With back-to-back buzzer-beating wins, a chance to win a Mountain West regular season title and NCAA Tournament hopes still very much alive, the Colorado State Rams men’s basketball team is playing their best when it counts. Head coach Larry Eustachy joined Sean Walsh on Mile High Sports Radio to discuss their recent success, as well as their Mountain West regular season championship matchup with the Nevada Wolfpack on Saturday.
Eustachy was excited about the team’s past two nail-bitter wins, but is most proud of the fact that his team knows it shouldn’t have come down to that, and that they must play better if they want to compete with an excellent Nevada squad.
“The cool thing about this team is in spite of their youth, with only two seniors and seven players, is they understand that since we won on New Mexico’s court, we’ve gotten away from who we are and how we have to play, and that shouldn’t have come down to two buzzer-beaters,” said Eustachy.
Eustachy is confident headed into their matchup with Nevada, but may be missing a key player headed into Saturday. Sophomore guard J.D. Paige has been sick most of the week with strep throat, and without him, the Rams would be missing a marquee defender and team-first player.
“I think we’re exactly where we need to be,” said Eustachy. “Our only problem is J.D. Paige has not practiced the last three days with strep throat and he looked awful today. He’s a big part, nobody is more important than J.D. with his role of the unselfishness, and I mean there’s not a better sophomore defender in the conference, let alone maybe in the country.”
With or without Paige, Eustachy and the Rams will have their hands full with a talented Nevada squad. Eustachy and Eric Musselman, Nevada head coach, are close friends and have similar basketball mindsets.
“There’s going to be two similar teams playing each other,” said Eustachy. “They are loaded. They don’t have a weakness and they don’t beat themselves. The only times they’ve lost is when teams like San Diego State have played their best game of the year.”
Furthermore, the Rams have played in hostile environments all season, including Boulder, New Mexico and Wyoming, but Saturday’s matchup may prove to be the toughest yet. Eustachy understands that these fans will have something many others from this season haven’t had: liquid courage.
“This place not only sells Miller Lite, they sell Jack Daniels and they make margaritas for their fans, so it’s one of those venues, because it’s in Nevada, that they’ll be pretty looped up before this 5:00 [PT] tipoff.”
Although they have a chance at a regular season title Saturday, Eustachy still feels walking away as champions of the Mountain West tournament in Las Vegas next week is more important, since the winner receives an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
“A championship is great, but it’s all about whats gonna happen in Vegas next week,” said Eustachy.
The Rams are set to take on the Wolfpack at 6 p.m. MT in Reno, Nev. on Saturday, March 4. Fans can tune in to ESPN 3 to watch the game as well.
Listen to the full interview with Larry Eustachy, including his thoughts on his time at Iowa State and Southern Miss, in the podcast below.
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