Life gave Colorado State men’s basketball lemons that had already been squeezed.
Coach Niko Medved said that he felt like his team didn’t have any juice in their 74-65 victory over Denver in Moby Arena.
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Instead it was performances from certain individuals that willed CSU to a win, rather than it finding a victory through team play.
“We found a way to win tonight, I didn’t think we played particularly well,” Medved said. “We had some stretches where we did. I thought we had some good individual performances.”
From an effort standpoint, CSU certainly left something to be desired, but that’s not unheard of three games into the season in the non-conference portion of the season.
“For whatever reason, I just didn’t think we had a lot of juice tonight,” Medved said. “We got a lot of new players, they’re going through a lot of stuff.”
Jalen Lake and Jaylen Crocker-Johnson were in large part of the driving force behind what the Rams offense was able to do — with Nique Clifford riding shotgun.
In the first half, Lake cruised solo, scoring 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting. Lake finished with 19 points on 7-of-10 shooting after DU adjusted at the break, but he was a large part of the reason the Rams had a two point lead heading into the locker room.
“Just trying to be as aggressive as possible on the offensive end, try to help this team as much as possible,” Lake said. “I held my confidence and also just starting on the defensive end as well.”
After half, Crocker-Johnson took the wheel and along for the ride was Clifford.
Crocker-Johnson finished the game with 14 points, eight of which came in the final 20 minutes where he didn’t miss a single shot. After scoring just two points in the first half, with DU denying Clifford the ball, he was able to find a rhythm, scoring 10 in the ensuing half.
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This was by far Crocker-Johnson’s best game in green and gold and a big part of that was his ability to stay on the floor. After getting into foul trouble early in CSU’s first two games, Medved opted to bring him off the bench in an effort to try and prevent him from getting those early fouls.
“It was important to have him out here and not just get in a rut so early, where it’s two fouls and you can never get in the rhythm of the game,” Medved said. “And I thought he was able to get in a little bit of a rhythm that really helped us.”
Medved told Crocker-Johnson that he would be coming off the bench a couple of days prior, a decision that would prove to be crucial in a game much closer than what the score will indicate.
“He felt like that was the best situation for me and everything,” Crocker-Johnson said. “Coming off, giving the team some energy and juice. I just did what I can to help the team win, but definitely felt like (I got) in better rhythm without fouling.”
Part of the early-season woes come from the fact that, like CSU, a lot of teams are new. Medved mentioned that in their first two games, the Pioneers pressured their opponents a lot. Something they chose not to do on Tuesday.
Instead they sagged off of the 3-point line and doubled off of Ethan Morton, who started the game 0-for-5. But sometimes all it takes is to see the ball go through the net. After Morton hit a free throw, he was able to finish the game 2-for-3.
Morton’s impact, however, will almost never be on the offensive end of the floor. The 6-foot-7 guard is a wiry and monstrous defender. Morton will usually draw the best player on the opposing side of the court, and he showed why against DU. Although he scored an inefficient seven points, Morton atoned by adding eight boards, two blocks and two steals.
“He’s an elite defender,” Medved said. “He’s got a really high basketball IQ, it’s just him finding his way in our offense. … He’s really important to the success of this team and it doesn’t show up in scoring.”
Although the juice was in large part absent on Tuesday night, that likely won’t be the case as CSU starts to begin its toughest stretch of non-conference play.
First up is No. 25 Ole Miss, which will be far and away the best team the Rams have played all year. The contest is slated for 2 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 16, in Southaven, Mississippi.
“We just didn’t have a lot of juice tonight, we just didn’t,” Medved said. “I don’t know what the reason is, but we’ll figure it out. But I think our guys will respond and have some juice on Saturday.”
Reach Damon Cook at sports@collegian.com or on Twitter @dwcook2001.
