Rams Host In-State Rival Air Force Thursday Night

FORT COLLINS, Colo. – Continuing its homestand, the Colorado State women's basketball team will host in-state Air Force Thursday at 6 p.m. MT inside of Moby Arena.

The Rams are coming off of possibly their best game yet, notching season highs in points, field goals and assists last time out in the 90-64 win over San Jose State on Sunday. Graduate student Upe Atosu poured in a career-best 32 points including 11 in CSU's dominant 30-point fourth quarter. Thursday night will be the 10^th home game of the season for Colorado State (11-2, 2-1 MW) that are 8-1 in Moby Arena.

"Air Force always gives us its best fight since it is the in-state rivalry from the south of Denver," head coach Ryun Williams said. "This is a team that took Colorado to the brink of defeat and have a number of other close losses including one in double overtime. They are a tough team defensively, especially guarding the 3-point line, so we will have to be economical about our shot selection. Against San Jose State, we did a fantastic job at that, running the floor and getting great shots, which showed in the box score with 31 field goals on 25 assists. We know this game won't be as much up-and-down, but want to carry that same mentality into this game and the rest of the season."

Air Force (7-7, 1-2) was picked to finish 10th in the Mountain West. The Falcons have had six full days since their last contest after their home game versus Nevada was postponed per COVID. The last time USAFA took the court was on Jan. 6th in an 83-67 home loss to UNLV. In the 2020-21 season, CSU and USAFA played its series at Clune Arena in the second-to-last regular-season matchup of the season. The Rams defeated USAFA by 24 in game one, but the Falcons edged CSU 75-68 in a game that CSU could have secured a share of the MW regular season title.

RAMS NOTEBOOK

Last Time Out
• The Rams were hitting on all cylinders, defeating San Jose State handedly 90-64 at Moby Arena. CSU notched seasons highs in total points, points in a quarter, points in a half, field goals made, and assists. Leading the charge was Upe Atosu with a career-best 32 points on 9-of-15 shooting, including six 3s and an 8 for 9 free-throw clip. Additionally, she dished out five assists, which were all 3s thus having a hand in 47 points on the night. Karly Murphy notched her fifth double-double of the season, while McKenna Hofschild tallied 10 assists for her third double-digit assist game of the season. Team-wise, the Rams also dominated the glass, outrebounding the Spartans 44 to 24.

What to Watch for vs. Air Force?
• CSU Scoring Offense (68.8; #3 in MW) vs. USAFA Scoring Defense (59.5; #4 in MW)
• CSU 3FG% (35%; #4 in MW) vs. USAFA 3FG% defense (26.7%; #1 in MW)
• CSU Turnovers Per Game (10.2; #1 in NCAA) vs. USAFA Steals/G (12.8, #1 in MW)
• CSU's Karly Murphy (#2 in MW in rebs & D-rebs) vs. USAFA's Haley Jones (#3 in MW in rebs & #1 in O-rebs)

Scouting Report on Air Force
• The 2020-21 Falcons finished in ninth place in the Mountain West standings with an 8-18 overall record and a 4-14 conference mark. USAFA returns three starters and 10 letterwinners, while welcoming four freshmen. The Falcons lost eight letterwinners and three starters.
• Last time out, Dasha Macmillan led all players with 20 points, a new career-high for the sophomore.
• Cierra Winters has now scored at least 10 points in 11 of 14 games this season, tied for most such games with Riley Snyder.
• Barring the unforeseen, Thursday will mark Riley Snyder's 100th game as a Falcon, as well as her 93rd career start.

COVID Back Affecting Schedules
• An eight-day break in between games turned into 15 days for CSU after the Dec. 21st game at Northern Illinois was canceled due to COVID complications.
• After the Fresno State game postponement, the Rams had five full days before San Jose State instead of three days.
• Eight out of 25 MW games thus far have been postponed through the Jan. 9th games. However, already one game has been postponed for Jan. 13th, bringing that total to nine out of 30 if the other four get played.
• Last season, CSU had a 19-day holiday break and then two unplanned breaks of 10 days and 20 days due to COVID complications in other programs. CSU went the whole season without a COVID breakout.
• As of Jan. 12th, it is has been 70 days since the season opener on Nov. 9th. The midpoint of that is Dec. 8th and at that time, CSU had played nine games. In the following 35 days, CSU has played just four games.

MW Season-Opening Thriller vs. Boise State
• The Rams returned from a 15-day break and beat Boise State in the Mountain West season opener, 81-77. With 25 seconds left in regulation, the Broncos trailed by two, but the Rams went 4-of-6 from the free-throw line to secure the win. The final quarter featured 33 free throws between the two teams. CSU finished 26 for 37 from the line in all. McKenna Hofschild scored a career-high 32 points with 13 coming from the line, 11 coming in the fourth quarter and 18 in the second half - all team-highs for the season. Petra Farkas notched 16 points and Kendyll Kinzer grabbed 11 rebounds - both career-best marks.

