Rams Close Home Schedule with State Pride and Senior Day

FORT COLLINS, Colo. – Two action-packed games conclude Colorado State's home schedule this week as the Rams host San Diego State Thursday in the annual State Pride game and then celebrate Senior Day on Saturday prior to the UNLV contest.

The first 1,000 fans to Thursday's 6 p.m. game between the Rams and Aztecs will receive a foam finger, sponsored by Bank of Colorado. Saturday's Senior Day ceremony will start at 12:45 p.m., recognizing Upe Atosu and Karly Murphy prior to the 1 p.m. tip off. Both matchups will be broadcasted on Mountain West Network.

All three remaining games are against teams sitting at seventh place or above in the Mountain West standings. San Diego State is seventh, representing the first record below .500 at 7-8, but the Aztecs could secure head-to-head against the Rams with a Thursday win. Saturday will be a matchup against UNLV, which has a firm grasp on its second-ever regular-season MW title with a 1.5-game lead over New Mexico. Next week's opponent, Wyoming, enters this week just one spot behind CSU in sixth and half a game back in the standings. The Rams own a 11-3 mark inside Moby Arena and are on a four-game winning streak.

"We are going to need our Moby fans this week for these two important games," head coach Ryun Williams said. "We have to thwart off a streaking Aztec team and then we have Senior Day against the top team in the conference on Saturday. We've only had Karly in our program for two seasons and Upe for one, but their impact has been crucial to our program, and we want to have a proper send off Saturday, so come out and show your support Ram fans! Both games will be hard fought with a lot at stake in terms of the conference standings and seedings."

San Diego State was picked to finish seventh in the Mountain West. The Aztecs have won three of the last four, including a win against third-place Nevada. Way back on Jan. 3rd, SDSU defeated CSU 73-63 in San Diego. Poor shooting from the Rams in the second and third quarters (25%) gave the Aztecs enough cushion to thwart off CSU's hot-shooting fourth quarter (71.4%). The Aztecs beat Fresno State 77-69 last Saturday, shooting a season-high 50.8 percent from the field.

UNLV (22-4, 14-1 MW) was picked to finish third in the Mountain West. The Lady Rebels are on a 12-game win streak, losing last at New Mexico on Jan 3rd in a three-point margin. This is the only meeting scheduled between CSU and UNLV, joining Fresno State as the only one-game series for the Rams. Last Saturday, the Lady Rebels thumped San Jose State, 104-63.

RAMS NOTEBOOK

Last Time Out
• The Rams completed their third sweep of a MW opponent, but it didn't come easy. Nevada trailed the whole game but took the lead with 6:30 left in regulation and still had it with 3:41 left. Nine unanswered Ram points followed, and CSU staved off the Wolf Pack down the stretch. Upe Atosu had a steal and breakaway layup that spurred it. She finished with a team-high 18 points, while Karly Murphy grabbed 11 rebounds.

What to Watch for vs. San Diego State?
• CSU Field Goal % (.419; #3 in MW) vs. SDSU FG% Defense (.391; #2 in MW)
• CSU Rebounding Margin (-1.2; #6 in MW) vs. SDSU Reb. Margin (+1.54; #4 in MW)
• CSU 3FG% (.346; #4 in MW) vs. SDSU 3FG% Defense (.306; #4 in MW)
• CSU McKenna Hofschild Asst/TO Ratio (3.04, #2 in MW) vs. SDSU Sophia Ramos Steals (2.1 spg, #2 in MW)

What to Watch for vs. UNLV?
• CSU Scoring Defense (62.5; #4 in MW) vs. UNLV Scoring Offense (76.3; #2 in MW)
• CSU Scoring Margin (+7.16.; #3 in MW) vs. UNLV Scoring Margin (+12.4; #1 in MW)
• CSU Turnovers/G (9.7; #1 in NCAA) vs. NEV Steals/G (9.32; #2 in MW
• CSU McKenna Hofschild scoring (16.4 ppg, #2 in MW) vs. UNLV's Essence Booker (15.6 ppg, #3 in NCAA)

Mech's Blocks are Back
• Sydney Mech, a six-foot-2 forward, has missed 11 games this season due to injury. In her 14 games played, she has tallied 26 blocks for an average of 1.85 a game and has at least one block in 11 games. Against Oral Roberts (11/15), she swatted eight for the second-most in CSU history as a part of the team's total of 11, which tied for the fourth-best mark in school history. Last season, she had a seven-block game that is tied for third on that same individual game list.

