Colorado State University Athletics
Saturday, February 17
Fort Collins, CO
3:30 PM
Colorado State
20-6,8-5Mountain West
75
vs
55
Utah State
21-5,9-4Mountain West
1
2
F
Utah St.
26
29
55
Colorado St.
43
32
75
Rams Power Way Past Conference Leaders
2/17/2024 6:52:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Team paints impressive win in Fight Like a Ram game
Nobody likes a bully.
The exception being coaches employing their teams to play a physical style. It's been a directive all year from Niko Medved, adding even more emphasis as of late.
Saturday his Colorado State men's basketball team was at its peak, powering through Mountain West leader Utah State in the first half, then remaining steady with the directive the second 20 in a 75-55 victory in front of a sold-out crowd in Moby Arena.
"It's working out pretty well right now," Joel Scott said with a smile. "I think tonight was a good game, trying to get back because I think we lost it a little bit in the second half of the San Diego State game. It was just asserting ourselves early and kind of keep doing that throughout the whole game really worked out well for us."
Joel Scott planted the school flag in the paint early, going on a personal 6-0 run to start the game, one which would see him finish the game with 17 points and eight rebounds. It's the area where the Rams (20-6, 8-5 MW) want to live and against the Aggies (21-5, 9-4), they had to because their outside shooting was off the mark (just 4-of-23 from 3).
The plan is always to go inside, and with Scott getting looks, he felt he was showing the proper initiative and was more than willing to keep repeating the motion.
"Sometimes I think it's really good to set that physicality tone, be that rebounding or tonight getting to the rim and scoring a little bit. It does help," Scott said. "I think it's a group effort. I don't think it's necessarily all me who sets it like that."
He had help, as Colorado State held a 48-26 advantage inside, extending it to the defensive end by controlling the glass with a 45-32 edge. That included 14 offensive grabs, leading to 18 second-chance points.
Nique Clifford had eight points and 10 rebounds, while understudy Rashaan Mbemba contributed eight points as well. Isaiah Stevens led the team in scoring with 18 points while contributing eight assists. He made two of the Rams' 3s, making him the program leader in yet another category with his 236 career makes, breaking a tie with Andy Birley.
When they play gritty and physical, the Rams feel they are at their best. Clifford feels they've been the most physical team on the court most all year, and by pushing the idea all game produced the impressive result.
"I feel that's the reason we won this game," Clifford said. "We didn't shoot well from 3; numbers don't lie. We have to get in there and scrap, get the rebounds. Like (Scott) said, love the paint, like the 3 and we did that. The result was good for us."
It came during an afternoon where the team honored local cancer warriors with the annual Fight Like a Ram game, as the players wore the names of those warriors on the back of their jerseys. Like every year, the act makes the reflect on what challenges they feel they are facing in a game, during a season, and puts them in perspective.
Being strong inside helped accomplish more than a few items, one of which being keeping the Aggies from getting out and running. They had only four fast-break points in the game as they were held to one of their lowest offensive outputs of the season. The fact they shot 4-of-15 from 3 and just 7-of-14 from the line didn't help.
Winning was the goal, but no one likely had a 20-point margin on their bingo card. Not only did Utah State never lead in the game, their best run was just a 7-0 spurt as the Rams dictated play from start to finish.
"I think establishing something in the paint is a big deal. You can live by the 3, die by the 3, and we didn't do either tonight, which was great," Medved said. "I thought we were aggressive. They were struggling to guard in the interior. I thought that obviously they decided to start the second half in the zone because they were struggling to guard us inside. I can't say we attacked it poorly, but we kept getting stops and we found a way to hang in there. It's hard to complain about a 20-point win."
And every coach likes those.
The exception being coaches employing their teams to play a physical style. It's been a directive all year from Niko Medved, adding even more emphasis as of late.
Saturday his Colorado State men's basketball team was at its peak, powering through Mountain West leader Utah State in the first half, then remaining steady with the directive the second 20 in a 75-55 victory in front of a sold-out crowd in Moby Arena.
"It's working out pretty well right now," Joel Scott said with a smile. "I think tonight was a good game, trying to get back because I think we lost it a little bit in the second half of the San Diego State game. It was just asserting ourselves early and kind of keep doing that throughout the whole game really worked out well for us."
Joel Scott planted the school flag in the paint early, going on a personal 6-0 run to start the game, one which would see him finish the game with 17 points and eight rebounds. It's the area where the Rams (20-6, 8-5 MW) want to live and against the Aggies (21-5, 9-4), they had to because their outside shooting was off the mark (just 4-of-23 from 3).
The plan is always to go inside, and with Scott getting looks, he felt he was showing the proper initiative and was more than willing to keep repeating the motion.
"Sometimes I think it's really good to set that physicality tone, be that rebounding or tonight getting to the rim and scoring a little bit. It does help," Scott said. "I think it's a group effort. I don't think it's necessarily all me who sets it like that."
He had help, as Colorado State held a 48-26 advantage inside, extending it to the defensive end by controlling the glass with a 45-32 edge. That included 14 offensive grabs, leading to 18 second-chance points.
Nique Clifford had eight points and 10 rebounds, while understudy Rashaan Mbemba contributed eight points as well. Isaiah Stevens led the team in scoring with 18 points while contributing eight assists. He made two of the Rams' 3s, making him the program leader in yet another category with his 236 career makes, breaking a tie with Andy Birley.
When they play gritty and physical, the Rams feel they are at their best. Clifford feels they've been the most physical team on the court most all year, and by pushing the idea all game produced the impressive result.
"I feel that's the reason we won this game," Clifford said. "We didn't shoot well from 3; numbers don't lie. We have to get in there and scrap, get the rebounds. Like (Scott) said, love the paint, like the 3 and we did that. The result was good for us."
It came during an afternoon where the team honored local cancer warriors with the annual Fight Like a Ram game, as the players wore the names of those warriors on the back of their jerseys. Like every year, the act makes the reflect on what challenges they feel they are facing in a game, during a season, and puts them in perspective.
Being strong inside helped accomplish more than a few items, one of which being keeping the Aggies from getting out and running. They had only four fast-break points in the game as they were held to one of their lowest offensive outputs of the season. The fact they shot 4-of-15 from 3 and just 7-of-14 from the line didn't help.
Winning was the goal, but no one likely had a 20-point margin on their bingo card. Not only did Utah State never lead in the game, their best run was just a 7-0 spurt as the Rams dictated play from start to finish.
"I think establishing something in the paint is a big deal. You can live by the 3, die by the 3, and we didn't do either tonight, which was great," Medved said. "I thought we were aggressive. They were struggling to guard in the interior. I thought that obviously they decided to start the second half in the zone because they were struggling to guard us inside. I can't say we attacked it poorly, but we kept getting stops and we found a way to hang in there. It's hard to complain about a 20-point win."
And every coach likes those.
Team Stats
USU
CSU
FG%
.386
.452
3FG%
.267
.174
FT%
.500
.789
RB
32
45
TO
11
11
STL
5
6
Game Leaders
Pts
18
FGM
4
3FGM
2
FTM
8
Pts
17
FGM
7
3FGM
0
FTM
3
Pts
8
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Pts
8
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
G
/ Men's BasketballF
/ Men's BasketballF
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballColorado State Basketball (M): Season 1 - Ep. 1
Sunday, August 10
Ramily - CSU Men's Basketball
Tuesday, August 05
Ram Line - Shoot Around with Josh Pascarelli & Darnez Slater (MBB)
Monday, August 04
Behind the White Board - Ken DeWeese
Monday, August 04