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Knudson: Can Moby Magic Travel?

By Mark Knudson, The Mtn. Insider
March 1, 2012

Senior Night is always emotional and always pumps up the home team with early adrenalin. Wednesday night in Fort Collins, Colorado State bid farewell to a pair of seniors, Kaipo Sabas and Will Bell. Only the team that came out pumped up was visiting UNLV.

The 17th-ranked Rebels were on fire early, hitting trey after trey and jumping out to a double-digit lead before everyone in crowded Moby Arena had found a place to sit. It was all the Rams could do to stay within shouting distance.

After hitting almost 60% of their three-point attempts in the first half, something strange happened in the second half. The long, athletic, uber-talented and strangely under motivated Rebels began missing the same shots they buried in the first half and let the scrappy Rams back into the game with a 22-5 run. With the crowd getting louder after each Rebel misfire, CSU fought back and overcame its third straight ranked opponent, topping UNLV 66-59. After shooting 47% from the field in the first half, UNLV mustered a meager 27% for half number two when they went 1-for-9 from behind the arc.

CSU closed out the regular season 14-1 at Moby, including a perfect 7-0 in conference play. It was the first unblemished home conference record for the Rams since before anyone in this country had ever heard of The Beatles.

"I give Colorado State a ton of credit for how good they've been at home and their perseverance in this game," said UNLV head coach Dave Rice.

With the win, CSU moved to 7-6 in conference play, meaning they’re also totting around an ugly 0-6 conference mark on the road. Their final conference game is Saturday at Air Force.

Something has to give.

Get a win in Colorado Springs and CSU is in very good shape for an NCAA at-large bid. It would appear they’ll be playing TCU in the No. 4 vs. No. 5 game in the conference tourney next week, and a win over the Frogs – which could be their 20th of the season – would just about seal the deal. But first things first - what about Air Force? The Rams have stubbed their collective toe against the Falcons on numerous occasions, like last season in a very similar situation.  

“The next game is always the most important game for us,” said junior guard Dorian Green after the UNLV win. “We just have to keep chipping away. You know it’s going to be a grind, a 40-minute battle in Colorado Springs. We have to come out and be aggressive and attack.”

So how do the Rams bottle up some of that Moby Magic and take it with them to Colorado Springs?

Junior rebounding machine Pierce Hornung was matter of fact in answering that question. “You enjoy this win for tonight, then tomorrow you wake up and just start preparing for Air Force,” he shrugged.

The Rams will not have a raucous home crowd that was “so loud I couldn’t hear myself think out there,” according to Hornung, when they show up at Clune Arena on Saturday. Instead, they will face an Air Force team with nothing to lose and a chance to knock a rival out of the NCAA Tournament. As the underdog, CSU has done a nice job of hunting this season. Now we’ll see how they handle being the hunted instead.

The win over UNLV may or may not have been the final home appearance for Sabas and Bell. If the Rams fail to earn an NCAA berth, they could very likely get a home game in the NIT. Obviously, the two seniors would be just fine with missing out on a home encore and playing in the Big Dance instead.
See all of Mark Knudson's blog entries HERE.