INDIANAPOLIS – The immediate emotion is heartache.
There was no way around it. Colorado State had set a goal to not only reach the NCAA Tournament, but win games. The Rams had set themselves up to do so, stacking the non-conference schedule with tough contests and winning all of them. They battled in a tight Mountain West, eventually earning a No. 6 seed in the bracket.
The first half of Thursday's game with Michigan at Gainbridge Fieldhouse was promising. The second half a much different story in a 75-63 loss.
Heartbreak.
"This will sting and it should," CSU head coach Niko Medved said. "These guys came here and had an opportunity to win and we didn't get the job done."
Now the Rams need to find what they couldn't in the second half, but something they did at the end of last year when they were left off the bracket – a response.
Looking from the outside a year ago – with a fourth-place finish in the NIT – fueled the Rams through the offseason. It gave them a goal in the summer, working when there were no eyes on them. It provided purpose when they all came back together by the end of June.
It gave them drive in what would become a 25-6 campaign, the third 20-win season in a row for Medved, who came to Indianapolis with a new contract extension through the 2029 season.
Not a team to wait, the concept of responding is already in place.
"Immediately, when that buzzer sounds," David Roddy said. "You know, you just embrace the moment, and you know, accept the loss. Michigan, again, is Michigan. They are an amazing program, and you know, we strive to be a team like that. So yeah, just embrace it and just ready for the off-season now."
The stage looked anything but too big for the Rams in the first half, rushing out to an early lead behind stellar 3-point shooting, led by post Dischon Thomas. It was the auxiliary scoring the team was hoping to find in the game, and for Thomas, it had been a long time since he had filled the role.
He had four 3-pointers at halftime, the most he'd made since drilling five in a win over Creighton back in November. It put him in double figures heading to the locker room at halftime, a total he hadn't reached in 15 games.
For a team with no NCAA Tournament experience, it was a great sign. The first half had gone about as well as Colorado State could have hoped, and because of it, the Rams never trailed Michigan the first half in their first tournament appearance since 2013.
Medved sat at the podium answering questions afterward and noted sometimes the blessing can become a curse. As well as they shot in the first half, it was almost absurd to expect it would continue.
It didn't, and at the 12:53 mark of the second half, Michigan edged in front when Eli Brooks hit a jumper. However, the Rams came back with five quick as Chandler Jacobs scored an old-fashioned three-point play, followed by a James Moors layup.
Holding momentum is never easy in March, and Michigan – an Elite Eight team a year ago – found a way to take it back with a firm grip on the strength of an 8-0 run which carried it to the finish.
The game threw a big reverse card on the floor, as the shots Michigan couldn't hit in the first 20 minutes found net in the final 20. The Wolverines shot 60 percent from the field, and after missing all seven 3-pointers they took in the first half, came back to hit 4-of-7 to close, two of them from Caleb Houstan in the key 8-0 run.
Guard Eli Brooks scored 12 of his 16 points for Michigan in the second half, giving the Wolverines four in double figures, more than enough to aid the consistency of Hunter Dickinson, who scored 12 of his game best 21 in the first half.
In the end, Thomas wasn't additional scoring, but the leading scorer for the Rams. He hit a fifth 3 to give him 15, one of three Rams to score more than 10. Roddy did so with 13 before fouling out late, and so did Kendle Moore, finishing with 10.
After shooting 40 percent from the arc in the first half, the Rams dipped to 26.7, and just 29 percent from the field overall. When they did get to rim, they couldn't get the right role or bounce. Shots they made throughout the season, they missed. The presence of Dickinson, who blocked four shots, made them think, even rush shots. Making matters worse, Michigan took a couple of them off the glass and quickly converted on the other end.
In a loss, a team will find plenty of plays to lament, and the Rams already had a list.
"It's going to help immediately. I can't wait till the off-season and we're getting back together and trying to do this again," Roddy said. "You know, just getting that experience and understanding how hard you have to play in 40 minutes because that's the only thing that you're guaranteed when you get selected. I think that's the biggest mission of mine and this team is just to figure out how we can get back here and how we can have more success."
Yet, the Colorado State roster is one which very much could remain intact. It's not a surprise to think Roddy – an AP honorable mention All-American -- will test the NBA waters this spring, and Medved will give him his full blessing.
Medved came to Colorado State to take the right steps to advance the program. One by one, if that's what it took. He can count some. The wins are adding up to bigger totals, so are the crowds – five consecutive Moby Arena sellouts to end the season.
He's built a team very much like him in regards to ambition. Maybe even more. Coming to Indianapolis was a step, but this is a group which prefers two at a time. That's what encourages Medved about his team.
If they weren't built that way, the Rams wouldn't have left disappointed.
"Listen, I told the guys after, they should be disappointed," he said. "We came here to win. We're happy to be here, but we weren't just happy to be here. We wanted to win, we believed we could win. At the same point and time, those are guys who followed the program and all the work they've put in and continuing to take the next step … This team accomplished a ton this year. The fans and the energy around the program and the success that we've had has just been unbelievable. And the goal is can you take another one, and that's what this group has always done.
"We're just going to have to learn from this experience like we do all the time, to grow and get better and perform better and improve in the offseason. I like groups that want to keep taking steps forward."
"dish" - Google News
March 18, 2022 at 02:42AM
https://ift.tt/0UlsjPn
The Dish: Disappointment Immediately Turns to Inspriation - CSURams.com
"dish" - Google News
https://ift.tt/lDW98I5
No comments:
Post a Comment