The Colorado State Rams delivered another famous road victory as they scratched and clawed their way to an 84-76 victory over Utah State, ending the Aggies 11-game winning streak and handing them their first conference loss of the season.
After being drubbed by 19 points in the first game of the pair, it was fight or flight time for the youthful Rams. The message from their coaches was loud and clear. Play Ram basketball. Play with urgency and intensity.
And that they did.
After falling behind by 8 points early, Ram sophomore big Dischon Thomas entered the game and was the catalyst for the turnaround. In a span of minutes, Thomas scored 11 points over Aggies premier big Neemias Queta. It not only got the Rams back in the game, but opened up the floor for the rest of the team to successfully attack the paint, a necessity for the Rams’ offense to operate.
The Rams built their lead to 7 but the Aggies reeled them back in by the half cutting the lead to 37-35.
The Aggies had trailed by double digits at the half last week to San Diego State and quickly overcame that. They showed sign of doing the same, scoring quickly and stopping the Rams as they built their own 4-point lead.
The Rams managed to stay in the game, musty because of great effort on the defensive end, and trailed 56-53 inside of 8 minutes.
And thats when the game-changing coaching decision came.
The Rams switched from their basic man-to-man defense to a 1-3-1 zone and it proved to flummox the Aggies into forced shots on the next two possessions.
Free throws got the Rams up by 1 and then the play of the game launched the Rams into a 4-point lead that they would never relinquish.
After working the ball around, CSU big James Moors found himself on the low block. He shot and missed but David Roddy came from 30’ away to grab the offensive carom. One dribble, a pivot, a pass to a wide open Adam Thistlewood who buried the three-pointer.
Said Roddy of the play, “I pivoted and kept my eyes on the back side. I saw Adam. I mean, who doesnt want to pass the ball to Adam Thistlewood?”
The Rams still had to close the game out and it was Roddy who was the first to step up, scoring inside. And then it was up to the Rams’ guards Isaiah Stevens and Kendle Moore to close the game out at the free throw line, which they did calmly and professionally.
A consummate team effort for 40 minutes.
Stevens would lead the Rams with 18 points, a team-high 8 rebounds, 8 assists, and 4 steals. Kendle Moore had 16 along with 4 assists and 2 steals. Roddy had 15 and 7. And Dischon Thomas had a season-high 15 that included a career-high three makes from beyond the arc. After being dominated in the paint the other night, the Rams equaled the Aggies’ total of 28.
With the win, the Rams moved their season record to 11-3, 8-2 in the MWC.
Next up, the Rams go from the frying pan to the fire as they host MWC leader Boise State for a pair of games in Moby.
A Wrinkle in the 1-3-1 Zone
CSU unveiled their 1-3-1 zone last week in the second game against UNLV. They did the same this week. It was certainly a strategic move but it was also born out of necessity as four CSU players were saddled with 4 fouls.
The zone did its job. Utah State struggled to attack it the first two possessions. A couple of misses and a coupe of scores for the Rams.
But then they did something a little different.
They showed zone for the early part of Utah State’s possessions, then switched to a man-to-man defense for the final seconds. Not easy to execute, but when done properly it can cause any offense problems.
When asked about it, Roddy revealed that it was something they had done a little work on in the preseason and “they had it in their back pocket”.
Medved revealed that they had used small chunks of practice time to work on it and that it really requires communication for it to be successful.
”Clearly it helped us tonight.”, said Medved post-game.
DT Dials Up the Three-Balls
The Rams are the 20th best 3-point shooting team in the nation and are tops in the Mountain West. They can all shoot it. But their leading percentage 3-point shooter is…
Dischon Thomas.
As mentioned earlier, Thomas had a career high three makes from beyond the arc and shot 3-5 for the game. He is now 11-18 for the season, a blistering 61.1%.
His performance combined with fellow big James Moors allowed the Rams to effectively neutralize the Aggies’ Neemias Queta. The Rams bigs scored 20 points and added 6 rebound. Queta and his backup Trevin Darius had 16 and 9 rebounds.
One Final Thought…
Mr.Peabody and his pet boy Sherman approve.
That switch up to the 1-3-1 against UNLV and USU completely stopped the opponent’s mo in both games. Thanks for bringing that up Swoll. Changing occasionly from man to zone is something I haven’t seen much from Ram coaches in recent history and so glad to see NM & staff implement this. Aggressive basketball!
Our team is really developing and more quickly than I expected. Fun to see a few core guys play consistently while others step up in each game not knowing who the next “hero” will be. Dischon’s three’s were remarkable and came at a critical juncture. A few weeks ago it was Mr. Tonje’s 4 point play! Seeing Dischon and Moors making more of an impact in the middle is a joy to watch and greatly needed! They both have a high ceiling IMO.
Go Rams!
In terms of switching out of zone into man-to-man on the same possession, if it was easy everybody would do it. As Niko said, it takes really good communication. If one player is later than the other four, an opposing player will be wide open. I was impressed with how well the Rams executed it.
Loved the observations on the 1-3-1 and switching back to man-to-man on possessions. Enjoyed your question during the post-game interview last night…wondering why more coaches didn’t try things like that….and Niko’s confirmation is that it ISN’T easy to do….takes practice/time to work on it….and then execution. Good stuff!
Who would have thunk it!
Tall timbers fell last night. Rams cut them down to size. Go get Boise State!!!
I just hope that Boris and Natasha don’t try and steal our Mooseberries.
Keep the comments coming folks!
My sources tell me that even Boris and Natasha are becoming Ram Fans.
USU got flummoxed……….I love it!