Colorado State University Athletics
Colorado State
Nevada
Rams Return Home for Final Homestand of the Season
2/26/2024 12:24:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Colorado State hosts Nevada Tuesday
FORT COLLINS – Colorado State men's basketball hosts its final two home games of the season this week starting Tuesday night against Nevada. The Rams and Wolf Pack tip off at 8:30 pm.
Opening Tip
- Colorado State fell short on the road against UNLV Saturday 66-60.
- Isaiah Stevens broke the program's single-season assists record Saturday now with 207 on the year.
- 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 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 16.4 points, 7.4 assists, 3.0 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game while shooting 48.1% from the field and 46.5% 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 2,232.
- Newcomer Joel Scott continues to be a big presence inside for CSU averaging 12.1 points and 6.1 rebounds.
- Nique Clifford has enjoyed his time in Fort Collins transferring to Colorado State from Colorado. He is shooting an impressive 53.8% from the field including 39.3% from behind the arc on his way to averaging 12.5 points and 7.2 rebounds.
- Patrick Cartier missed two games for Colorado State, but since returning has not missed a beat. He is averaging 11.1 points on 53.5% 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 (2,232), Patrick Cartier (2,329) and Joel Scott (2,809).
- Colorado State leads the Mountain West in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.82), assists per game (18.8), effective field goal percentage (56.0%) and free throw percentage (76.3%).
Scouting the Wolf Pack
Nevada has a tough guard combo of Kenan Blackshear and Jarod Lucas. Blackshear is the straw that stirs the drink averaging 15.2 points and 4.9 assists per game. Lucas is a sharp shooter scoring 17.2 points to lead the team and going 39.9% behind the arc.
The Wolf Pack do a good job not turning the ball over averaging just 9.9 turnovers a game to lead the Mountain West and rank 29th in the nation.
What's Ahead
For one final time, Colorado State will take the floor in Moby Arena against rival Wyoming, on Saturday at 2 pm.
