Colorado State University Athletics
Colorado State
UNLV
Men’s Hoops Heads to Vegas
2/23/2024 9:27:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Colorado State men’s basketball faces UNLV Saturday
FORT COLLINS – It's a weekend in Vegas for Colorado State men's basketball. The Rams take on UNLV Saturday at 6 pm inside the Thomas & Mack Center.
Opening Tip
- Colorado State fell in the final seconds at The Pit 68-66 to New Mexico on Wednesday night
- Isaiah Stevens is four assists away from setting the program's record currenlty held by Ryan Yoder (1992-93) with 204.
- CSU has won 20 games four time in the past five years.
- Head coach Niko Medved became the first coach in program history to win 20-plus games four times.
- The Rams are 14-1 inside Moby Arena this season. The lone loss coming to Saint Mary's in December.
- The 14 wins inside Moby this season tie for the second most in program history with the 2011-12 and 2021-22 seasons.
- Head coach Niko Medved is in his sixth year leading Colorado State. He is 111-69 as the Rams' head coach. The win on December 2 against Washington was the 100th for him leading the Green & Gold. Medved is now one of five coaches in the program's history to reach the 100 wins mark.
- Isaiah Stevens returns for his final year of eligibility and the nation is taking notice of the guard. Stevens was named the Mountain West Preseason Player of the Year, Wooden Top 50 Preseason List and one of 20 players named to the Bob Cousy Preseason Watch List. He has added on the Wooden Midseason Top 25 and Lute Olson Midseason Watch List.
- He was named one of the 10 finalists for the Bob Cousy Award. It's the second time in his career earning the honor.
- Stevens became the second Ram in three years to earn a spot on the Naismith Midseason team announced earlier this week.
- He sits in the top 5 for active players in both scoring (3rd) and assists (1st).
- Stevens has four double-doubles on the year and already reset one of his own records when he posted 14 assists against Wright State. He is averaging 16.3 points, 7.4 assists, 3.1 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game while shooting 48.2% from the field and 47.2% behind the arc.
- He became the program's all-time leading scorer against LMU (Dec. 22) when he passed Pat Durham (1985-89) and his 1,980 points.
- Stevens surpassed the 2,000 point mark with his first basket against New Mexico (Jan. 2) and currently sits at 2,194.
- He scored 20 points against UNM with nine assists. Twelve of his 20 points came in the second half.
- Newcomer Joel Scott continues to be a big presence inside for CSU averaging 12.0 points and 6.1 rebounds.
- He recorded his first double-double in the Green & Gold at New Mexico with 18 points and 13 rebounds.
- Nique Clifford has enjoyed his time in Fort Collins transferring to Colorado State from Colorado. He is shooting an impressive 54.4% from the field including 38.8% from behind the arc on his way to averaging 12.6 points and 7.2 rebounds.
- Clifford has grabbed double figure rebounds in three of the past four games with 11 last time out.
- Patrick Cartier missed two games for Colorado State, but since returning has not missed a beat. He is averaging 11.4 points on 54.6% shooting.
- CSU is the only program across all of collegiate men's basketball with not two, but three 2,000 point scorers on their roster. The trio is Isaiah Stevens (2,214), Patrick Cartier (2,325) and Joel Scott (2,796).
- Colorado State leads the Mountain West in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.81), assists per game (18.9), effective field goal percentage (56.4%), field goal percentage (49.8%) and free throw percentage (76.7%).
Scouting the Rebels
UNLV has been a tough out in Mountain West play with an 8-5 record. They are 15-10 overall.
Freshman Dedan Thomas Jr leads the charge with 12.4 points per game and 5.8 assists. Brothers Keylan and Kalib Boon are adding in 12.1 and 11.8 points, respectively.
The Rebels are hot as of late winning six of their last seven games including most recently a 72-43 win at Air Force Wednesday.
What's Ahead
Next week is the final week at home for Colorado State starting with a match up against Nevada on Tuesday at 8:30 pm.
