Rams Back at Home and in Becky Hammon Jerseys Thursday

FORT COLLINS, Colo. – Returning in style, the Colorado State women's basketball program will don the gold Becky Hammon era jerseys Thursday when the Rams host Nevada at 6 p.m. MT inside Moby Arena.

After a 2-1 road trip that spanned six days, the Rams will welcome a home contest and the five days that follow without a game. However, the upcoming stretch poses its challenges for Colorado State (13-5, 4-4 Mountain West), starting with the Wolf Pack, which are 5-1 in conference play and third in the standings. The Rams will then go on the road to New Mexico and Air Force, aiming for a split in the regular season series.

"Being back for a game in Moby and the subsequent days off is crucial for our team," head coach Ryun Williams said. "Those six days on the road were a grind, but I'm proud of how our team performed. Now, we must continue to build on that concentration and execution and not let it be a blimp. Nevada is a talented team with a stingy defense that will test the offensive and mental toughness that we just displayed in the last few games."

Nevada (13-5, 5-1 MW) was picked to finish eighth the Mountain West. On Monday, the Wolf Pack edged out a 40-39 win at Air Force for the Falcons' lowest scoring output of the season. Nevada's scoring defense ranks second in the conference and 76^th nationally. Four of UNR's five losses were by five points or less including its lone loss in conference against UNLV. CSU and UNR haven't played since the 2019-20 season since last year's series was postponed due to COVID and never rescheduled.

RAMS NOTEBOOK

Last Time Out
• Last time out, the Rams used a dominant third quarter to beat Fresno State, 78-67, at the Save Mart Center. Twenty of Upe Atosu's 22 occurred in the second half, including 17 in the third frame. McKenna Hofschild had a team-high 24 points with 14 coming in the second half and eight in the final quarter. The duo finishing with 20+ points marked the first CSU twosome to do so since Elin Gustavsson and Ellen Nystrom in 2017. Karly Murphy added her sixth double-double of the season with 15 points and 12 rebounds. The Rams shot over 50% from the floor for the third time this season - all MW games too.

What to Watch for vs. Nevada?
• CSU Scoring Offense (69.5; #4 in MW) vs. UNR Scoring defense (58.6; #2 in MW)
• CSU Turnover margin (+1.17; #3 in MW) vs. UNR Turnover margin (+5.78, #2 in MW)
• CSU's Least Fouls (203,#2 in MW) vs. UNR FT% (.784, #1 in MW)
• CSU's Defensive Reb/G (30.8%, #1 in MW) vs. UNR Offensive Reb/G (12.4%, #4 in MW)

Scouting Report on Nevada
• The 2020-21 Wolf Pack finished 13-9 overall record with a 9-7 conference mark for fifth place. Nevada lost to Fresno State in the quarterfinals.
• The Wolf Pack rank in the top-three in several statistical categories in the Mountain West this season, including free-throw percentage, scoring defense, steals, steals per game, turnover margin, turnovers forced, and turnovers per game.

Assists Galore at Utah State
• CSU had 26 assists on 34 field goals made - both season bests. Leading that trend was Hofschild who dished out a CSU record 17 assists. The mark passed Ellen Nystrom's previous best mark of 16. The 17 assists also is second all-time in MW history and second in all of NCAA this season. Also of note was Kendyll Kinzer's first-ever double-double, Petra Farkas' career-high 17 points and the return of Sydney Mech and her 11 points after missing eight games.

Assist Legend in the Making
• McKenna Hofschild is on pace (assuming there is 11 more games) for 190 assists this season, which would be CSU's single-season record. The top 10 list starts at 132. Last season, the MW Newcomer of the Year had 114 in 21 games played. Her 17 dimes at Utah State marked a CSU single game record.
• Career-wise at CSU, that same projection would put her assist total at 304. CSU's career assist top 10 starts at 301. The junior has another season of eligibility. She had 31 assists at Seton Hall as a freshmen.

Protecting the Rock Better than ALL
• CSU continues to lead the NCAA in turnovers per game (9.9) and is third in assist to turnover ratio (1.52). 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 11 of 18 games. Also, CSU has nine games with single-digit turnovers with three coming in conference play.

Murphy on the Glass
• Karly Murphy is third in the MW in boards per game (8.6) and third in total rebounds (146) but has played in less games than two players ahead of her. She is on pace (assuming there is 11 more games) to have 241 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 for a season 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. Trying to replicate that success, CSU is 186 for 252 (73.8%) from the charity strike thus far, ranking 81st in NCAA. The trio of Karly Murphy, McKenna Hofschild and Upe Atosu are 151-of-201 for 75.1%. That means the rest are 35-of-51 for 68.6%.
• The Rams have five games under .700 from the line and four above .900.

CSU Home Promotional Schedule
• 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 – Nevada
Overall: CSU leads 14-4
In Fort Collins: CSU, 8-1
In Reno: CSU, 6-3
Neutral: UNR, 0-1
Current Streak: UNR, 1
Last: UNR 74, CSU 63 (1/29/20) at UNR
Largest CSU Victory: 27
Largest CSU Defeat: 28
More on the matchup on pg. 8 of the Game Notes

A Colorado State Thursday Win Would Mean…
• First win of the season against a team in the top four of the Mountain West Standings.

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

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

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