Feb. 14, 2012

Game Notes 24 - 2-14-12

• Schedule/Results
• Season Statistics

Opening tip
• Colorado State men’s basketball faces its second consecutive Mountain West road challenge, visiting Boise State for the first time as conference rivals on Wednesday evening. 
• Tipoff between the Rams and the Broncos is set for 8 p.m. MT from BSU’s Taco Bell Arena. and the game will be broadcast live nationally on The Mtn.
• Rich Cellini (play-by-play) and Dave Bollwinkel (analyst) will call the action courtside. The game can be found on Comcast Digital Cable (411) and DirecTV (616).
• Brian Roth will have the call on the Colorado State Sports Network, 560 AM KLZ (Denver) and 600 AM KCOL (Fort Collins).
• Streaming audio is available at CSURams.com, and live stats are available at BroncoSports.com.

Rams quick hits
• The Colorado State men’s basketball team enters Wednesday’s game at Boise State coming off of a 75-71 loss at TCU.
• The Rams head to Boise State looking for their first conference road win of the season, and their first overall road win since Dec. 28 at UTEP.  CSU has lost four straight road games, and seven consecutive on the road against MW foes dating back to the end of the 2010-11 season. 
• Entering Wednesday’s game at BSU, Colorado State ranks among the most efficient offensive teams in the country. The Rams lead the Mountain West in field-goal percentage (.482), three-point percentage (.412) and free-throw percentage (.776).
• Colorado State has been excellent this season in close games, posting a 7-2 mark in contests decided by 10 or fewer points, with narrow victories over Montana, UTSA, Manhattan, Colorado, UTEP, Denver and in the Rams’ first matchup of the season vs. TCU. The Rams’ only losses in a game decided by 10 or fewer points came on the road against Northern Iowa and TCU.
• The Rams’ next victory will give CSU a third-consecutive season of 16 or more wins, the first time the program has won at least 16 games in back-to-back-to-back season since a six-year stretch from 1994-95 to 1999-2000. 
• A 16th victory will guarantee the Rams’ a second-consecutive winning campaign for the first time under fifth-year Head Coach Tim Miles. 

About Boise State
• Boise State enters Wednesday’s contest with a 11-12 overall record, following Saturday’s road win over Air Force (72-61).
• The Broncos are 9-4 at Taco Bell Arena this season, but have lost four straight conference home games, including a 77-72 overtime thriller against nationally ranked UNLV on Jan. 25.
• The Broncos posted a 10-5 mark in non-conference action but lost seven straight to open MW play before Saturday’s win at Air Force.
• Head coach Leon Rice is 33-25 in his second season at Boise State, where he began his head coaching career by leading the Broncos to a 22-13 mark and a trip to the CBI Semifinals in 2010-11.
• The Broncos are led by high-scoring freshman guard/forward Anthony Drmic who paces the team at 12.5 points per game, and averages a team-leading 30.5 minutes per contest.  He ranks as the only freshman in the MW in the top-20 in scoring.  
• Drmic also leads the team in rebounding on the season, pulling down an average of 5.1 rebounds per contest to rank seventh in the MW. 
• As a team, the Broncos rank fifth in the MW in both scoring offense (70.7), and scoring defense (65.6)
• The Broncos rank second in the MW in three-pointers per game, knocking down an average of 8.22 per contest, which ranks 31st nationally.  Drmic averages 2.3 treys per game, which ranks fifth in the conference.

Series vs. Boise State
• Wednesday’s matchup between the Rams and Broncos marks the ninth in the series between the two programs, and Colorado State’s first trip to Taco Bell Arena to face BSU as MW foes.
• Colorado State leads the series, 6-2. 
• The first meeting in the series came during the 1974-75 season and resulted in a 96-65 CSU victory at Moby Arena. 
• The Rams are 6-0 all-time against Broncos at Moby Arena, and 1-2 in games played in Boise.  
• Head Coach Tim Miles is 1-1 vs. Boise State in five seasons at CSU, leading the Rams in an 85-76 road loss early in the 2008-09, and guiding CSU to a 66-55 victory Jan. 17 in Fort Collins. 

