Colorado State University Athletics
Colorado State
Nevada
Men’s Hoops Hits the Road for Midweek Clash
1/23/2024 5:29:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Colorado State heads to the Biggest Little City in the World looking for a big win
FORT COLLINS – After going 2-0 at home last week, Colorado State men's basketball returns to the road Wednesday when they face Nevada at 8:30 pm.
Opening Tip
- Colorado State overcame their second straight double digit deficit in a 78-75 win over UNLV Friday night.
- CSU overcame deficits of 12 and 10 last week against Air Force and UNLV, respectively.
- The Rams returned to the polls this week at No. 24 in the Associated Press and No. 23 in the USA Today Coaches poll. CSU was outside the top 25 last week for the first time in a program record seven weeks.
- Head coach Niko Medved is in his sixth year leading Colorado State. He is 107-65 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 sits in the top 5 for active players in both scoring (3rd) and assists (2nd).
- Stevens has three double-doubles on the year and already reset one of his own records when he posted 14 assists against Wright State. He is averaging 17.2 points, 7.2 assists, 3.02 rebounds and 1.4 steals per game while shooting 51.2% from the field and 47.1% 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 2,083.
- In the team's two wins last week he went into Zay Mode late scoring or assisting on 24 or the Rams' 28 points against Air Force and 16 of the last 20 points against UNLV.
- Newcomer Joel Scott continues to be a big presence inside for CSU averaging 11.5 points and 5.7 rebounds.
- Scott continues to get back on track after an off few games with his 14 points on 7-of-9 shooting against UNLV.
- Nique Clifford has enjoyed his time in Fort Collins transferring to Colorado State from Colorado. He is shooting an impressive 60.3% from the field including 53.1% from behind the arc on his way to averaging 13.9 points and 6.3 rebounds.
- He was an impressive 7-of-8 from the field, 3-for-3 behind the arc and 4-for-4 from the free throw line on his way to the second 20 point game of his career, finishing with 21 against UNLV.
- Patrick Cartier missed two games for Colorado State, but since returning has not missed a beat. He is averaging 12.4 points on 58.3% 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 (2,083), Patrick Cartier (2,240) and Joel Scott (2,678).
- Colorado State leads the Mountain West in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.88), assists per game (19.7), effective field goal percentage (58.8%), field goal percentage (51.4%) and free throw percentage (76.6%).
Scouting the Wolf Pack
Nevada comes into Wednesday's game hungry for a win and looking to end a three-game losing streak. Overall, the Wolf Pack are 15-4 on the year.
They have a trio of scorers averaging double figures led by Jarod Lucas and his 17.1 points per game. Kenan Blackshear does a little of everything for Nevada averaging 15.9 points. 5.2 rebounds and 4.9 assists.
The Wolf Pack do a good job taking care of the ball turning it over just 9.4 times per game to rank 10th in the nation.
Head coach Steve Alford is 14-5 against CSU with 11 of those wins coming when he was the head coach at New Mexico.
What's Ahead
Colorado State stays on the road this weekend, heading north of the border to face rivals Wyoming on Saturday for a 2 pm tip-off.
