Colorado State University Athletics
The Dish: Rams Not Brushing Aside an Off Night
1/28/2022 10:41:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Players talk reflection after tough home loss
FORT COLLINS, Colo. – The night was pretty much everything Colorado State didn't want to see on the court.
When you play UNLV, you hope Bryce Hamilton doesn't have one of those nights. He did.
Making it a perfectly bad storm, it happened on a Friday when the Rams could get nothing going themselves – the second time this season, both in Mountain West play. Not offensively, save for Isaiah Stevens. Not defensively, either, because it wasn't just Hamilton who made the Rams pay as the guests shot 50.9 percent in an 88-74 victory in front of a sold out crowd – the one thing the team did want to see.
It wasn't just that Hamilton had a career night with 45 points, but that was a big component. The Rams were also slow out of the gate, which they have been since Mountain West play began, and now they sit at 16-2 overall, 6-2 in conference. The Rams were outrebounded, so they never were able to get out and run. The points in the paint looked even at the end, but most of it came late for CSU, which had only six in an area of strength in the first 20 minutes. They missed some free throws, even the front end of a couple of one-and-ones, in the second half.
There was plenty of poison on the table, Hamilton was just the most potent.
"I don't know why again at the start of the game we just looked a little cool I thought, didn't quite have the edge that we needed," CSU coach Niko Medved said. "I think we were down 11 on the glass, they were 9-of-14 from two. Clearly they were making everything they shot, and we really weren't taking them out of anything. I didn't think we were cutting very hard, but we couldn't get it off the board to get out in transition at all.
"Really, it was not the edge we needed. We came out in the second half and fought, but we can't ourselves on the back for that. These guys always fought, but it was just too little, too late. We just could not overcome all of those things today."
The Rams missed their first six shots of the contest. For a team averaging close to 80 points a night, their conference starts have not been reflective. They average just 13.3 points in the first 10 minutes of games and had just 11 halfway through the first Friday.
That gave UNLV every opportunity to jump out to a lead, which the Rebels did.
Hamilton had 21 at the break, or a bucket better than his season average. The Rams could have survived that, but Hamilton finished even better, adding 24 more after the break. His output was the third most by an opposing player in program history.
He hit 13-of-22 from the field, highlighted by 8-of-14 from deep, going 11-of-14 from the line. Every Ram had a turn guarding him at some point, and it just didn't matter.
"He made some tough shots. Tip your hat to him," Isaiah Stevens said. "He had a great game – a career game, I want to say – and there's nothing we can do about it now. I just wish we would have made it just a little bit tougher in certain situations, but that comes down to us and just the will.
"We'll learn from it, for sure, because it won't be the last time we'll see him or a player like him."
Which was the theme from the players. Learn or lag behind.
The season opened with such promise, and the Rams have cracked the national rankings. But as Stevens noted, teams will watch this film and they'll try to use it as a blueprint. The Rams know they have been starting slow, and only they can make the change.
"That's on us as leaders, myself and Zay," David Roddy said. "We have to play with desperation right away, not just when you get punched in the mouth. We kind of had a hint of it at the start of the second half, but it's got to start from the tip. We're definitely going to work on that. That's not happening again."
Roddy, who finished with 13 points, took just three shots in the first half and didn't hit his first field goal until the 11:12 mark of the second half, a 3-pointer. Medved said they weren't aggressive enough on offense, and Roddy said they were jogging through cuts and allowed Rebel defenders to push them off their spots.
The only real semblance of consistent offense came from point guard Stevens, who finished with a career-best 35 points. He was stellar, hitting 12-of-21 overall and 5-of-8 3s. It just wasn't enough, as the Rams dug a hole they couldn't climb out of, trailing by as many as 22 points.
As with the San Diego State loss, Medved said hyperbole either way by the team would do them no good. The key is responding, not letting one loss turn into two, especially with the Border War on the road awaiting them Monday.
As he entered the press room, he was calm, but not happy. But he always finds focus, and opened with a bigger-picture view of the evening, as the team wore the names of local cancer warriors on their jerseys for the Bigger Than Basketball collaboration with UCHealth for the third consecutive year.
"It's bigger than basketball, regardless of the score," he said. "It meant a lot to our guys to get a chance to connect with the cancer warriors. Regardless of the score, it meant a lot to our guys, and it felt good to have them clapping for us and be encouraging. I'm glad we could be a part of that. It's just a special night."
