March 6, 2010

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Schedule/Results

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Student Appreciation Day

Game 30:  Colorado State vs. Utah
Saturday, March 6, 2010 | 1:30 p.m. MT | Fort Collins, Colo. | Moby Arena (8,745)

Television
Network: The Mtn.
Play-by-Play: Mike Evans
Color Analyst: Blaine Fowler
Channel: Comcast (411), DirecTV (616)

Radio
Network: Colorado State Sports Network
Play-by-Play: Jerry Schemmel
Flagship: KLZ (560 AM)

Online
Live Statistics: CSURams.com
Streaming Audio: CSURams.com/allaccess
Streaming Video: None

Up next
The Colorado State men’s basketball closes out the 2009-10 regular season, hosting the University of Utah on Saturday afternoon.  Tipoff is set for 1:30 p.m. MT at Moby Arena (8,745).
 
The game will be televised live on The Mtn. with Mike Evans (play-by-play) and Blaine Fowler (color analyst) bringing fans all the action from courtside. 

The Rams (15-14, 6-9 MWC) are looking to snap a five-game losing skid, and secure a No. 5 seed in next week’s Conoco Mountain West Conference Championships.  A win over the Runnin’ Utes would also secure CSU’s first winning season since 2006-07. 

The Utes are 14-15 overall (7-8 in the MWC), are coming off of a 71-51 loss at rival BYU.  Utah is currently one-half game ahead of CSU in the conference standings, with the Rams holding the tie-breaker by virtue of a 65-50 victory at Utah on Feb. 3. 

Fans can listen to the game on the Colorado State Sports Network. Jerry Schemmel will call all the action courtside. The game will be carried on flagship KLZ (560 AM) in Denver and on KCOL (600 AM), locally. Rams fans worldwide can listen via live streaming audio on CSURams.com/allaccess.

Live statistics are available by clicking the “GameTracker” logo on the men’s basketball “Schedule/Results” page on CSURams.com. 

Senior Day
Prior to the tip of Saturday’s regular-season finale against Utah, the CSU men’s basketball team will recognize the careers of eight individuals.  Senior student-athletes Mike Annese, Mame Bocar Ba, Travis Busch, Arin Dunn, Michael Lebsack, and Harvey Perry, will be honored along with senior managers Noah Greenberg and Maron Towse. 

Looking ahead
Colorado State opens play at the 2010 Conoco Mountain West Conference Championships at UNLV’s Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nev. 

The tournament begins Wednesday with the opening-round matchup between No. 8 Wyoming and No. 9 Air Force.  The four quarterfinal games are slated to begin Thursday at noon.  The semifinal matchups are set for 7:30 and 9 p.m. MT on Friday, and the championship game tips at 5 p.m. MT on Saturday. 

About Utah
The Utes enter Saturday’s meeting with an overall record of 14-15 on the season and are one-game ahead of CSU in fifth place in the MWC standings with a 7-8 league mark. 

Despite falling to No. 14/15 BYU on Wednesday, 71-51, Utah is playing much better than when it faced CSU in February. Winning four of their seven games since, the Utes’ only losses have come to teams ahead of them in the standings. Utah nearly upset No. 8/10 New Mexico, taking the Lobos to overtime, and beat UNLV, a team receiving votes.

Head Coach Jim Boylen is in his third season in Salt Lake, compiling a 56-40 record. The Utes are a season removed from a first-place tie in the MWC standings and a trip to the NCAA tournament, finishing the season ranked No. 25 in the AP Poll.

Juniors Carlon Brown (13.0 points) and Jay Watkins (9.1) and senior Luka Drca (10.2) lead the charge for the Utes, in addition to freshman Marshall Henderson, who averages 11.8 points. Watkins connects on 50.4 percent of his shots, while Brown is good on 36.2 percent of his attempts from long range. Senior Kim Tillie leads Utah with 5.6 rebounds a contest.

Sophomore center David Foster, who ranks fifth in the NCAA with 4.0 blocks per game, will not be available because of a sprained ankle suffered in the team’s last game vs. BYU. 

As a team, the Utes rank seventh in the MWC, averaging 66.6 points per game.  Defensively, the team is fifth, holding opponents to 65.8 points per game.  Utah is holding opponents to an MWC-leading 30.3 percent from long range this season. 

