The Colorado State Rams returned to Moby to take on Loyola Marymount in what will be the Rams’ first match-up in Moby since the Acrisure Invitational. The Rams are looking to create a winning streak off their win against TCU after falling to Washington to start off the invitational last week. With CU on the horizon for Colorado State, the Rams will be looking to get a well needed win as some momentum for their Rocky Mountain Showdown later in the weekend.
It was a little slow at first with the Rams not scoring in the first three minutes of the match-up, but the Rams were able to find a groove and keep the lead throughout the half. The big question for this team would be the three-point shooting as this team has seen some struggles this season behind the arc, and it came alive in this match-up. The Rams played the 1st half like they were on a mission for perfection. Kyan Evans went 3 for 3 behind the arc in the 1st half, and Jalen Lake had a hot hand as well shooting 4 for 9 for three. The Rams as a team would keep the pressure on the Lions with a 44% efficiency in the three-point shooting, drilling 11 of 25 shots.
What’s been most impressive in the 1st half was the rebounding from the Rams with Nique Clifford finishing the half with 12 total rebounds with him and Ethan Morton leading the team in offensive rebounds with 3. Colorado State would have 8 total offensive rebounds in the first half that was able to keep the offense on the court and get themselves a 23-2 scoring run two minutes before the end of the half with a substantial 46-20 lead.
The Rams would continue putting the pressure on, even with CSU up 60-35 at one point, coach Niko Medved was still shouting at his team, “EXECUTE!” as the Rams were making their way down the court to score. This was a tremendously executed game from the Rams as they were able to wrangle up the Lions on Country Night and get the win, 83-54. Nique Clifford would finish the night with a double-double, scoring 19 points and paired with 17 rebounds. He also had 6 assists to finish the night flirting with a triple double. Kyan Evans also had a career high in threes, shooting 4 for 5 for the night. Overall, the Rams saw major improvements in the 3-point shooting finishing the night 14 for 36 behind the arc. The Rams also did a really good job with the rebounding in this one with Colorado State out rebounding LMU 45 to 31, including having 11 offensive rebounds to the Lions’ 5.
Coach Medved was overall very impressed with the rebounding when asked about how impressed he was with the team’s rebounding on the night stating, “It’s been an emphasis for us, going into the year we wanted to do a better job on the offensive glass this year. I think it’s become more of a necessity just, again, with us in the half-court at times… not being as consistent as we would like and all that stuff so we got to create any opportunities and those we can create and extra possessions. It’s been great, and now it’s been three games in a row, that’s great, but we really better bring it on Saturday.”
Colorado State will be making the trip down south to Boulder to take on CU in a highly anticipated rivalry matchup that will see the Rams look to continue their winning streak with Nique Clifford returning to his old stomping grounds in his last year with Colorado State. There will be a lot of reminiscing, but there is still a job that needs to be done, and the Rams will be looking to get the job finished and come away with a win over CU this Saturday, December 7th.