Once Upon A Time In Las Vegas
The Fresno State Bulldogs (6-8, 4-9 ATS) hits the road to play the Colorado State Rams (8-8, 5-10 ATS) in Moby Arena in Fort Collins on Saturday afternoon. Fresno comes into this game just having vanquished #21 New Mexico, the last unbeaten team in D1 college basketball. Colorado State – last in the Mountain West – is fresh off a loss from MWC leader Nevada. This is a Mountain West Conference game where Colorado State stands to win their first conference game against a middling Fresno State team.
The Nevada Wolf Pack defeated Colorado State 80-69 to seal their fifth straight victory. Nevada is having a great year and is 3-0 in the Mountain West, and 13-3 overall, while Colorado State is struggling at the bottom of the conference.
Patrick Cartier led shooting for the Rams with 18 points and two steals. Colorado State also got 16 points and four dimes from Isaiah Stevens. In addition, John Tonje had eight points. This game was played at home, where the Pack is 8-0.
2H | @kbuckets11 is too smooth with it ?? #BattleBorn // #PackParty pic.twitter.com/b28N3oE2Ix
— Nevada Basketball (@NevadaHoops) January 5, 2023
Nevada had a great offensive game, with 57.8 percent shooting from the field (compared to 49 percent from the Rams), 35.0 percent shooting from distance, and 91.3 percent at the charity stripe (a full 22 percent better than the Rams). Shooting from the field topped any game played yet this season for Nevada, and the Rams were far under their season average in defending from distance.
The lead was changed out a few times during the game, with Colorado State taking a five-point lead on a good run with 6:50 to go in the second half. The Pack finished out ahead by eleven, closing out the game on a 21-5 run over the final 6:40 in the second half.
The deficit in shooting from the field and the inability to get more boards than Nevada hurt Colorado State in this matchup. However, the scenarios against Fresno State should be much different, as they are not a top-of-conference squad at this point. Can Colorado State m anage to get in a conference dub?