Series vs. Utah
Heading into the programs’ 144th meeting, the Rams haven’t fared well against the Utes, winning just 44 of those games. At home, CSU has also struggled, winning just 26 of the 66 meetings in Fort Collins. CSU’s last victory over the Utes at Moby Arena came Jan. 9, 2007, a 73-57 CSU triumph.  CSU came out victorious in this season’s first meeting, taking a 65-50 win at Utah’s Huntsman Center on Feb. 3. 

Last time vs. Utah
Andy Ogide tallied game highs with 14 points and nine rebounds, while Travis Busch and Dorian Green poured in 13 points each, leading Colorado State to a 65-50 road victory over the Utah Utes in front of 8,110 at the Huntsman Center.

With the win, Colorado State improved to 13-9 overall, and 4-4 in the Mountain West, separating themselves from the Utes (10-12, 3-5 MWC) and moving into sole possession of fifth place midway through the schedule.  

The win matched CSU’s entire conference win total from 2009, and marks the Rams’ first victory at Utah since 2006.

Ogide tallied 12 of his 14 points after halftime, helping the Rams turn a 30-29 halftime lead into a 15-point victory, the Rams’ largest win at Utah since 1992.

“We really controlled the tempo of the game from start to finish,” said Head Coach Tim Miles.  “The team played extremely well defensively, and took an early lead.

Utah struggled shooting to open the contest, missing their first five shots, and allowing the Rams to storm out to a 10-2 lead just more than 6 minutes into the game.  Colorado State forced the Utes into 10 first-half turnovers and converted those chances into 11 points.

Last meeting in Fort Collins
The Rams were in control for the majority of the game, holding a pair of 10-point leads before Utah clawed its way back. The Utes took a six-point lead with 3 minutes, 15 seconds remaining in the game, but CSU used a 6-0 run to tie the game at 71 with 1:27 to play. Utah’s Carlon Brown drove and dunked the basketball to give the Utes a 73-71 lead with just over a minute to play before senior Willis Gardner tied the game with a pair of free throws with 45 seconds left. CSU had the final possession in regulation as Marcus Walker dribbled down the clock, but saw his jumper at the buzzer partially tipped, and the game went into overtime.

In the overtime period, Utah connected on 3-of-6 from the field and 10-of-10 from the line. CSU was held to 1-of-7 shooting as the Rams were outscored 16-6 in the final 5 minutes and fell 89-79.

Current Rams vs. Utah
In possibly the best game of his career, senior Harvey Perry scored a career-high 15 points and pulled down eight rebounds in a loss at Utah last season. Perry shot 4-of-6 from three-point range and added a pair of assists to his stat line.

Senior Travis Busch also put up personal bests against Utah, scoring a career-high 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting in Salt Lake City last month. In his first career game against the Utes, freshman Dorian Green tallied 13 points, going 9-for-9 from the free-throw line.

Also with impressive performances against the Utes are juniors Andy Ogide, Andre McFarland and Travis Franklin. Ogide has scored a combined 48 points (16.0 average) in three games against Utah, shooting 20-for-43 from the field. He has also added 21 rebounds, three assists, two blocks and three steals. At Utah during his freshman campaign, McFarland attempted a career-high 17 field goals, totaling 15 points, which tied for his third best performance that season. During the last meeting in Fort Collins, Franklin totaled 10 points.

Ogide finishing strong
Junior F Andy Ogide enters Saturday’s regular-season finale on the heels of two of the best games in his career at Colorado State. 

At TCU on Feb. 27, Ogide tallied his third double-double of the season, and seventh of his career, posting 19 points and a career-high 15 rebounds against the Horned Frogs.  He followed up that performance with an 18 points and nine rebounds at San Diego State on Wednesday, leading the Rams in both categories in the game. 

Ogide (11.9 ppg.) now ranks just one point behind freshman G Dorian Green (12.0 ppg.) and pushed his team-leading rebounding average to 6.6 boards per game. 

Ogide’s 18 points in his last outing at SDSU also pushed him ahead of Andre McFarland as the Rams’ active career scoring leader with 651 points in a Rams’ uniform. 

