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Colorado State Seeks Rebound
Utah State Visits in Mountain West Matchup
Utah State has won the last two times it traveled to Moby Arena to face Colorado State, winning by three points in 2020 and prevailing in a 100-96 barnburner in 2019.
Wednesday’s game will feature the top two scorers in the Mountain West Conference. Utah State’s Justin Bean not only leads the conference with an average of 19.9 points, but also leads the league in rebounding (10.5) and field goal percentage (64.4). Colorado State’s David Roddy is second in scoring (19.5) and field goal percentage (57.0).
Colorado State (+375) had the third-best odds to win the Mountain West title coming into the season. Utah State was a little further back at +875.
- Game: Utah State (10-5) at Colorado State (11-1)
- Location: Moby Arena, Fort Collins, Colorado
- Day/Time: Wednesday, 8 p.m. ET
- Television: CBS Sports Network
Utah State Aggies at Colorado State Rams
Consistency Eludes Aggies
For anybody looking for some sort of trend with the Utah State Aggies, let’s just say we wish you lots of luck.
In a span of eight days, Utah State went from making 12 of 21 three-point attempts to missing 18 of 19 shots from long range
Utah State went from scoring more than 80 points five times during a six-game winning streak to averaging 64.5 in its next two contests.
The Aggies finished 2021 by limping their way to a 49-47 loss to Air Force and kicked off 2022 by shooting 55 percent and putting up 90 points in an overtime win over New Mexico.
It would be nice to be able to point to an injury or illness impacting the rotation for the wild swing of results, but the five starters have combined to start 72 of 75 games. The good news is key reserve Sean Bairstow, who missed time earlier in the season, is back. He played 36 minutes in the win over New Mexico and is averaging 9.7 points per game in the last three games.
When he was out, the Aggies often went with a six-player rotation and that is a risky way to proceed. The bad news is that Bairstow stepped in for starter Brock Miller, who has missed two games with back issues. Miller did make the trip for the last game but was held out, so the hope is that the Aggies will be at full strength facing a Colorado State that is undefeated at home.
Utah State has lost its last two games and failed to cover against the college basketball spreads the last two it was listed as underdog on the road.
Sweet-Shooting Rams Look to Bounce Back
There was a little bit of good news and plenty of bad news for the Colorado State men’s basketball team over the weekend.
The good news is that after three of the previous four games were either postponed or canceled due to COVID-19 protocols, the Rams did get to put their undefeated record on the line at San Diego State. The bad news is that Colorado State got run off the court by the Aztecs.
The loss dropped Colorado State out of the Associated Press Top 25 poll.
Colorado State drops out but San Diego State is only receiving votes in the latest top 25 college hoops rankingshttps://t.co/HZcvmsjy6c
— Mountain West Wire (@MWCwire) January 11, 2022
It was only a four-point game at halftime but the Rams had stretches of 5:29 and 5:39 without a field goal as San Diego State rolled to a 30-point win.
Colorado State is returning home, where it has a 29-5 mark over the last two seasons. The Rams will look to rediscover their shooting touch. They join Davidson as the only Division I men’s program to rank in the top 20 in a field goal, three-point field goal, and free-throw percentage.
Four of the six Rams with at least 10 three-pointers are shooting better than 40 percent, led by John Tonye, who is 19 of 38.
The last five Colorado State games have gone over the total set by the Las Vegas odds.
The Rams are 4-2 against the spread in the last six games when they were listed as the favorite.
Offensive Showcase
Three of the last four games between Utah State and Colorado State went over the total, which is something of interest for those who bet online. The last time the teams met, it was an uncharacteristically low-scoring game won by Utah State 62-50. It was the fewest points in a game between the teams since Utah State’s 57-50 win in January 2014.
The teams ranked second and third in the Mountain West in scoring offense as Colorado State scores 79.2 points and Utah State 78.1 points per game. They are also the top two teams in the conference in terms of field goal percentage and also lead the way in assist/turnover ratio.
Colorado State at -5½ is a pretty big number. It is just too hard to predict what in the world Utah State will do on any given night, so let’s put the trust in the host Rams to pull away late and cover.