A win over Boise State will...
• Move the Rams to 16-8 overall and 5-4 in the Mountain West.
• Give the Rams their first conference road win of the season, snapping a seven-game road losing streak against league opponents that dates back to the end of the 2010-11 season.
• Move Colorado State’s road record to 3-7, and give CSU its first overall road win since Dec. 28 at UTEP en route to the tournament championship at the Bank of the West Don Haskins Sun Bowl Invitational. 
• Give the Rams a third-consecutive season of 16 or more wins, the first time the program has won at least 16 games in back-to-back-to-back season since a six-year stretch from 1994-95 to 1999-2000. 
• Give the Rams a 7-2 advantage in the all-time series vs. BSU, and improve CSU’s road mark against the Broncos to 2-2. 

The Ram Report with Tim Miles
• Episode 6 of The Ram Report with Tim Miles taped Monday afternoon at Moby Arena.
• The weekly broadcast schedule includes air time on:
  - The Mtn. (Comcast Ch. 411): Tues.-Fri. at 7:30 and 9 p.m.
  - CSU-TV (Comcast Ch. 11) - Tues. at 5 p.m.
  - NoCo5 (Comcast Ch. 8) - Wed. at 5:30 and 10:35 p.m.
• Full episodes are also available via CSU’s Youtube Channel. 
 
Looking ahead
• Colorado State returns to Moby Arena for the first time since a Feb. 4 victory over Air Force, hosting rival Wyoming on Saturday evening in the second leg of the basketball “Border War.”
• Tipoff between the Rams and the Cowbobs is set for 7 p.m. MT from Moby Arena and the game will be broadcast live on The Mtn.
• Ari Wolfe (play-by-play) and Marty Fletcher (analyst) will call the action courtside. The game can be found on Comcast Digital Cable (411) and DirecTV (616).
• Brian Roth will have the call on the Colorado State Sports Network, 560 AM KLZ (Denver) and 600 AM KCOL (Fort Collins).
• Streaming audio and live Gametracker stats are available at CSURams.com.

Special events on tap for Wyoming
• Colorado State athletics has several special events on tap for Saturday’s home matchup against rival Wyoming. 
• CSU players from all eras will be welcomed back to Moby Arena for the annual “Ram Legends” weekend.  In addition to special reunion festivities throughout the weekend, participants will be honored at halftime of  the contest vs. the Cowboys. 
• Saturday also marks the Rams’ annual “Orange Out” game, in which the team wears the university’s original colors of pumpkin (orange) and alfalfa (green), and fans are encouraged to wear their orange Colorado A&M Aggies gear to cheer on the team.  CSU basketball is 2-0 in previous “Orange Out” games, with victories over New Mexico (2011) and Wyoming (2010) in the annual game.
 
Milestone watch: Entering Boise State game...
• Pierce Hornung: closing in on 100-career steals with 97 to his credit, six away from matching Eric Friehauf (1988-90) for 10th in program history (103). 
• Wes Eikmeier: on the verge of 100-career three-pointers at the DI level with 98 total treys to his credit at CSU (78) and Iowa State (20).   
• Jesse Carr: closing in on milestones of 200 career rebounds and assists, with 178 boards and 177 helpers to his credit to date. 
• Dorian Green: is 92 points shy of 1,000 for his career at Colorado State.  At his current pace, and with at least seven games remaining in the Rams’ schedule in 2011-12, Green could eclipse the 1,000-point mark this season, to become the 19th player in program history to accomplish the feat. 
• Will Bell: needs nine points to reach 300, and 17 rebounds to reach 150 boards in two seasons in a Rams’ uniform since transferring to CSU from Northeastern Junior College in Sterling, Colo.