Dec. 6, 2005

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THE MATCHUP
Colorado State will be looking to go 7-0 for the first time in school history Wednesday night when they take on Kansas State in Manhattan. The Rams recorded their sixth-straight win Saturday with a 67-55 victory over IUPUI in Moby Arena. Junior point guard Cory Lewis tallied 13 points, nine rebounds and five assists in the win while sophomore forward Jason Smith continues to lead the team with 19.8 points and 9.5 rebounds per game on the season.

ABOUT KANSAS STATE
Kansas State suffered its first loss of the season on Saturday with a 58-57 setback at Washington State but got back on the winning track with an 89-60 win over Longwood on Monday. The Wildcats finish a stretch of three games in five days when they host CSU on Wednesday. KSU has been winning with intense defense holding opponents to only 57 points per game. Junior Cartier Martin leads the `Cats with 20.2 points and 9.2 rebounds per game and has scored 20 or more points in four of his first six games this season.

RECORD SETTING START
CSU is off to its first 6-0 season since 1970. In the history of Colorado State basketball, no team has started the season with a 7-0 mark.

MOBY UNDER LAYER
Colorado State holds a 54-22 overall record in home games during Dale Layer's five seasons.

Season Games Record
2005-06 4 4-0
2004-05 15 11-4
2003-04 12 8-4
2002-03 18 14-4
2001-02 14 7-7
2000-01 13 10-3
Totals 76 54-22 (.711)

MOBY NONCONFERENCE RECORD
The Rams are 37-4 (90.2 percent) in home nonconference games under Dale Layer. Colorado State has won 12 nonconference home games in a row dating back to a Dec. 10, 2003 loss to Colorado in Moby Arena. The year-by-year nonconference breakdown includes:

Season Record Loss(es)
2005-06 4-0 --
2004-05 8-0 --
2003-04 4-1 Colorado
2002-03 10-0 --
2001-02 4-2 Colorado, Arkansas-Little Rock
2000-01 7-1 Creighton
Totals 37-4

ALL-TIME MOBY RECORD
Colorado State holds an all-time record of 410-159 in Moby Arena.

BACK-TO-BACK ON THE ROAD
The last time CSU has won back-to-back road games was in the 2003-04 season when they defeated Stetson and Air Force.

AGAINST THE BIG XII
Colorado State holds an all-time record of 54-116 in games against opponents currently in the Big XII. That record includes a 20-78 mark in away or neutral site games. Dale Layer holds a 1-7 record against Big XII foes, a mark that includes an 0-5 record away from Moby Arena.

THE STREAK IS ON
Colorado State will try to go on a seven-game winning streak for just the 13th time in school history. CSU's longest winning streak in school history stands at 11 games during the 1988-89 season.

AMONG ELITE COMPANY
Colorado State is one of only eight teams to have six or more Division I wins and no losses. The other schools are: Duke (7-0), Florida (7-0), Texas (7-0), Washington (7-0), Illinois (7-0), UConn (6-0), Clemson (6-0).

THE RAMS IN DECEMBER
The Rams hold a 23-13 record in the month of December during Dale Layer's tenure as head coach.

SINCE 1902
Colorado State is in the school's 102nd season of intercollegiate competition in 2005-06. Colorado State has a cumulative record of 1,031-1,054 in 2,085 previous games dating back to 1902.

DOUBLE FIGURES STREAK
Colorado State sophomore Jason Smith is one of seven players in the Mountain West Conference to score in double figures in each game this season and currently holds the second-longest streak in the conference with eight-straight games in double figures behind San Diego State's Brandon Heath who has hit double figures in his last 15 contests.

ON WEDNESDAY'S
The Rams hold a 3-7 record in Wednesday games during the Dale Layer era including a 1-0 mark (North Dakota State) in 2005-06.

BLOCK PARTY
Colorado State leads the Mountain West Conference in blocked shots per game averaging 8.17 every time out. The Rams boast three of the top four shot blockers in the Mountain West in Jason Smith (2nd), Michael Harrison (3rd) and Micheal Morris (4th). In CSU's win over Auburn, CSU posted a school record 12 blocked shots and the Rams have blocked nine or more shots in a game three times in six games and have never had fewer than six blocked shots in a game this year.

WELCOME BACK
Colorado State returns three starters and five letterwinners from last year's team including 2005 MWC Freshman of the Year Jason Smith who averaged 10.5 points and 5.8 rebounds per game last season while leading the team with 36 blocks. Stuart Creason and Micheal Morris represent the other two starters returning. Creason ranked fifth on the team with 3.1 rebounds per game while Morris led the team in assists for the third-straight year with 87. One of the top outside threats in the Mountain West, Sean Morris returns for his sophomore campaign after knocking down 39 three-pointers a year ago while Andrew Patterson comes back for his senior season for the Rams as well. Junior forward Freddy Robinson will also be back in the Rams' lineup in 2005-06 after sitting out last year because of an injury.

