The Dish: Rams Do What They Can, When They Can

FORT COLLINS, Colo. – They played paint by numbers in the first half.

Colorado State had to, because the Rams couldn't hit from outside in the early going Monday night with Northern Arizona at Moby Arena for a non-conference tilt. The hosts missed their first eight 3-pointers of the night, but were able to build a little bit of a cushion heading into the break.

Then the perimeter game came around – the Rams hit their first six of the second half, seven in a row overall – and improved to 2-0 on the year with a 91-52 victory.

You do what you can, when you can. Make it work.

"I think we're a really good shooting team," CSU coach Niko Medved said. "Typically if you're going to give a team like us good looks from the perimeter, over the course of the game, the percentages are going to even out. I think it makes maturity to learn that. What was funny, we were 0 for 8 to start, and Isaiah Stevens made a 3 right before half, and it was the hardest one we took."

At the end, the Rams had 44 points in the paint, and they also finished 11-of-22 from behind the arc.

In the first half, good outside looks weren't falling, so the Rams relied on their inside strength. By the end of the game, they could do no wrong, a nice feeling heading into Saturday's first road test at St. Mary's.

The funny part to Medved was the 3 that ended the streak was a hard step-back by Isaiah Stevens, the toughest deep shot the team took in the first half. But it seemed to open the flood gates to a complete offensive effort.

At no time were any of them discouraged.

"I felt like we were getting great looks early on, and we just weren't hitting them," Stevens said. "We have a bunch of great shooters on the team, so the confidence stays high. We keep telling guys, regardless who it is, be ready to shoot because the ball's going to find its way back to you, and just be ready to knock down the next one. That definitely showed, especially in the second half. Guys started to get their feet set, get their legs up under them and start to knock downs some 3s."

As is the case with early season basketball in the middle of a worldwide pandemic, the play was streaky. The Rams had an impressive 15-0 run, which the Lumberjacks immediately chopped down with a 12-0 spurt. The Rams' hot shooting to open the second built a 20-point margin, one which was whittled down to 10 just past the halfway point.

Undeterred, CSU regrouped on both ends of the floor, forcing NAU to shoot just 35.8 percent in the game, and the lead hit a high-water mark of 36 soon enough off a 26-0 run which ended just 1:57 away from closing the game. It was capped by a P.J. Byrd trey, as 10 different Rams scored.

None scored more than Stevens, the point guard, who finished with 23 and helped his teammates find the basket by finishing one assist shy of a double-double. One complaint Medved had after the season opener was he didn't feel they were sharing the ball enough. Producing 20 assists in the game is the first clue to a change.

Well, and making shots, too. Can't get an assist without a made basket. In the second half, there were plenty of those.

"You could sense a little bit at the end of the first half a little bit of frustration, but I give our guys a ton of credit," Medved said. "They came out of the locker room, I absolutely loved their approach, really guarded their tail off, then sure as heck, Kendle Moore makes a 3, Adam Thistlewood makes a 3. Next thing you know you really start to get in a rhythm that way."

Four Rams in all reached double figures, with David Roddy adding 14 (with a team-leading eight rebounds) and Kendle Moore 12. The bench brigade was led by James Moors, who posted a career best 12 in a collegiate tenure which is two games deep.

He just felt he needed to play better, and he was aggressive around the rim. In New Zealand, Medved said he was more accustomed to playing facing the basket, but he showed the Lumberjacks he could be productive and aggressive with his back to the lane.

"The last time I played a game was a year and a half ago at the World Cup," Moors said. "That first game I was just excited to play, and I felt a lot more comfortable tonight. I think that's what it was."

He better get used to it, too, Stevens informed him.

"I told him after the game, now that I've seen it in a live game, there's no going back," he said. "I just felt like he had to find his footing – and it comes with it. It's a learning process, he hasn't played in a very long time, but I feel he has an opportunity to be very beneficial to us."

The game looked easy for Colorado State the final 20 minutes, and not just because of the shots falling. It was also the defensive end, where the Rams were more intense in their play, hitting the floor a number of times to force turnovers.

Medved highlighted a couple of plays by Adam Thistlewood and one by Moore, but forcing a shot-clock violation late which triggered the bench stood out most to the coach.

"I thought our defensive approach was good. I thought we had a really good game plan and did a great job of knowing personnel and who we were guarding and really taking away the lane from this team," Medved said. "I thought we did a good job on the boards. I thought our defense was terrific to start the game, we just couldn't make a shot."

Not early, at least behind the arc. But the Rams found a way to keep in front. And eventually, patience found them in a comfortable spot, where it was all working.

For a second game – especially a second half – Medved could find no complaints to register with his team.

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