Colorado State University Athletics
The Dish: All the Rams Could Do the Final 15 Seconds Was Play
2/4/2022 10:48:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Roddy hits game-winner as CSU holds off SDSU
FORT COLLINS, Colo. – Don't think. Just play.
That's the freedom Colorado State men's basketball coach Niko Medved gives his players. He trusts them to be calm in the midst of chaos. He could have called a timeout to set up a play when San Diego State took its first and only lead of the game with 13.9 seconds remaining.
It's a shell game of sorts. Call a timeout to set something up, you might give San Diego State to set a defense. So Medved lets his guys go.
"I don't like to because I trust our guys and I think the ball is going to be in the right player's hands and we're going to make a good decision," Medved said. "Had I called one, I don't know that I would have gotten a better look."
San Diego State, which had trailed all night and by as much as 20 in the second half, grabbed it's 18th offensive rebound of the game and turned it into a 3-pointer by Lamont Butler for a 57-56 advantage.
Don't think. Don't consider the ramifications of a loss like that. That it would have been the third in a row in Mountain West play, the second straight in heartbreaking fashion. Forget the shot-clock violation near the end of Monday's game, when the Rams needed a play and didn't make it.
As a player, you can't. Don't recall the moments which went unfinished Monday in Wyoming, the shots missed in the clutch.
"There's not time to think about that," John Tonje said, inserted back in the starting lineup for the second time this year. "You have to go out there and make the next play, regardless of what happens."
Just play.
The Rams quickly inbounded the ball and Isaiah Stevens rushed it up court. There was a bit of a fumble, but it went directly to David Roddy, who deftly hit a short jumper with 9.4 on the clock, the shot which stood as the game-winner in a 58-57 decision.
Nobody remembers Roddy missing a free throw at the end of regulation Monday night, one that would have won the game, better than Roddy. That can't cross his mind when the ball comes to him with the game on the line the next night out.
All he can do is eye the basket and let it fly.
"Again, it's kind of the man in the arena. Whether you win or lose, the credit goes to the man in the arena doing it," said Roddy, who led the Rams with 22 points and pulled down nine rebounds. "It's my job to put my team in the best position to win, and I'm just glad I made the shot now."
Again, Medved bypassed the chance at a timeout. He thought about it, but the Aztecs were on the go in a flash. And as Matt Bradley – who spearheaded the Aztecs' comeback run in the second half by scoring 18 of his 27 points in the final 20 minutes – drove the lane, the Rams reacted.
Roddy couldn't see everything around him, but he knew he needed help with Bradley driving and Trey Pulliam in the area. He's a big man, but just one.
"It feels like chaos a little bit; it moves in slow motion a little bit," Roddy said. "Initially, I couldn't see James (Moors) in my periphery, so I was just (Pulliam) and Bradley together, I need somebody to come help, so James stepped up and it was a huge wall up, we got the rebound and won the game. It was a great execution on defense."
Which Moors gives the team, especially of late. He brings a physical presence defensively, and in the first half, Medved thought he played Nathan Mensah perfectly down low, only to get called for a foul. The Rams needed him to play the role against an Aztecs' squad which has made it their brand.
Not late, not when the clock was winding down to 0:00. He stood his ground and deflected the shot.
"He's been amazing," Tonje said of Moors. "He sacrifices more than anyone on this team. Every physical play, you know he's going to make that down the stretch, and he did that today."
Then Roddy collected the rebound and the Rams a much-needed victory.
It was the junior power forward who felt a bit of redemption, not a San Diego State squad which squandered a 26-point lead last year at home and lost to the Rams when Tonje drilled a shot from the corner.
It was the Rams who could breathe a huge sigh of relief. A third loss in a row would hit deep, especially in the manner as it was unfolding.
But the Rams don't have to think about that, either. Medved doesn't have to worry about his heart rate, nor the gray hair he believes he's accumulating. Because he trusted his team not to contemplate the what-ifs of the moment, or the bad stretch which preceded it all. Not in the final few minutes, not from the game before.
Just play.
"You know what, like we said the other night, we didn't make that extra play," Medved said. "Tonight we made another play, that one more play we had to have to win the game."
Elation rushed over all of them at that point, as did the student section. It was an avalanche of orange on the court, which Tonje said was pretty cool. Those are the moments, he said, you dream about as a kid.
Medved loved it, too. He figured he'd love it even more, sitting at home with a beverage at home. His team is 17-3 on the year, 7-3 in the conference play. The alternative no longer mattered.