When you play UNLV, you hope Bryce Hamilton doesn't have one of those nights. He did.
Making it a perfectly bad storm, it happened on a Friday when the Rams could get nothing going themselves – the second time this season, both in Mountain West play. Not offensively, save for Isaiah Stevens. Not defensively, either, because it wasn't just Hamilton who made the Rams pay as the guests shot 50.9 percent in an 88-74 victory in front of a sold out crowd – the one thing the team did want to see.
It wasn't just that Hamilton had a career night with 45 points, but that was a big component. The Rams were also slow out of the gate, which they have been since Mountain West play began, and now they sit at 16-2 overall, 6-2 in conference. The Rams were outrebounded, so they never were able to get out and run. The points in the paint looked even at the end, but most of it came late for CSU, which had only six in an area of strength in the first 20 minutes. They missed some free throws, even the front end of a couple of one-and-ones, in the second half.
There was plenty of poison on the table, Hamilton was just the most potent.
"I don't know why again at the start of the game we just looked a little cool I thought, didn't quite have the edge that we needed," CSU coach Niko Medved said. "I think we were down 11 on the glass, they were 9-of-14 from two. Clearly they were making everything they shot, and we really weren't taking them out of anything. I didn't think we were cutting very hard, but we couldn't get it off the board to get out in transition at all.
"Really, it was not the edge we needed. We came out in the second half and fought, but we can't ourselves on the back for that. These guys always fought, but it was just too little, too late. We just could not overcome all of those things today."
The Rams missed their first six shots of the contest. For a team averaging close to 80 points a night, their conference starts have not been reflective. They average just 13.3 points in the first 10 minutes of games and had just 11 halfway through the first Friday.
That gave UNLV every opportunity to jump out to a lead, which the Rebels did.
Hamilton had 21 at the break, or a bucket better than his season average. The Rams could have survived that, but Hamilton finished even better, adding 24 more after the break. His output was the third most by an opposing player in program history.
He hit 13-of-22 from the field, highlighted by 8-of-14 from deep, going 11-of-14 from the line. Every Ram had a turn guarding him at some point, and it just didn't matter.
"He made some tough shots. Tip your hat to him," Isaiah Stevens said. "He had a great game – a career game, I want to say – and there's nothing we can do about it now. I just wish we would have made it just a little bit tougher in certain situations, but that comes down to us and just the will.
"We'll learn from it, for sure, because it won't be the last time we'll see him or a player like him."
Which was the theme from the players. Learn or lag behind.
The season opened with such promise, and the Rams have cracked the national rankings. But as Stevens noted, teams will watch this film and they'll try to use it as a blueprint. The Rams know they have been starting slow, and only they can make the change.
"That's on us as leaders, myself and Zay," David Roddy said. "We have to play with desperation right away, not just when you get punched in the mouth. We kind of had a hint of it at the start of the second half, but it's got to start from the tip. We're definitely going to work on that. That's not happening again."
Roddy, who finished with 13 points, took just three shots in the first half and didn't hit his first field goal until the 11:12 mark of the second half, a 3-pointer. Medved said they weren't aggressive enough on offense, and Roddy said they were jogging through cuts and allowed Rebel defenders to push them off their spots.
The only real semblance of consistent offense came from point guard Stevens, who finished with a career-best 35 points. He was stellar, hitting 12-of-21 overall and 5-of-8 3s. It just wasn't enough, as the Rams dug a hole they couldn't climb out of, trailing by as many as 22 points.
As with the San Diego State loss, Medved said hyperbole either way by the team would do them no good. The key is responding, not letting one loss turn into two, especially with the Border War on the road awaiting them Monday.
As he entered the press room, he was calm, but not happy. But he always finds focus, and opened with a bigger-picture view of the evening, as the team wore the names of local cancer warriors on their jerseys for the Bigger Than Basketball collaboration with UCHealth for the third consecutive year.
"It's bigger than basketball, regardless of the score," he said. "It meant a lot to our guys to get a chance to connect with the cancer warriors. Regardless of the score, it meant a lot to our guys, and it felt good to have them clapping for us and be encouraging. I'm glad we could be a part of that. It's just a special night."
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