Colorado State University Athletics
The Jim Williams Files: Rams beat Nebraska for First Time in Program History
12/29/2022 2:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball
By: John Hirn
It was 50 years ago, December 16, 1972, when Jim Williams brought the Rams to Lexington, Kentucky for the Kentucky Invitational to face Oregon and Nebraska in the small tournament. The Rams lost to Oregon the previous night but faced the Cornhuskers in the second night of the tournament. In two previous tries, 1947 and 1970, CSU had not been able to beat Nebraska in basketball.
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The Rams, led by senior Gary Rhoades, started off the game slow but so did the Cornhuskers. Both teams played a tightly matched game in early stages of the first half with a lead by either team no more than four points in the first 12 minutes. The worst of the Rams problems came early in the first half when senior guard, Paul Ball fell with an ankle sprain. Then at the eight-minute mark, the Rams started to catch fire and Rhoades started to hit his shots.
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Rhodes scored nine points to put the Rams ahead 26-21, but the Cornhuskers came back with a basket to cut the lead to 26-23. Brent Baum, a senior guard for the Rams then had a three-point play, pushing the momentum for the Rams as the clock ticked to halftime. Mark Williams, a Junior transfer from Kansas then hit a shot that put CSU up 33-24 at halftime. To put the first half into perspective, the Rams had only shot 33% and were still up by nine points. Their 73-68 loss to Oregon the night before, seemingly had them worn down against the Cornhuskers
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The Rams came out strong in the second half with Rhoades, Mark Williams, Bob Riddle, Danny Phillips and Como Pontliana all scoring in the first 10 minutes to take a 48-34 lead. Nebraska was not going down easily and fought back to within five points with 2:30 left to play. Jim Williams kept his team composed and they held on for a 57 to 51 win to improve to 4-3 on the 1972-73 season.
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The star of the tournament for the Rams, and a star of the team was Gary Rhoades, who scored 18 points against Oregon and 16 points against Nebraska. Rhoades went on to All-WAC honors for the second season in a row to cap off his career with the Rams. He was drafted by both the Denver Rockets of the ABA and Houston Rockets of the NBA, eventually playing in international tours in Asia. He was inducted into the CSU Sports Hall of Fame in 2000 after spending a long career with Denver Parks and Recreation.
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Despite beating Stanford in Fort Collins on December 19th and #15 BYU in Provo in overtime, the Rams struggled throughout the 1972-73 season only capturing a 13-15 overall record and finishing sixth in the WAC. Coach Jim Williams' 18th season at CSU was his first losing season since 1958-59, a record of consecutive winning seasons no CSU basketball coach has been able to match to this day.
It was 50 years ago, December 16, 1972, when Jim Williams brought the Rams to Lexington, Kentucky for the Kentucky Invitational to face Oregon and Nebraska in the small tournament. The Rams lost to Oregon the previous night but faced the Cornhuskers in the second night of the tournament. In two previous tries, 1947 and 1970, CSU had not been able to beat Nebraska in basketball.
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The Rams, led by senior Gary Rhoades, started off the game slow but so did the Cornhuskers. Both teams played a tightly matched game in early stages of the first half with a lead by either team no more than four points in the first 12 minutes. The worst of the Rams problems came early in the first half when senior guard, Paul Ball fell with an ankle sprain. Then at the eight-minute mark, the Rams started to catch fire and Rhoades started to hit his shots.
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Rhodes scored nine points to put the Rams ahead 26-21, but the Cornhuskers came back with a basket to cut the lead to 26-23. Brent Baum, a senior guard for the Rams then had a three-point play, pushing the momentum for the Rams as the clock ticked to halftime. Mark Williams, a Junior transfer from Kansas then hit a shot that put CSU up 33-24 at halftime. To put the first half into perspective, the Rams had only shot 33% and were still up by nine points. Their 73-68 loss to Oregon the night before, seemingly had them worn down against the Cornhuskers
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The Rams came out strong in the second half with Rhoades, Mark Williams, Bob Riddle, Danny Phillips and Como Pontliana all scoring in the first 10 minutes to take a 48-34 lead. Nebraska was not going down easily and fought back to within five points with 2:30 left to play. Jim Williams kept his team composed and they held on for a 57 to 51 win to improve to 4-3 on the 1972-73 season.
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The star of the tournament for the Rams, and a star of the team was Gary Rhoades, who scored 18 points against Oregon and 16 points against Nebraska. Rhoades went on to All-WAC honors for the second season in a row to cap off his career with the Rams. He was drafted by both the Denver Rockets of the ABA and Houston Rockets of the NBA, eventually playing in international tours in Asia. He was inducted into the CSU Sports Hall of Fame in 2000 after spending a long career with Denver Parks and Recreation.
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Despite beating Stanford in Fort Collins on December 19th and #15 BYU in Provo in overtime, the Rams struggled throughout the 1972-73 season only capturing a 13-15 overall record and finishing sixth in the WAC. Coach Jim Williams' 18th season at CSU was his first losing season since 1958-59, a record of consecutive winning seasons no CSU basketball coach has been able to match to this day.
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