By: Mike Brohard
FORT COLLINS, Colo. – Perfect can be subjective.Just the fact Colorado State's men's basketball team played a real game for the first time in three weeks gave the afternoon such a feel. Considering the last time the Rams were at Moby Arena, they had done some pregame warmups, only to have the contest with New Mexico called off roughly a half hour before tipoff.
On this day, against Air Force, the play wasn't always pretty. The shooting wasn't there from the start, but a 72-49 victory against the Falcons felt pretty good overall.
"That's a great way to put it, just to play and to get out there and get that feeling again of playing a game and getting into the flow and feeling what that's like," CSU coach Niko Medved said. "I think that's awesome. It's been a layoff that has stunk, but that's just the circumstances right now. Again, it felt good to get out there and play again, and clearly were going to get to play quite a bit this week."
In a pandemic world, Colorado State is finding you take games as you can get them. And in any world, you never downplay the momentum of a win, especially one which pushed the team to 15-4 overall, 12-3 in Mountain West play – the best 15-game conference record in program history.
The Rams missed their first six shots from the field – all 3-pointers – but ended up converting at a 61 percent clip by game's end with four players in double figures. They shot 41 percent behind the arc, making 9-of-16 after the rough opening.
Things just didn't feel right, and during a timeout, CSU coach Niko Medved insisted his team not get discouraged. As bad as the stroke felt, the Rams were still down just 6-0.
"It was just stay the course," point guard Isaiah Stevens said. "We were getting great looks early on. We didn't feel like we were forcing anything. We were just flowing with their match-up zone, and we were able to find ways to get good looks and thy just weren't fall. I feel like him saying that was just a good reminder to keep shooting good looks, keep the ball moving at the pace we were moving it at and keep being confident."
They did, and eventually the Rams hit a rhythm. Stevens started the run back to the front, hitting a series of treys at the end of the first half, giving the hosts a lead at the break. Coming out, they started playing the ball more inside out, and David Roddy was bullying his way to a big second half. He finished with 19 points, 15 coming in the second half.
Medved said the two sophomores have a feel for the game, for when they are needed most, and both put that on display. Roddy didn't take any credit for himself, allowing his production was just part of an improved flow which falls in line with the program standard.
"I think it was more team oriented," Roddy said. "We started off the game 0-for-6 from the 3-point line, but they were all great shots. Like coach said, we need to love the paint and like the 3, so we just wanted to focus on inside out, landing on two feet and make great passes. As soon as we started doing that, we started executing."
What it felt like, Stevens said, is that as much as they remained competitive in practices, the game has a different feel. The flow is an altogether different vibe, and seeing the court versus the same players every day doesn't naturally prepare you for what a team will throw at you.
For instance, no one in the program was happy with the 20 turnovers, more than a handful of them travel calls. Those maybe lean toward an anxiousness, but what Air Force did defensively was out of the norm, as is always the case. Seeing and reacting to it is different after three weeks of practice instead of game play.
"I think that's a big part of it. I think the other part of it is the way that they play defense, it's just different," Medved said. "You just can't give your guys a look in practice. Like I told them, you could run the same action five times and they'll guard it five different ways. So you really have to be able to read and react and use your fundamentals."
Before long, the Rams started to decipher the game bit by bit. The defense was solid throughout, forcing Air Force into 17 miscues and limiting the Falcons to 41.5 percent from the field, 23.8 percent from deep to result in an always applause-worthy total of 49 points.
Offensively it showed in more extended runs. The Rams end the game scoring the final seven points and closed out with a 13-1 advantage for the final 4:54 of the game. Adam Thistlewood contributed 14 points, and John Tonje put up 11 off the bench.
That they'll take.
And the game, too. It was just good to play again, and now, they're scheduled to play a lot in the coming week.
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February 28, 2021 at 07:04AM
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