Upe There It Is
• Upe Atosu has led the team in scoring six times. She has 11 straight games of double-digit scoring outputs, including three 20+ games in a row currently. Six of her eight career 20+ scoring games are from this season.
• In her third year at the NCAA level, she has eclipsed her season-best totals in several categories including points, field goals, 3s, games started, game played, minutes, steals and free throws. To tie in the other categories: rebounds (13), blocks (1), and assists (8).

COVID Back Affecting Schedules
• On Jan. 31, the MW announced some slight schedule adjustments. CSU's home game against Wyoming (2/16-2/17) slid back a game and so did its contest at Nevada (2/19-2/20). The Rams now have four days of prep before the Cowgirls instead of three but lost a day on the backend before playing San Diego State on now three-days' rest.

Assist Legend in the Making
• McKenna Hofschild is on pace (assuming there is 4 more games) for 190 assists this season, which would set the CSU single-season assist record. Against Utah State, she tallied 13 assists to jump from outside of the top 10 to eighth and dropped one of Dee Dee Dominguez's marks (1995-96, 132) off the top 10 list.
• She already obtained the CSU single-game assist record at Utah State with 17. In the MW record book, it is second.
• Career-wise at CSU, that same projection would put her assist total at 304. Last season, the MW Newcomer of the Year had 114 in 21 games played. 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.

SINGLE SEASON ASSIST LIST
Rank      Player (Season)                                Assists
1.            Ellen Nystrom (2015-16)               186
2.            Becky Hammon (1998-99)            174
3.            Ellen Nystrom (2016-17)               173
4.            McKenna Hofschild (2021-22)      164
5.            Becky Hammon (1997-98)            161
6.            Jasai Ferrucho (2003-04)               158
7.            Deb Spickler (1981-82)                  151
8.            Gritt Ryder (2013-14)                     148
9.            Dee Dee Dominguez (1994-95)    143
10.         Dee Dee Dominguez (1992-93)    136

Protecting the Rock Better than ALL
• CSU continues to lead the NCAA in turnovers per game (9.9) and is fifth 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 15 of 25 games. Also, CSU has 12 games with single-digit turnovers with seven coming in conference play.

Murphy Approaching Milestones
• Karly Murphy needs 29 points to reach the 1,000-point career mark. Prior to her time at CSU, she tallied 267 points twice at Wisconsin Green Bay to total 534 points. In her other two seasons, she was redshirted (2016-17) and was hurt in the first game of the season (2018-19). She has set a new season-high for points (269).
• Karly Murphy is third in the MW in boards per game (8.9) and fourth in total rebounds (215). She is on pace (assuming there is 4 more games) to have 251 rebounds, which would be flirting with CSU's top 10 list for a season that starts at 248. She has already passed her previous single-season high of 146. At Air Force, she grabbed a career-high 15 rebounds.

Hitting the Free Shots
• 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 277 for 355 (78.0%) from the charity strike thus far, ranking 13th in NCAA. The trio of Karly Murphy, McKenna Hofschild and Upe Atosu are 233-of-291 for 80.0%. That means the rest are 44-of-64 for 68.8%.
• The Rams have six games under .700 from the line and six above .900.
• At San Jose State, the Rams went 30-for-31 for a 96.8% clip - good for second all-time in CSU history. Upe Atosu (12-12) and McKenna Hofschild (11-11) tied the single game FT% record as well.

CSU Home Promotional Schedule
• State Pride Game - 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 – San Diego State & UNLV
Overall vs SDSU: SDSU, 31-30
In Fort Collins: CSU, 17-11

Overall vs UNLV: CSU, 32-20
In Fort Collins: CSU, 18-5
More on the matchup on pg. 5 & 8-9 of the Game Notes

How to Follow Along
Attached: Game Notes.
Live Stats: http://csura.ms/WBBStats
Live Stream: http://csura.ms/Live
Television: Mountain West Network
Radio: Power 102.9 | 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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