He put his trust in his team. And he let them play through it all, from chaos to the jubilation. That's all any of them will think about.
That's the freedom Colorado State men's basketball coach Niko Medved gives his players. He trusts them to be calm in the midst of chaos. He could have called a timeout to set up a play when San Diego State took its first and only lead of the game with 13.9 seconds remaining.
It's a shell game of sorts. Call a timeout to set something up, you might give San Diego State to set a defense. So Medved lets his guys go.
"I don't like to because I trust our guys and I think the ball is going to be in the right player's hands and we're going to make a good decision," Medved said. "Had I called one, I don't know that I would have gotten a better look."
San Diego State, which had trailed all night and by as much as 20 in the second half, grabbed it's 18th offensive rebound of the game and turned it into a 3-pointer by Lamont Butler for a 57-56 advantage.
Don't think. Don't consider the ramifications of a loss like that. That it would have been the third in a row in Mountain West play, the second straight in heartbreaking fashion. Forget the shot-clock violation near the end of Monday's game, when the Rams needed a play and didn't make it.
As a player, you can't. Don't recall the moments which went unfinished Monday in Wyoming, the shots missed in the clutch.
"There's not time to think about that," John Tonje said, inserted back in the starting lineup for the second time this year. "You have to go out there and make the next play, regardless of what happens."
Just play.
The Rams quickly inbounded the ball and Isaiah Stevens rushed it up court. There was a bit of a fumble, but it went directly to David Roddy, who deftly hit a short jumper with 9.4 on the clock, the shot which stood as the game-winner in a 58-57 decision.
Nobody remembers Roddy missing a free throw at the end of regulation Monday night, one that would have won the game, better than Roddy. That can't cross his mind when the ball comes to him with the game on the line the next night out.
All he can do is eye the basket and let it fly.
"Again, it's kind of the man in the arena. Whether you win or lose, the credit goes to the man in the arena doing it," said Roddy, who led the Rams with 22 points and pulled down nine rebounds. "It's my job to put my team in the best position to win, and I'm just glad I made the shot now."
Again, Medved bypassed the chance at a timeout. He thought about it, but the Aztecs were on the go in a flash. And as Matt Bradley – who spearheaded the Aztecs' comeback run in the second half by scoring 18 of his 27 points in the final 20 minutes – drove the lane, the Rams reacted.
Roddy couldn't see everything around him, but he knew he needed help with Bradley driving and Trey Pulliam in the area. He's a big man, but just one.
"It feels like chaos a little bit; it moves in slow motion a little bit," Roddy said. "Initially, I couldn't see James (Moors) in my periphery, so I was just (Pulliam) and Bradley together, I need somebody to come help, so James stepped up and it was a huge wall up, we got the rebound and won the game. It was a great execution on defense."
Which Moors gives the team, especially of late. He brings a physical presence defensively, and in the first half, Medved thought he played Nathan Mensah perfectly down low, only to get called for a foul. The Rams needed him to play the role against an Aztecs' squad which has made it their brand.
Not late, not when the clock was winding down to 0:00. He stood his ground and deflected the shot.
"He's been amazing," Tonje said of Moors. "He sacrifices more than anyone on this team. Every physical play, you know he's going to make that down the stretch, and he did that today."
Then Roddy collected the rebound and the Rams a much-needed victory.
It was the junior power forward who felt a bit of redemption, not a San Diego State squad which squandered a 26-point lead last year at home and lost to the Rams when Tonje drilled a shot from the corner.
It was the Rams who could breathe a huge sigh of relief. A third loss in a row would hit deep, especially in the manner as it was unfolding.
But the Rams don't have to think about that, either. Medved doesn't have to worry about his heart rate, nor the gray hair he believes he's accumulating. Because he trusted his team not to contemplate the what-ifs of the moment, or the bad stretch which preceded it all. Not in the final few minutes, not from the game before.
Just play.
"You know what, like we said the other night, we didn't make that extra play," Medved said. "Tonight we made another play, that one more play we had to have to win the game."
Elation rushed over all of them at that point, as did the student section. It was an avalanche of orange on the court, which Tonje said was pretty cool. Those are the moments, he said, you dream about as a kid.
Medved loved it, too. He figured he'd love it even more, sitting at home with a beverage at home. His team is 17-3 on the year, 7-3 in the conference play. The alternative no longer mattered.
He put his trust in his team. And he let them play through it all, from chaos to the jubilation. That's all any of them will think about.
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