CSU men's basketball still winless in Mountain West after Nevada loss; What’s gone wrong?
Not enough plays for an upset.
The Colorado State men’s basketball team had a scrappy and at times impressive game Wednesday night, but ultimately the shorthanded Rams didn’t do enough to pull out an upset at Nevada as the Wolf Pack won 80-69.
The Rams had a lead inside the final 10 minutes, but one big Nevada run and a couple late 3-pointers from big man Will Baker sealed the win for Nevada.
CSU (8-8, 0-3 Mountain West) has started league play winless in its first three games for the first time since the 2019-20 season.
What’s gone wrong for a team that was a No. 6 seed in the NCAA Tournament a year ago? Here’s a breakdown of what plagues the Rams.
Injuries piled up
One player back, another one out. That seems to have been the trend all season for CSU with injuries.
The Rams haven’t had a full squad practice since summer, and it won’t happen soon.
News broke Wednesday that 6-foot-10 freshman Kyle Evans broke his thumb during practice this week and is likely out for the season. Fellow big man Jacob Jennissen is also out for the season (ACL) and guard Josiah Strong has only played seven games this season due to illness. He may also miss the rest of the season.
CSU’s rotation players missed a total of eight games in the last three seasons combined. This season’s rotation has missed more than triple that already (26) with the team only 16 games into its 31-game schedule.
Isaiah Stevens missed seven games with a broken foot at the start of the season and key players Jalen Lake and Tavi Jackson have missed time in recent weeks.
The Rams now only have two true bigs (6-foot-10 James Moors and 6-foot-8 Patrick Cartier) after the injury to Evans, and only nine scholarship players available to play.
Overcoming the early departure of David Roddy to the NBA after his junior season was going to be tough enough on its own. Now the tidal wave of injuries has compounded the challenge.
The positive news is that Jackson returned last game and Lake was back against Nevada after both missed several weeks. Those two mean the nine-man rotation is now available and CSU will look to build off that knowing the others are out for the long haul.
Battling consistency
It’s not surprising that a team that has endured constant lineup and rotation changes has been riding a roller coaster. The Rams can be quite good (see: blowouts of Loyola Marymount and Weber State and a tight win at Saint Mary’s) and quite bad (see: blowout loss at Colorado, ugly showing against San Jose State).
Stevens repeatedly used the “consistent” word after the San Jose State loss because within games the Rams can be quite good, but they’ll sag off when adversity hits in minutes-long stretches.
That happened Wednesday in a few key sequences. The Rams started the game in a quick 8-0 hole before bouncing back. CSU led 30-27 with 4:43 to go in the first half before allowing a 13-1 run to go into halftime down nine.
The Rams then took control of the game early in the second half.
CSU was up five with 6:50 to go in the game but allowed an 11-0 Nevada (13-3, 3-0 MW) run as the Wolf Pack took the lead. Pulled back even further, Nevada closed the game on a huge 21-5 run.
Basketball, as they say, is a game of runs, but CSU far too often allows the dam to break.
Defensive issues
CSU has limitations in the roster, especially with the injuries.
The small Rams will lose battles on the boards, as happened against Nevada. The Wolf Pack are the tallest team on average in the Mountain West and outrebounded CSU by eight. That’s manageable, but CSU allowed 32 paint points.
CSU has actually improved on interior defense this season before this game, but the Rams are worst in the league in 3-point defense. A team can’t stop everything, but the runs allowed on defense are harder to overcome with a thin margin for error.
The Rams are No. 198 in defensive efficiency in KenPom's metrics. That's far from good enough to win at any significant level.
CSU’s offensive numbers are decent, but too often the lack of a consistent second star behind Stevens shows. CSU’s 15 turnovers Wednesday were important.
The Rams are a solid No. 68 in KenPom's offensive efficiency, fifth in the MW in scoring, second in team field goal percentage and team 3-point percentage. The problem is too often in a given night only one, maybe two players are clicking alongside Stevens.
On both ends of the court, CSU has had too many passengers and not enough players taking control.
What’s next?
Despite the loss, many aspects of Wednesday’s game show what CSU needs. Nevada is a fringe NCAA Tournament team and CSU was better on the road for much of the game.
The Rams defended with better overall effort than the last couple games and the offense was balanced.
Stevens scored 16 points and had eight assists. Cartier had 18 points on 7-for-9 shooting. The Rams hit 10 3-pointers with eight players making at least one.
The nine-man rotation is now set and it will allow CSU (barring any further injuries) to settle in to a rhythm. That will help the team.
"Hopefully now maybe that we get some of these guys kind of back to the court here consistently we can start to develop a little more chemistry that way with our team and really start to play better," CSU coach Niko Medved said on the postgame show on 99.1 FM.
Most important immediately, this team just needs a win. The Rams have lost four games in a row for the first time since 2019-20.
CSU hosts Fresno State at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 7. The Bulldogs just handed New Mexico its first loss of the season.
Follow sports reporter Kevin Lytle on Twitter and Instagram @Kevin_Lytle.
This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: What's gone wrong for Colorado State basketball in winless Mountain West start?