NEW FACES
The Rams welcome eight new faces to their roster this season. Included in that mix are two Junior College Transfers (Michael Harrison and Cory Lewis) and six high school standouts (Preston Petersen, Stephan Gilling, Tim Layer, Chris Harris, Ronnie Aguilar and C.J. Clark).

THEY COME FROM ALL OVER
Colorado State's lineup consists of 15 players representing seven different states including California (2), Colorado (3), Louisiana (1), Mississippi (1), Nebraska (1), Oklahoma (1) and Texas (6).

TALL ORDER
Colorado State's roster in 2005-06 features three players (C Ronnie Aguilar, C Stuart Creason, F Jason Smith) who are at least seven feet tall, and another (F Michael Harrison), who is six-feet, nine-inches tall. The lineup ranks among the tallest in the nation.

THE CENTURY MARK
Colorado State has not allowed an opponent to score 100 points in a game in 135-straight regular-season contests. The last team to put up triple figures on the Rams was Colorado on Dec. 23, 2000 in Boulder. The last time CSU allowed 100 points in Moby Arena was Feb. 21, 1980 against Brigham Young, a span that stretches 372 regular season home games.

RECEIVING VOTES
For the first time since the 1997-98 basketball season, Colorado State has received votes in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches poll and the AP Top 25 poll. The Rams are the only team in the Mountain West to receive votes in either poll over the past week.

INJURY BUG
Injuries continue to haunt Colorado State. Already in 2005-06, three players have missed a game due to injury or illness (Ronnie Aguilar-6, Freddy Robinson-4, Stuart Creason-3). In Dale Layer's six seasons as head coach, CSU players have missed a total of 183 games due to injury or illness. That figure averages out to be 1.2 players missed per game and 30.5 players per season.

PLAYER TIDBITS SINKING THE "J" -
• Sophomore forward Jason Smith has recorded double-doubles in three of his last four games.
• Has gathered four or more rebounds in his last 21 games. In the last 10 games, he has a total of 87 rebounds. He has had five or more rebounds 24 times in 32 games.
• Ranks 2nd in the Mountain West in scoring (19.8 ppg) while ranking 4th in rebounding (9.5 rpg) and 2nd in blocked shots (2.67 bpg).

MORRIS MAGIC -
• Senior guard Micheal Morris is 6th on the school's career list with 120 blocked shots.
• Ranks 8th in career assists at CSU with 324 in his three-year career.
• Has led CSU in assists in nine of the last 17 games and 47 times in his career.
• Ranks 9th in the MWC in rebounding (6.2 rpg), 6th in assists (3.33 apg), 2nd in free throw percentage (.842) and 4th in blocked shots (1.50 bpg). He also leads the league in assist/turnover ratio with 3.33 assists for every turnover committed.

MORE MORRIS -
•Sophomore guard Sean Morris hit a school-record nine three-pointers for the second time in his career against Colorado. In the game, Morris posted a career-best 34 points.
• Ranks 3rd in the MWC hitting 2.83 three-pointers per game this season. He is alson 7th in the league in three-point field goal percentage hitting at a .415 clip on the year.
• Has hit a three-pointer in 12-straight games.

I WANNA BE LIKE MIKE -
• Junior forward Michael Harrison ranks 3rd in the MWC in blocked shots with 2.50 per game.

TYING UP LEWIS ENDS -
• Junior guard Cory Lewis leads the team with 25 assists on the year.
• Ranks 2nd in the MWC in assists (4.17 apg), 7th in free throw percentage (.773) and 6th in assist/turnover ratio (1.39).

STU BALANCE -
• Sophomore center Stuart Creason ranks third on the team with 10.3 points per game after sitting out the first three games of the season due to injury.
• Is 10-of-13 (.769) shooting in his last three games.

NOTING THE IUPUI GAME
• CSU's 15-point halftime lead marked the first time this year that the halftime margin was greater than four points.
• With Stephan Gilling entering the starting lineup, it marked the first lineup change since the Nov. 21 game against Colorado.
• CSU improved its non-conference home winning streak to 13 games.
• CSU shot a season-best .568 from the floor and a season-best .870 from the free throw line.
• It marked the second time this season, along with the Colorado game that CSU had four or more players score in double figures.

