Colorado State vs. Colorado final score: Rams shut down Buffaloes to win rivalry game

The Colorado State Rams looked to give the Mountain West conference a good out of conference resume win. They did exactly that in a road win against the Colorado Buffaloes.

The Buffs came into this game very confident. They beat the #22 Texas team a week ago, they are shooting the ball well and they are defending well. The Rams came in looking to prove themselves to the basketball world. They’ve played a weak schedule with New Mexico State and Stanford being the only stand outs and they haven’t exactly been the shootout type of offense they have been in the past.

What this Rams team is right now is determined. And they proved that tonight. They outworked, out fought, and straight up out hustled the Buffs tonight.

The Rams came into this game priding themselves on their defense. They proved that tonight. The Buffs came into this game averaging 79 points a game. The Rams held them to 58 points; 20 points below their average. The Buffs had 4 players averaging double-digits coming in and of those 4, only 1 (Derrick White) scored in double figures. The Buffs best player, Xavier Johnson, coming off a 27 points performance against Wofford was held to 6 points.

For only the second time, and for the first time by double digits, the Rams were out rebounded. But that seemed to work in their favor, as the Buffs settled for tough shots or forced their shots for the majority of the game. The Rams forced 14 turnovers and held the Buffs to 32% shooting from the field.

The Rams offense came alive tonight and once again, free throws help the Rams win. The Rams shot 38.5% from the field and 40% from three. They went 26-33 from the line in a foul plagued game. There were 55 fouls called in the game. The Rams were able to use this to their advantage as they kept getting to the line and making their free throws.

Once again there was not one standout player. If you had to pick a player of the game, Nico Carvacho would get a lot of votes. He was a force on offense and gave a huge effort on the defensive end. Carvacho finished with 14 points and 9 rebounds before fouling out, but he frustrated the Buffs all night.

Emmanuel Omogbo had 15 points and 8 boards. J.D Paige had 11 points, and Devocio Butler had 13 points. Butler provided the spark off the bench for the Rams tonight. He’s starting to get more comfortable with the D-1 game and look for him to continue to grow into the player he was at the JUCO level.

All in all, the Rams had a complete performance tonight. Save for a 5 minute stretch in the first half the Rams controlled this game. The Rams will look to continue the momentum from this game into Saturday as they host the Wichita State Shockers in the Mountain West-Missouri Valley Challenge and look to add another signature win to their resume.