Career-high for Nigon
Junior G Adam Nigon posted a career-high 23 points and connected on a personal-best six three-pointers in Colorado State’s near upset of then-No. 10/12 New Mexico on Feb. 23.  Nigon was on fire in the first half, helping the Rams to a 32-29 halftime lead with a 14-point outburst to begin the game.  Nigon also connected on all five of his attempts from the free-throw line, and posted three rebounds, two assists, one block and one steal, while committing no turnovers in 30 minutes.  

Rams vs. ranked opponents
Following CSU’s Feb. 23 loss to then-No. 10/12 New Mexico, Colorado State has now lost 10 consecutive games against nationally ranked opponents.  The last time that CSU beat a top-25 opponent was March 11, 2004 vs. then-No. 25 Air Force in the opening round of the MWC tournament at Pepsi Center. 

Colorado State’s last home victory over a ranked opponent was that same season, a 71-69 victory over No. 21 Purdue on Dec. 30, 2003.  The game produced one of the most memorable endings in CSU history when Micheal Morris hit two three-pointers in the final 0.7 seconds, including the final trey off of a tipped in-bounds pass, to lift CSU past the Boilermakers. 

Sweeping up the competition
Colorado State’s win vs. Air Force, a 51-47 Rams triumph on Feb. 9, marked the Rams’ second regular-season sweep of a conference opponent this season, including Wyoming.   

Colorado State had not swept two teams in the same season since 1999-2000, when the Rams also swept the Falcons and the Cowboys.  The Rams have one more opportunity to record a regular-season sweep in Saturday’s regular-season finale vs. Utah.  The Rams defeated the Utes, 65-50, at the Jon M. Huntsman Center on Feb.3.  A Colorado State team has never swept regular-season series vs. three MWC opponents in the same season. 

Looking for No. 7
With six conference wins in the bag, the Rams have their sights on No. 7. A win Wednesday would give the Rams their most conference wins in a season since the team won eight during the 1999-2000 season. That year, CSU went 18-12 overall, including its 8-6 mark in the MWC. 

Franklin’s free throws
Junior F Travis Franklin attempted 14 free throws in CSU’s loss to BYU on Feb. 17, becoming the 10th player in school history with 200 attempts from the charity stripe in a single season.  The last player to reach that mark was Jason Smith, who attempted exactly 200 free throws in 2006-07.  Bill Green set the school record for free-throw attempts in a single season with 291 in 1962-63. 

Franklin enters Saturday’s contest vs. Utah with 225 attempts, ranking seventh in the CSU single-season record book.  Pat Durham (1987-88) ranks ahead of Franklin with 249 attempts. 

Green going the distance
For the fourth time in his brief career at CSU, freshman G Dorian Green played an entire game in CSU’s loss to then-No. 10/12 New Mexico on Feb. 23, scoring 11 points and dishing out six assists in 40 minutes against the Lobos. 

He also accomplished the feat on Jan. 30 vs. SDSU and Nov. 29 vs. San Francisco, playing 50 minutes in the Rams’ 91-75 double-overtime victory over the Dons, and Feb. 3 at Utah.

Green enters Saturday’s game vs. Utah averaging a team-leading 34.8 minutes per game, the highest mark in the Mountain West Conference, just ahead of Air Force’s Evan Washington (34.4 mpg), TCU’s Ronnie Moss (33.7 mpg.), and SDSU’s D.J. Gay (37.7). 

Home Court Advantage
CSU reeled in its 10th home win of the season at Moby Arena on Feb. 6 vs. Wyoming. The last time the Rams had 10 wins on their home court was in 2006-07 when the team went 10-4.

The Rams are 10-4 at Moby Arena in 2009-10, with the losses coming vs. UNLV (80-72) on Jan. 20, vs. San Diego State (64-52) on Jan. 30, vs. No. 16/14 BYU (92-70) on Feb. 17, and vs. No. 10/12 New Mexico (72-66) on Feb. 23. 

CSU opened the season with eight consecutive home victories, including wins over in-state rivals Denver (64-59) and Colorado (77-62) on Dec. 5 and Dec. 10, respectively.  The Rams have also captured MWC home victories over Air Force (70-48) on Jan. 9, TCU (63-57) on Jan. 27, and Wyoming (80-64) on Feb. 6.

