Colorado State Rams vs New Mexico Lobos Basketball Recap

Colorado State 68, New Mexico 62

If you love the NCAA Tournament bubble, you’re right at home in the Mountain West Conference. One of the most fascinating bubble teams in all of college basketball just enhanced its prospects for the Big Dance and is creating a very intriguing situation in the Rocky Mountains.

The Colorado State Rams scored an important victory over the New Mexico Lobos in Mountain West Conference action from Moby Arena in Fort Collins, Colorado, on Saturday night. In a matchup of two NCAA Tournament bubble squads, it was the Rams who survived a late Lobo rally to move to 7-3 in conference play. The loss almost certainly dealt the final blow to New Mexico’s dark-horse Tournament candidacy: the Lobos fell to just 5-5 in the MWC and have only one quality win – a home triumph over BYU – to stand on. New Mexico’s resume just isn’t deep, diversified or balanced enough to warrant NCAA consideration at this point. Fifth place in the Mountain West just won’t cut the mustard unless multiple five-star wins in the non-conference slate exist. Those wins are nowhere to be found, and frankly, UNM’s tourney candidacy was very shaky to begin with. Now, it’s appreciably fair to say that Los Lobos are headed for the NIT.

But enough about New Mexico; it’s CSU that rates as the more compelling story.

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Head coach Tim Miles’s Colorado State squad came out with tremendous energy and extended its lead to as many 18 points in the second half. The Lobos found their groove as the second half continued and eventually cut the Colorado State lead to just three points with under a minute to play. Using a tremendous free-throw advantage, the Rams were able to survive and keep their postseason hopes alive. Andy Ogide had 17 points to pace the Rams on a night when UNLV, their foremost competitor for third place in the conference, lost at home to San Diego State.

The evening’s events set up a bubble-licious confrontation between UNLV and CSU in Fort Collins in the coming weeks. That game could be the ultimate bubble game, a knockout situation for the loser and a ticket-puncher for the winner. That’s a somewhat premature verdict, but then again, it’s not too far from the reality. UNLV has a win over Wisconsin to tout, while Colorado State’s non-conference body of work was not very distinguished at all. Colorado State, though, has clearly topped UNLV in the Mountain West portion of the 2010-2011 schedule, creating a very even Ram-Rebel competition for a third NCAA bid in the league. The NCAA bubble is very weak this year, so it could be that Colorado State might become the fourth tourney team from this conference alongside UNLV. However, neither the Rams nor the Rebels can feel terrifically safe about their chances right now. The Vegas-CSU battle at Moby Arena is going to go a long way toward determining the fates of these teams. Colorado State’s win over New Mexico has truly shaken things up in the MWC.

New Mexico simply couldn’t find enough offense to score the road victory. Head coach Steve Alford’s club shot 40 percent from the field and just 6-of-25 beyond the arc. Dariese Gary and Kendall Williams were key in getting New Mexico back into the contest, but the Lobos simply dug themselves too big a hole… a hole that will lead directly to the National Invitation Tournament.

By: Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer