Courtesy of Colorado State Athletics
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Teams go cold. It happens.
As it turns out, the coldest spell the Colorado State men’s basketball team had all season came in the first round of the NCAA Tournament against Texas on Thursday at the Spectrum Center, resulting in a 56-44 loss.
After a promising 8-2 start to the game, the Rams hit an ice wall. Give some credit to the Longhorns’ defense, which forced 10 turnovers in the first half – seven of them steals — against a team which averages just 10.2 per game. Even still, Colorado State had plenty of good looks, just not a lot of needed makes.
It took a Joe Palmer 3-pointer to snap an 8:26 scoreless spell for the Rams. The basket came at the 6:50 mark and they wouldn’t score again in the half – a season-low 11 points in the opening 20 minutes. They shot just 5-of-27 in the opening half – 1-of-9 from deep.
Add it all up and it was a 25-3 run the Longhorns went on to end the half.
In the end, there were a season-high 19 turnovers, which the Rams felt did more damage than the shooting woes.
“Turnovers are something you can control a little more, just being strong with the ball and working for your catches and all that stuff,” forward Joel Scott said. “I think that’s the part that really kind of eats at you a little bit more.”
It goes without saying the Rams went into the locker room stunned with their performance. The final dagger came from Max Abmas, who hit a 3 at the end of the half to push the Texas lead to 16.
Colorado State coach Niko Medved had a stern message. It wasn’t just the missed shots or the carelessness with the ball, but also the body language and the response to what the Longhorns had forced.
“I challenged them pretty hard at halftime. You’ve got to give Texas credit. That’s what they do,” Medved said. “They pressure. But we really got careless, I thought. We got challenged, and we didn’t fight back. We kind of surrendered a little bit to that.
“But I knew they would fight back. We did, and we had some chances. Kind of the story was the same. We came out at halftime, and I think we turned it over three times in the first four minutes again, and we kept getting stops, and we just couldn’t — we cut it to six, seven, and we had some great looks. We just couldn’t quite get over the hump. Digging yourself that hole is a hard one to climb out of against anybody, but especially in the NCAA Tournament against a team like that.”
Colorado State would make it interesting in the second half, cutting the deficit down to six inside 4 minutes to play, but they missed prime chances earlier to really apply pressure. They missed chances immediately after to really threaten the outcome.
Texas took away the Rams’ inside game. Scott did finish with 10 points and seven rebounds, but he only had five shots on the night. Isaiah Stevens, who was 0-of-8 from the field at half, finished with 10 points as he corrected the course of his shots, adding four assists.
It would be the last time he suited up in what was a legendary career for the Allen, Texas product. Upon arrival he made an impact. He was a starter from beginning to end, and a closer throughout. He leaves as the program’s career leader in scoring (2,340 points), assists (859) and steals (157). The totals are stellar, but his impact on the program cannot be measured by numbers.
“It’s hard to process that today. I mean, I think we all know what it is,” Medved said. “I’ve been fortunate to be doing this for a long time. He’s a unicorn. I’ve said it over and over again. I think he feels the same way. I just love him so much, and I care about him so much, and I know he cares back the same way.
“We’re just kind of in this raw emotions right now. It hasn’t settled in that it’s over. But it will. And when you do that, I’m not going to be sad, you know what I mean? It’s like, holy cow, I got a chance to coach a guy like that? You don’t get to do that every day. And he’ll look back and go, man, how many guys got to have the kind of career and left the kind of legacy at a place that he gets to. There aren’t many. And that’s pretty special stuff.”
Stevens was, it is, and yes, it felt too soon for him to put it into words.
He was in Fort Collins for five years. He could have left – plenty of programs in the country would have loved to add one of the premier points guards in the country – but he stayed. He chose Fort Collins and stayed true to the place. He chose Medved and his staff, and those relationships are immeasurable.
“Yeah, definitely too soon. Can’t even really express that or put it in words,” he said. “I’ve been here for five years. I literally came in as a teenager, and now I’m a little bit more of an adult. Just so many experiences, so many relationships. It’s hard to kind of grasp right now. But it means everything to me.
“I love these guys, and I love Coach right here.”