With an all-time record of 444-192 (.698) at Moby Arena, the Rams have now won 10 or more games in a single season at Moby Arena 23 times in the arena’s history.

Strong Freshman Class
The Rams have a talented trio of freshmen that have turned many heads during their first year of collegiate basketball.  These freshmen are eying several categories in CSU’s freshman record book.

Dorian Green not only leads the team but ranks tied for 11th in the MWC with 12.0 points per game. His current average would go down as third all-time among freshmen at CSU. Green has also recorded 70 assists on the season, moving past Jesse Carr’s 63 from last year, and David Turcotte’s 65 from 1984-84, and into fourth place all-time by a freshman at CSU.  He needs six assists to move ahead of John Dudley (85 assists in 1982-93) into third all-time by a freshman at CSU.  Additionally, his 29 starts are third all-time at CSU.  He currently trails Andre McFarland (31 in 2007-08) and Rich Strong (30 in 1982-83). 

Pierce Hornung has been great on the glass, averaging 4.3 rebounds a contest. His current average is sixth all-time behind Mark Jung (4.7 in 1978-79). 

Greg Smith has turned his play up a notch over the second half of the season averaging 7.4 points and 4.2 rebounds per game. 

Smith hitting his stride
Freshman F Greg Smith posted the best performance of his brief career vs. TCU on Jan. 27.  He recorded career highs in minutes (29) and points (15), leading CSU to a victory over the Horned Frogs.

That performance capped a four-game stretch in which Smith averaged 11.8 points and 4.5 rebounds per contest, while hitting 81.5 percent (22-for-27) from the free-throw line during one of the Rams’ toughest stretches on their schedule. 

Smith was a bright spot during a three-game losing streak for the Rams from Jan. 16-23. He posted a then-career-high and team-leading 13 points at BYU on Jan. 16, and matched that effort and tied for team-high honors with another 13-point effort at New Mexico on Jan. 23.  Smith also tallied six points and four rebounds in a tough home loss to UNLV on Jan. 20.

Entering Saturday’s game vs. Utah, Smith is averaging 7.2 points and 4.2 rebounds per game, while seeing his minutes increase since mid-January. 

Franklin a force for the Rams
Despite struggling from the free-throw line (3-for-14 FTs) in the Rams’ 80-72 loss vs. UNLV on Jan. 20, junior F Travis Franklin turned in one of the best single-game performances by a CSU player this season.  Franklin poured in 17 points, while pulling down a game-high-tying nine rebounds and dishing out a team-leading five assists.  It marked just the second time this season that a CSU player had scored in double-figures, and led the team in both rebounds and assists.  Franklin also accomplished the feat when he tallied 10 points and added 10 rebounds, while dishing out a pair of assists at Northern Colorado on Dec. 1, a 70-63 CSU loss.  Freshman Greg Smith also accomplished the feat at New Mexico on Jan. 23 with 13 points, seven rebounds and three assists.   

Scoring for the Rams
Freshman G Dorian Green, junior F Andy Ogide and junior F Travis Franklin rank 1-2-3 for the Rams in terms of scoring through 29 games this season. Green (12.0 ppg.) has scored in double figures in 18 of his first 29 collegiate contests as a true freshman, while Franklin (10.4 ppg.) leads the team in scoring in home games, averaging 14.1 points per game at Moby Arena.  Ogide (11.9 ppg.) ranks as the team’s top scorer against conference opponents, pouring in 12.4 points per game against the MWC. 

Entering Saturday’s game at Utah, Green ranks tied for 11th in the MWC in scoring.  Ogide is 12th and Franklin ranks just outside the top 20. 

Putting it on the line
CSU has become one of the top teams in the Mountain West Conference when it comes to getting to the free throw line this season.  Entering Saturday’s game vs. Utah, CSU is averaging 25.0 free throw attempts per game as a team.  This ranks third in the MWC behind Wyoming (28.4 per game) and New Mexico (26.5 per game). 

This season, the Rams are 11-2 when attempting more free-throws than an opponent.  The Rams are 13-1 when making more free-throws than an opponent.

