the win over Omaha, Nov. 13.
• Thistlewood was 5-for-11 on field goals, including 5-for-8 from the three-point arc, and hit all four free throws for a career-high 19 points. He also added seven rebounds, two off his career best earlier this year against Denver.
• Moore tallied a season-best 16 points, including five triples against the Mavericks.
• Moore was solid in the thrilling win over Loyola Chicago Nov. 26, as he had a game-high 15 points, including 6-of-9 FG and 3-5 from the arc.
• Thistlewood was a standout against Washington State Nov. 27, as he had a game high and career-high 20 points on 6-of-9 FG, including tying a career-high with five three-pointers and chipped in four rebounds.
• Thistlewood is now third on the team at 11.5 points and second at 4.9 rebounds per game, while Moore is sixth at 6.2 points a contest and leads in steals with 13.

Newcomers With Early Impact
• Head coach Niko Medved has played four freshmen each in the first two contests.
• Guard Isaiah Stevens has started four games and tied for game-high honors with forward David Roddy with 12 points at #4 Duke, Nov. 8.
• Dischon Thomas and John Tonje have both played in the first two contests and contributed off the bench.
• Roddy also added six rebounds and a steal in his 21 minutes of action.
• Stevens followed it up with against Omaha, Nov. 13, tallying 11 points and a team season-high five assists in the win and at Loyola Marymount, Nov. 16, with a game-high 21 points, five rebounds and five assists in the come-from-behind win.
• Stevens and Roddy both had a presence against Arkansas State Nov. 20. Stevens then had 11 points, six rebounds and a team season-high eight assists while Roddy had a personal-best 14 points with three blocks.
• Roddy scored in double figures in all three games in Grand Cayman in the Cayman Islands Classic, averaging 11.0 points per game on 50.0 percent shooting from the field.
• Stevens is currently second on the team in scoring at 12.6 points per game, shooting 51.5 percent from the floor, 46.9 from the arc and a team-best 88.9 percent from the free throw line. Roddy is fifth at 8.8 points per game and third at 4.8 rebounds a contest.

Looking Ahead
• The Rams open Mountain West Conference play at home when they host San Diego State on Wed., Dec. 4 at 7 p.m.
• The game will be broadcast on Stadium along with the Colorado State Sports Radio Network (along with online at CSURams.com), with Brian Roth and Adam Nigon on the call.
• CSU Sports Network broadcasts can be also accessed on mobile devices through the TuneIn app (free on all Apple, Android, Windows, Blackberry and Amazon Kindle devices) – once downloaded, search "Colorado St. Rams Sports Network" in the app for the games and coaches' show broadcasts.

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