Rams Try to Keep Edge During Unexpected Break

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The last thing Ryun Williams wanted to see was a stop sign.

His Colorado State women's basketball team had finally played two games after a 22-day break over the holidays. Getting back in the flow was crucial, but COVID concerns with the San Jose State women's basketball game postponed – then eliminated – a two-game set as the Spartans shut down their program for the year.

That meant another 11-day break between games.

"This time of year, there's one thing that needs to be happening if you're a college basketball player, and that's games," Williams said.

Playing in the middle of a pandemic is going to come with some kinks, which Williams and his staff knew and anticipated. There was a plan in place for an unscheduled break, with leeway built in to key on certain present-day concerns.

So the Rams spent the extra time working on a few items, such as sustaining strength in the weight room, allowing down time for players dealing with nagging injuries and replacing game competition the best they could.

"I don't want to say it's an impossible task, but it's a very, very challenging task to keep your kids in synch in that game mindset, a competitive-game mindset," Williams said. "The only way I know how to do it is just to compete, so we had a fair amount of competitive phases where winning and losing was in play, and there's always a consequence. We put a consequence to most things in our competitive games. They run lines. It just makes the mini games much more competitive, because let's face it, you don't want to run."

No team does. But they did, which was also important.

Petra Farkas could tell early in the week conditioning would be a key component. It was built into the practice plan, amplified for some when losing a game meant they'd toe the line. And she also knew exactly why.

"In the beginning, when we knew we weren't going to play, our coaches tried to put together a practice where they could see if we get really tired during a game, see who is still going to be able to think and make good decisions," she said. "We did a lot of running drills, then shooting free throws, then scrimmaging. Everybody was super tired, but this week, we came back a little bit and now we're focusing on Utah State.

"We did condition a lot, and I believe when we played against UNLV, we had a couple of stretches when we didn't have a sub and we had to dig down, even if we were super tired. I believe that's why they did it for us, to be ready for those minutes."

In the two-game split with UNLV, the Rams ran into foul trouble at times in both games, leading to extended minutes in stretches for some players. Williams knows those situations will come up again this season, and he figures part of the fatigue was the long break leading into the games. He also doesn't want to see it become an issue, especially now, coming off another lengthy stretch without games.

What he did like was the attitude was good, despite the disappointment of not playing. The players made sure the sour mood didn't last long.

"We have the schedule of two games every week, and we were disappointed we couldn't play," Farkas said. "I think we're back on track, though, so we're fine. We tried to keep everybody together and just keep working and celebrate every time we did something really good in practice. We encouraged each other, and we're happy when somebody is doing a great thing."

The greatest thing of all however is games, and at 8-2 overall and 4-2 in Mountain West play, the Rams are in the thick of the hunt. And tonight, with Utah State (4-5, 2-2) in town for the first of two, the consequences become real once again.

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