McFarland climbing the three-point charts
For his career at Colorado State, junior F Andre McFarland has hit 125 three-pointers, and has surpassed Ryan Yoder (1991-94) for 10th place on CSU’s all-time list. McFarland enters Saturday’s game vs. Utah just one three-pointer shy of John Rakiecki (2002-05), who ranks ninth on the list.  McFarland’s career three-point percentage of .421 is currently ninth, just behind David Turcotte (.426), in the Rams’ record book.

Nigon heating up
Junior Adam Nigon entered the season averaging 2.87 points per contest through two seasons. This year, the guard is averaging 8.4 points.  Nigon is shooting 38.6 percent from the floor and 37.1 percent from three-point range. During a five-game stretch from Nov. 29 to Dec. 12, he averaged 11.6 points, including a then-career-high 17 against Montana, helping the Rams to a 4-1 record during that stretch.   

Nigon established a new career-high, carrying the Rams in a down-to-the-wire battle with then- No. 10/12 New Mexico on Feb. 23.  He tallied 23 points including a personal-best six three-pointers in the contest. 

Nigon connected on three-pointers in 15 consecutive games between Dec. 31 and Feb. 27, before being held without a trey at San Diego State on March 3.
 
600 and counting
Junior Andy Ogide eclipsed the 600-point mark for his career at CSU’s game at UNLV (Feb. 20), reaching that mark in 56 games at CSU.  Ogide now has 651 career points to date, and will return next season with an opportunity to become the 18th player in program history to reach 1,000 career points. 

Classmate Andre McFarland is also on pace to reach 1,000 points for his career and ranked as the Rams’ active career scoring leader entering this season.  He now has with 644 points in 84 games at CSU.  

McFarland back in action
Junior F Andre McFarland has missed eight games in 2009-10, after being slowed by stiffness in his lower back, but bounced back in CSU’s Feb. 6 victory over Wyoming with 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting, including 3-of-4 from three-point range.  It was McFarland’s first double-digit scoring game since Dec. 1 at  Northern Colorado, a stretch of 10 games for the Rams active career-scoring leader entering the 2009-10 season. 

Draining the three
Colorado State shot lights out from long range against Wyoming on Feb. 6, connecting on 10-of-15 attempts from beyond the arc, and tying for a team season high in three-pointers made.  The .667 shooting percentage from downtown tied for third best in school history, last done vs. Colorado in 2007. 

Colorado State ranks among the top schools in the Mountain West in terms of three-point shooting percentage this season.  The Rams are shooting 34.5 percent from long range, which ranks fourth in the league behind nationally ranked programs from BYU (.415) and New Mexico (.379), and TCU (.346). 

Balanced rebounding attack
Despite only having eight 10-plus rebounding efforts this season, the Rams have three players - Andy Ogide, Travis Franklin and Pierce Hornung - ranked among the top rebounders in the MWC: Ogide (6.6), fifth; Franklin (5.2), 11th; and Hornung (4.3), who ranks just outside of the top 20.   

As a team, Colorado State ranks fourth in the MWC pulling down 35.2 boards per game.  The Rams’ are outrebounding opponents by 2.8 per game, the fourth-highest rebounding margin in the league (SDSU, +7.0; New Mexico, +5.9; and BYU, +5.3). 

Green means go
Entering Saturday’s game vs. Utah, freshman G Dorian Green, the Rams leading scorer at 12.0 points per game, has reached double-digits scoring in 18 games this season, His scoring average ranks 11th overall in the MWC.

SDSU freshman Kawhi Leonard (12.4 ppg.), Utah’s Marshall Henderson (11.8 ppg.), and BYU’s  Tyler Haws (11.7 ppg.) also rank in the top 14 in the MWC in scoring as freshmen. 

If I can be frank
Junior F Travis Franklin has started 28 of CSU’s 29 contests this season; he came off the bench against DU (Dec. 5).  Franklin has left his mark at both ends of the court for the Rams. The Baton Rouge, La., native ranks second on the team in rebounding (5.2 rebounds per game) and third in scoring (10.4 points per game), while leading the team in offensive rebounds (63), and free-throw attempts (225).  He enters Saturday’s game vs. Utah ranking in the MWC in a number of categories, 11th in rebounding and seventh in offensive rebounding (2.2 per game).  Franklin also ranks just outside the top 20 in the league in scoring.