‘The game is settled on the court’: CSU responds to Wyoming talk with a win
The Colorado State men’s basketball team used Wyoming talk ahead of Border War as motivation before a 16-point win in Laramie for the Rams.
LARAMIE, Wyo. — Wyoming had a lot to say ahead of Saturday’s Border War.
Cowboys men’s basketball coach Sundance Wicks called Colorado State the “Sheep” while saying it was a must-win game. He called Wyoming’s wild win over the Rams in Laramie last season “the greatest comeback in college basketball history.”
Wyoming made a video of a walk-on discussing his favorite memories of games against CSU despite him not appearing on the court in those games.
All fair play in rivalry games, but also fair to say CSU definitely took notice.
The Rams certainly used the talk as motivation and dominated in a 79-63 win over Wyoming at Arena-Auditorium. It snaps a three-game losing streak for CSU at the AA.
“Man, we owed them on (for) last year. We had to come out and get this one. A lot of people was talking before the game, so we just wanted to come out here and prove everyone wrong,” CSU star Nique Clifford said. “It was great motivation for us. There’s nothing better than beating Wyoming, especially on the road.”
CSU seemed to want its play on the floor to be the emphatic response to the talk.
“It’s a focused group,” CSU coach Niko Medved said of the Rams. “You can’t make too much of it because it’s a game, but we spent some time talking about how much they (Wyoming) were putting into the game, how important they said it was for them and reminded ourselves how important it was for us, too, to do that. I really trusted their mindset.”
Here are takeaways from the game.
Interior battle leads CSU
CSU (11-7, 5-2 Mountain West) started the game by hitting its first five shots. The common theme? All of them were in the paint.
The Rams clearly saw something they could exploit inside and made sure to attack the rim. This coming off a loss at San Diego State where 10 of CSU’s first 12 shots were 3-pointers.
CSU is a top-tier two-point shooting team and leaned into it from the start.
Jaylen Crocker-Johnson was efficient in creating space and a constant menace for Wyoming.
“We felt like we had an advantage on the inside. We wanted to not settle, go inside. That’s our mindset to attack the rim when we can and hit the 3’s as they come,” Clifford said. “I think (Crocker-Johnson) did a really good job setting a tone for us.”
Rashaan Mbemba actually missed a couple easy shots inside but had inside presence as well.
CSU built a 15-point first-half lead largely on success inside as 22 of CSU’s 36 first-half points were in the paint.
It was a statement of intent from CSU to physically dominate and the Rams did just that.
CSU finished with 38 points in the paint and shot 67% on 2-pointers.
The Rams also won the rebounding battle 37-28.
Mature handling of Wyoming’s run
Wyoming (9-9, 2-5 MW) struggles to score consistently. Obi Agbim can fill it up, but otherwise the Cowboys struggle to get it in the hoop.
Wyoming is the second-lowest scoring team in the league.
Still, a run was sure to come in a rivalry game.
Sure enough, it did. Wyoming went on a 7-0 surge to end the first half, cutting CSU’s 15-point lead to eight and the break.
Early in the second half, the Cowboys pushed again. Wyoming started the second half 4-4 shooting (all in the paint), then Agbim hit a 3-pointer to cut CSU’s lead to 45-42 and that forced a CSU timeout.
It could have been a problem, especially with ghosts of CSU’s late meltdown here a year ago still in the minds of many.
“I thought the mindset was great. Nique right there (in the timeout) was like, ‘Hey man, alright that’s it. No more runs. This is our run here.’ Again, I thought we came out there and did that,” Medved said.
CSU responded to that run with two 3-pointers of its own (from Kyle Jorgensen and Clifford).
It extended into a 12-2 run, including an Ethan Morton layup and foul. That reestablished a double-digit lead for the Rams and CSU was never threatened again.
Agbim scored 26 points, but the Rams mostly kept him off the 3-point line and Wyoming shot 40% as a team.
Bench and role players step up
There were a number of issues for CSU in a loss Tuesday at San Diego State as the Rams turned the ball over far too often and couldn’t score consistently.
But one of the problems was depth — which has been a CSU strength this season — disappeared. The Rams had just two bench points at San Diego State and those were inconsequential free throws with the game out of hand.
Saturday? The bench and role players shined. No single player had a huge scoring night off the bench, but all contributed.
Bowen Born hit a couple 3-pointers and scored eight points. Morton had seven points and Jorgensen had five. CSU’s bench outscored Wyoming’s 22-10.
“Ethan and Bowen were terrific here today. I thought Ethan was phenomenal. I thought he brought a ton of energy on both ends, made some huge plays for us like a fifth-year senior,” said Medved, who also praised Jorgensen’s mentality in stepping up to hit the 3-pointer in the key second-half run.
Throw in the 11 from Crocker-Johnson and nine for Mbemba, and it was more than enough for the role players beyond stars Clifford, Jalen Lake and Kyan Evans to lead CSU to a win.
Clifford was in foul trouble early but the Rams handled it well. Clifford still ended up with a sterling stat line of 23 points, 11 rebounds and five assists. He has double-doubles in all three games he’s played at CSU against Wyoming. He has eight double-doubles this season.
Lake scored 10 for CSU.
Road strength for Colorado State?
Are these road warriors in green?
Yes, CSU lost Tuesday at San Diego State (most teams do) but the Rams are now 3-1 in Mountain West play away from Moby Arena.
“I said from Day 1, they’re a really high character group. Love being around them. Love coaching them,” Medved said. “They’re really starting to buy into who they have to be. I said from Day 1 I thought this team could and would improve because of who they are and how they’re wired and I think we’re seeing that.”
That is notable, especially considering the 2024 NCAA Tournament Rams won just twice on the road last season in league play.
It is not easy to do. Just this week, New Mexico lost at San Jose State (where CSU won easily) and Utah State lost at UNLV.
Any road win is a good one and the Rams now have three in the pocket as they fight to be an upper-tier MW team.
The next game is a huge one for CSU as the Rams host Boise State at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 22, in the “white out” game. Boise State is one of the contenders for the MW crown.
Follow sports reporter Kevin Lytle on X and Instagram @Kevin_Lytle.
This story has been updated with additional context and postgame quotes. It was also updated with a video.
