These Rams are a true Team Together. That’s not just the slogan of the team this year, as it has been for many years, it’s playing out as legitimate.
Colorado State’s not just talking the talk, they’re walking the walk in their first two games of the year, winning 92-67 over Arkansas Pine Bluff on Saturday afternoon.
Nico Carvacho was dominant, as per usual, the Rams shot well from outside again, and what really helped the offense flow was the wonderful ball movement for CSU. Let’s take a deeper look at those three takeaways:
Ball movement was phenomenal.
The Rams are playing team-oriented basketball and that’s paying dividends early on in this season. On the offensive end, it was “do whatever you want” hoops for the last six years, Colorado State has a new focus on calling set plays, getting out into transition and swinging the ball around the perimeter for open shots.
They did that all afternoon long, passing around and around the arc until one of the players had an open shot. Every time down the court, seemingly, the ball moved around many times before Colorado State took a shot. Some possessions, they passed it 10 times before a shot, finding those open looks with unselfish play.
On one quintessential possession, Anthony Masinton-Bonner had an opportunity at a 3-pointer, but passed it to J.D. Paige on the elbow, and Paige bounce passed it to Carvacho down low for a lay-in.
On Wednesday in the season-opener, the Rams enjoyed 21 assists, totaling 21 yet again on Saturday.
“We have a really unselfish team, everybody’s going to make the right play,” Carvacho said after the win. “Everybody’s going to hit that one more pass to take the open shot. It’s what we practice every day.”
Nico Carvacho could average a double-double every night.
Carvacho, the superstar of the Rams who could one day be playing in the NBA, continued his great start to the season with a second straight double-double. He earned the achievement only a few minutes into the second half with his 10th board of the night, finishing with a team-high 18 points and 11 rebounds.
At 6’11” and a filled-in 240 pounds, there was no one on Arkansas Pine Bluff who could match up with the redshirt junior. He grabbed rebounds with ferocity on both ends of the court, ending UAPB’s scoring hopes on many possessions.
He scored multiple times off his teammates finding him in the paint, like the give-and-go with Bonner which turned into an open, easy dunk for the big man. And on one trip down the floor, Nico, down low, spun one way, spun the other and scored with a defender in his face. He’s more polished on the offensive end, definitely and his better body control has kept him out of foul trouble int he first two games, too.
CSU continued to shoot lights-out from downtown.
The Rams started the game cold from outside, but then turned it on. At the end of the first half, they went 7-13 (53.8 percent) with that phenomenal passing helping, certainly. They finished the game 12-23 (52.2 percent), which built on the success of Wednesday night, going 16-31 (51.6 percent).
After that win, Niko Medved said he didn’t know if shooting that much from outside was a recipe for success, but he liked the Rams shot selection.
“I just think it’s sharing the ball,” head coach Niko Medved said of hitting open 3-pointers. “Guys are moving the ball, they’re making the extra pass, they’re turning down a good shot to get somebody else a great shot.”
J.D. Paige, who didn’t play in the season-opener, went 4-5 from downtown as the Rams best shooter outside on the day.
Next up for 2-0 Colorado State is a third straight home game, this time against Montana State who is currently 0-2.