Defense Wins Games
• Outside of four games (UoL, BS, SDSU, SJSU), CSU has held all their opponents to 60 points or less. Additionally, eight opponents have been under 35% shooting. CSU boasts the conference's No. 1 scoring defense (56.6 ppg) that checks in at No. 49 nationally. The Rams are No. 1 in field goal defense (35.5%) for the Mountain West that is No. 39 in NCAA.

Fourth Quarter Clamps
• The Ram defense is pinching their opponents in the final quarter. Opponents are 67-of-208 shooting in the final 10 minutes for a 32.2% clip. Harvard was just 1 for 21 and CSU-Pueblo 2 for 14. Only four schools have shot over 40% in the quarter: LU (9-17;.529), WSU (8-18, 44.4%), BS (9-15, 60%), and SDSU (6-15, 40%). CSU has outscored its opponents by 62 points for an average of 4.7 points in the final frame.

Protecting the Rock Better than ALL
• CSU continues to lead the NCAA in turnovers per game (10.2) and is third in assist to turnover ratio (1.47). Last season, CSU finished second and fifth, respectively, in those two categories. This season the Rams have had the same or less turnovers than their opponent in eight of 13 games. Also, CSU has only six games with double-digit turnovers (16 vs ORU; 10 vs. HU; 13 vs. WSU; 11 vs. CSU-P; 11 vs. SDSU; 12 vs. SJSU).

Murphy on the Glass
• Karly Murphy is second in the MW in boards per game (8.9) and fifth in total rebounds (107) but has played in less games than the four players ahead of her. She is on pace (assuming there is 15 more games) to have 240.5 rebounds, which would shatter her career best for a season. If she got close to that number, she would be flirting with CSU's top 10 list that starts at 248.

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 142 for 184 (77.2%) from the charity strike thus far, ranking 24th in NCAA. The trio of Karly Murphy, McKenna Hofschild and Upe Atosu are 110-of-137 for 80.3%. That means the rest are 32-of-47 for 68.0%.
• However, the Rams did hit a colder streak from the line vs. Boise State and San Diego State, going 34-of-51 shooting for a 66.6% clip, which dropped them from 81% to 76.6% on the season. Against San Jose State though, the Rams went 14-of-17.

Going to be a Quick Turnaround
• Going to be a quick turnaround for the Rams as they will play less than 48 hours later against the MW-leading and reigning regular-season champions New Mexico Lobos (13-4, 4-0) on Saturday with a 1 p.m. tip. The game is CSU's annual UCHealth game in which the student-athletes will be donning the last name's of UCHealth Cancer Warriors instead of their own.

CSU Home Promotional Schedule
• UCHealth Game - Jan. 15th vs. New Mexico
• Aggie Game - Feb. 9th vs. Utah State
• Pink Out Game - Feb. 16th vs. Wyoming
• State Pride Game & Empower Women Day - Feb. 24th vs. San Diego State
• Senior Day/Green Out - Feb. 26th vs. UNLV

At the Helm
• A two-time Mountain West Coach of the Year and the winningest coach in program history, Ryun Williams enters his 10th season at the helm of the Colorado State women's basketball program in 2021-22. CSU's 5-0 start marked the first since the 2000-01 campaign. The win over Boise State made it the sixth time the program has started 10-1. For Williams it is his second such start, joining the 2015-16 team that finished 31-2 overall, winning the MW outright and advancing to the NCAA Tournament. Williams and Tom Collen ('97-98, '98-99, '00-01 and '01-02) are the only CSU coaches to have 10-1 starts.

Series History: Colorado State – Air Force
Overall: CSU leads, 51-15
In Fort Collins: CSU, 26-3
In USAFA: CSU, 24-9
Neutral: CSU trails 1-3
Current Streak: USAFA, 1
Largest CSU Victory: 65
Largest CSU Defeat: 16
Last: USAFA 75, CSU 68 (3/1/21) at USAFA
on the matchup on pg. 8 of the Game Notes

A Colorado State Thursday Win Would Mean…
• The Rams continue their home win streak vs. the Falcons to 12 games. (Last USAFA win in FoCo was 1/23/2008)

How to Follow Along
Attached: Game Notes.
Live Stats: http://csura.ms/WBBStats
Live Stream: http://csura.ms/Live
Television: Evoca
Radio: KARS 102.9 FM | https://csura.ms/Listen
Audio Stream: Varsity Network | https://csura.ms/VarsityNetwork
Gameday Headquarters: https://csura.ms/WBBGameDay

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

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