Rams Host No. 10 Louisville in White Out Game

FORT COLLINS, Colo. – For the first time almost 17 years, a non-conference ranked foe will play at Moby Arena against the Colorado State women's basketball team when the Rams take on No. 10 Louisville Sunday in a "White Out" game at noon.

After five games in 15 days to start the season, the Rams enjoyed the past six days without a contest. The 81-55 victory over Lipscomb last Sunday earned the Rams their first 5-0 start since 2001-02. The path to 6-0 will be a challenging one with the Cardinals, who advanced to the NCAA Elite Eight last year and finished 26-4, on deck. The last time a non-conference ranked opponent came to Moby Arena was No.8 UConn on Dec. 23, 2004, and the last time the Rams defeated a non-conference team at home was when No. 15 Rams defeated No. 11 Colorado, 81-69, on Nov. 28, 2001.

"We added this game in late July when we had a sudden opening," head coach Ryun Williams said. "It is a tremendous opportunity for our student-athletes and fans to have a top-10 team on our court. Our student-athletes are excited. Obviously, our weaknesses will get exposed when you play a team like this, but it is also a chance to grow our basketball team. Any time you play these types of games early in the year it is about learning, whether you win or lose. We certainly still are going into it with a gameplan and mentality of wanting to win. We just need to bring in a greater focus and great execution."

Louisville (4-1) was a preseason No. 6 before dropping a neutral site game to a ranked Arizona squad. Since, UofL has won four straight games, including an eight-point win at Washington. The Cardinals return six players that made starts last season including redshirt senior Kianna Smith, senior Mykasa Robinson and sophomores Olivia Cochran and Hailey Van Lith, who were both named to the 2020-21 ACC All-Freshman Team.

RAMS NOTEBOOK (Full Game Notes Attached)

Preseason Mountain West Awards
• The Preseason Mountain West awards came out on Oct. 13th and pinned the Rams to finish fourth in the 11-team conference. Additionally, Hofschild was named to the five-person All-MW team. The Prior Lake, Minn, native started every game last season, averaging 13.4 points and led the MW in assists with 5.4 per game en route to being named the MW Newcomer of the Year and earn an All-MW nod.

Last Time Out
• The Rams breezed past Lipscomb, 81-55, by draining 16 threes - the fourth-most total in school history. McKenna Hofschild and Petra Farkas each sunk five each with the latter obtaining a career-best 15 points. Upe Atosu set the tone early with 10 points in the second quarter and 16 at the half - both team-high for the season - before finishing with a season-best 21 points.

Hofschild Named MW Player of the Week
• McKenna Hofschild was named Mountain West Player of the Week after averaging 19 points per game and leading CSU to three wins last week. The three-game stretch in which Hofschild scored 57 points is the second-best three-game total from the junior guard who notched 61 points in a trio of games last season that coincidentally earned her MW PoW Week honors (1/11/21) too. She dropped a career-best 27 on Denver and is 9-of-15 from distance in the past two games.

Early Defensive Trends
• The Rams have held all their opponents to 60 points or less and under 35% shooting. CSU boasts the conference's No. 1 scoring defense (49.2 ppg) that checks in at No. 16 nationally. The Rams are No. 1 in field goal defense (31.9%) for the Mountain West and 18th nationally. The 26 blocked shots are the best in the conference with Sydney Mech leading the efforts with 12 blocks that is second in the conference

Protecting the Rock
• The Rams lead the NCAA in turnovers per game at 9.0. CSU's assist to turnover ratio is also second in the country at 1.73. Last season, CSU finished second and fifth, respectively, in those two categories nationally.

Finding the Right Group
• Three different starting lineups occupied the first three games, but the Rams have now gone three straight games with the same starting five. The three constants who have started each game are Hofschild, Atosu and Kinzer. Mech did miss the opener due to injury precaution. More on this on page nine of the game notes.

From the Line
• Last season, Ryun Williams' squad ranked 19th in the nation in free-throw percentage at 76.3%, which also went down as the second-best percentage in CSU history. Picking up where they left off, CSU is 46 for 57 from the charity strike thus far. Karly Murphy is a perfect 12-of-12, while McKenna Hofschild is 12-of-15. The Rams are second in the Mountain West in FT% (.807) and 16th in the country.

Back to a Normal November & Non-Conference Hustle
• Last year, the Rams played three games in the opening month of play. This year, CSU has six games on the docket for November. Then in the first week of December, CSU goes to their first non-conference tournament since the Navy Classic in 2015. For the Arizona State Classic, CSU will play Harvard and UTSA.

Series History: Colorado State – Louisville
Overall: CSU leads, 2-1
In Fort Collins: -
In Louisville: 0-1
Neutral Sites: 2-0
Current Streak: CSU, 2
Last Meeting: CSU 82, UofL 72 (12/15/01) in Columbus, Ohio
Largest Margin of Victory: ^
Largest Defeat: CSU 65, UofL 75 (12/2/90) in Louisville

A Colorado State Sunday Win Would Mean…
• The first non-conference ranked win since the #15 Rams defeated #11 Colorado, 81-69, on Nov. 28, 2001.

How to Follow Along
Attached: Game Notes.
Live Stats: http://csura.ms/WBBStats
Live Stream: http://csura.ms/Live
Radio: KARS 102.9 FM | https://csura.ms/Listen
Gameday: http://csura.ms/WBBGameDay
Tickets: http://csura.ms/BlackFriday

For More on Colorado State Women's Basketball follow: Twitter – CSUWBasketball | Instagram – csuwbasketball | Facebook – @CSUWBasketball

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