Larimer News

FORT COLLINS, Colo. – The regular season is in the books and now all that matters is the next four days in Las Vegas. Colorado State men's basketball enters the 2023 Mountain West Tournament as the No. 8 seed facing ninth-seeded Fresno State in Wednesday's opening round. The Rams and Bulldogs tip-off at noon MT / 11 am PT on the Mountain West Network and K99.1.

Opening Tip- Colorado State closed out its regular season schedule with a 92-84 win over New Mexico on Senior Night.- Senior guard earned first team All-Mountian West honors from both the coches and media.- Seniors John Tonje and Isaiah Stevens led the team. Tonje scored a team-leading 24 points while Stevens recorded his seventh double-double of the season with 17 points and 13 assists.- The 13 assists by Stevens are a program record for assists in a single game.- Patrick Cartier and Tonje each reached career milestones in scoring. Cartier reached 2,000 points for his career, while Tonje passed the 1,000 points mark.- Cartier and Jalen Lake were the other two Rams to finish the game in double figures scoring 10 and 15 points, respectively.- Stevens leads the Mountain West in assists (6.8) and assists-to-turnover ratio (3.08) to rank fifth and ninth in the nation, respectively. He is also 69th in the nation and third in the conference for scoring with 17.9 points per game. - Colorado State ranks in the top 15 nationally in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.51, 14th), assists (16.9, 13th), effective field goal percentage (56.4%, 12th) and field goal percentage (49.3%, 10th).- CSU swept the regular season series with Fresno State. Winning by 22 at home and completing an improbable comeback to win by three at Fresno.- The Bulldogs are coming off a 108-72 win against Chicago State to end the regular season. Jemarl Baker had an impressive 43 points performance in the win.- This is the fifth time Colorado State has entered the Mountain West tournament as the eighth seed.

Scouting the BulldogsJustin Hutson's team is coming off a 108-72 win over Chicago State to close out the regular season. In the win Jemarl Baker tied FSU's record for points in a game with 43. He was unstoppable going 13-for-14 from the field including making 10 3-pointers.

Baker is one of two Bulldogs to average double figures scoring this season, leading the team with 12.8 per game. Teammate Isaiah Hill is adding in 12.2.

Fresno State likes to slow games down and grind them out with a pace ranking 327th in the nation leading to low-scoring games typically.

The Bulldogs dropped five of their last six Mountain West games this year with the lone win coming at Air Force. Three of those losses were by five points or less.

What's AheadWith a win Colorado State advances to face regular season champion and top seed San Diego State in the quarterfinals on Thursday at 1 pm MT / noon PT.

Original source can be found here.