FOES UNDER 40
Colorado State 4-0 when holding an opponent to less than 40 percent shooting from the floor including the following games:

Date Game FG-A Pct.
Nov. 18 Northern Colorado (W) 20-65 .308
Nov. 23 North Dakota State (W) 18-58 .310
Nov. 26 Denver (W) 17-50 .340
Nov. 28 Auburn (W) 26-70 .371

RAMS PLUS 50
Colorado State is 3-0 when shooting better than 50 percent from the floor. Those games include:

Date Game FG-A Pct.
Nov. 21 Colorado (W) 26-50 .520
Nov. 28 Auburn (W) 25-50 .500
Dec. 3 IUPUI (W) 25-44 .568

MORE ON TELEVISION
The Colorado State Rams will appear on national or regional television at least five times in the 2005-06 season. These dates include:

Date Opponent Network
Nov. 21 Colorado Fox Sports Net
Nov. 26 vs. Denver Fox Sports Net
Dec. 7 at Kansas State Fox Sports Midwest
Feb. 18 UNLV ESPN+Plus
Feb. 25 at Wyoming ESPN2

FOULING OUT
Senior guard Micheal Morris has gone a team-high 44 consecutive games without fouling out. In fact, Morris has only fouled out once in 91 career games with the Rams. Morris was disqualified against UNLV on Jan. 26, 2004 with 2:34 remaining in regulation in an overtime game that featured six players who notched five fouls (five from UNLV), as CSU went on to win 89-83.

Consecutive Games Without Fouling Out:
Micheal Morris 44, Sean Morris 26, Andrew Patterson 18, Freddy Robinson 13, Cory Lewis 6, Stephan Gilling 6, C.J. Clark 6, Chris Harris 6, Ryan Brown 5, Michael Harrison 2, Stuart Creason 1, Jason Smith 0.

CONSECUTIVE FREE THROWS
Following is a list of consecutive free throws made by current Colorado State players along with their all-time longest streak at CSU:

Player Current All-Time
Micheal Morris 6 20
Sean Morris 4 12
Jason Smith 4 11
Stuart Creason 2 10
Cory Lewis 4 7
Freddy Robinson 1 7
Andrew Patterson 0 5
Michael Harrison 2 3
Ryan Brown 2 2
C.J. Clark 2 2
Stephan Gilling 1 1

THE MAGIC NUMBER IS 70
Over the past two seasons, Colorado State is 0-11 when scoring less than 70 points in a game. In contrast the Rams are 16-5 when hitting 70 and 7-1 when reaching the 80-point plateau.

NEW ADDITIONS
Colorado State had three players sign National Letters of Intent during November's early signing period including one Junior College Transfer and two high school standouts:

Alton Robinson, 6-6, 200, F, Hattiesburg, Miss., Pearl River Community College
Alton Robinson is an all-region and all-conference performer at Pearl River Community College in Poplarville, Mississippi. He averaged 15 points and 7 rebounds per game as a freshman at PRCC and was selected as a preseason JuCo All-American. In his 2005-06 season opening game against Mississippi Delta on Nov. 3, he scored 32 points. He has been selected as the 65th-best junior college player in the country by JucoJunction and was named the third-best small forward in the nation by Lindy's.

"Alton is a mature, explosive player," said CSU head coach Dale Layer. "He can play three different positions and will bring toughness, rebounding and basketball savvy to the team. He can be an offensive force for us."

Jarrel Smith, 6-7, 185, F, Encino, Calif., Birmingham High School
Jarrel Smith was the third-leading scorer in the Los Angeles area in 2004-05 after averaging 24 points and six rebounds per game at Birmingham High School. He was an All-American honorable mention nominee last season.

"Jarrel is an explosive scorer who can put up points in several different ways," commented Layer. "He can shoot the three or he can drive around you and score. He's very long and very athletic."

Jake Nielson, 6-1, 170, G, Aurora, Colo., Grandview High School
Jake Nielson was an all-state honorable mention at Grandview High School in 2005 after averaging 14 points, five rebounds and five assists per game.

"Jake is the second best senior in the state. He's smart, skilled and unselfish and will have a great career at the point."

THEIR FIRST LOSS
In their first six games, the Rams have handed three teams (Colorado, Denver, Auburn) their first loss of the season.

FATHER/SON COMBOS
Head Coach Dale Layer and his son Tim are one of nine father/son combinations in NCAA Division I college basketball. The others include: Mike & Michael Anderson (UAB), John & Patrick Beilein (West Virginia), Mike & Mike Davis Jr. (Indiana), Neil & Neil P. Dougherty (TCU), Mick & Casey Durham (Montana State), Ernie & Jorday Kent (Oregon), Kelvin & Kellen Sampson (Oklahoma), Kirk & Drew Speraw (Central Florida).

CSU BASKETBALL TICKET INFORMATION
Tickets to all home games are available by calling 1-800-491-RAMS or online at CSURAMS.com, or at any King Soopers or City Market grocery store location throughout the state of Colorado.