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Jan. 30, 2024
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Clifford Sets Tone as Rams Bounce Back
Sold-out Moby crowd watches Ram take down Aztecs
FORT COLLINS –When players come up clutch down the stretch, the performance is magnified by the moment. Much of the legend around Fort Collins that is Isaiah Stevens is built on those types of stories.
Tueday night, Nique Clifford put on such a show, but it came in the first 10 minutes of the contest with San Diego State at a sold-out Moby Arena. Offensive rebounds leading to baskets. Clutch 3s and tough jumpers. Steals and assists.
Considering the circumstances, it was perfect timing as Colorado State’s men’s basketball team rebounded from a tormenting loss at Wyoming to take down the Aztecs, 79-71.
“Huge. Locked in from the jump,” Stevens said of his teammate. “That was something we challenged ourselves as a team, in the locker room, in our huddles before we went out for the tip, is can we just execute out of the gate? Can we be locked in out of the gate? Can we do our job out of the gate, not let it take us 3, 4, 5 minutes to figure out, alright, this is a high-level basketball game against a really good opponent.
“He did that. And he carried us through the first half, and in large parts of the second half as well, just making plays on both ends whenever he wasn’t fouling.”
Just a quick jab after a win which took a lot of the heat off the team. Not that they were feeling it, because Niko Medved didn’t want the loss to linger. He called his return trip from Laramie with his family one of the most challenging of his life. He was glad his two young daughters had their headphones on, too.
Because emotions run high, and when they do – giving the assembled media a life lesson – he feels you should say less. The next day, he didn’t need to berate his team. He knew they’d already done that to themselves. In fact, they didn’t even do anything on the court. Instead, on a nice day, they went to the softball field and played kickball.
Clifford said they didn’t make a big deal out of the loss. Nothing would come of it, at least nothing good.
“It was an unfortunate situation that happened. A lot went wrong for us that game; we learned from it,” Clifford said. “Ultimately, we just moved on to the next one. We knew we had a tough opponent coming int to our place, so we had to protect our home court, so we just moved on and did what we were supposed to do.”
Colorado State’s first four points in what would eventually become a 17-4 lead out of the gate were Clifford buckets off offensive rebounds, neither one of them one of his missed shots. He made it a 10-2 lead with the first of his two 3-pointers in the half.
He had two steals in the first 10 minutes, even a pair of assists and four rebounds in the first 10 minutes.
“Set the tone. I’m sure – let’s call it like it is – I’m sure everyone is wondering how is CSU going to respond after that? I thought his play and our defense … Just came out, we were flying around, we were aggressive, we were tough,’ Medved said. “We came out and said, ‘no, we’re here. No one’s knocked us out.’ We’re ready to play and fight, and I thought he set the tone. I thought collectively, especially on the defensive end and on the glass, we did that.”
The Rams have not been great out of the gates. They scored 21 points in the first 10, matching their best start in conference play. They had 37 points at the intermission, their best offensive performance since Mountain West play began.
They wanted to set a tone, one which suggested there was no lingering hangover.
Clifford was the Pedialyte tucked away in the fridge for such an occasion.
“I think it definitely gives you energy as a player. I knew we needed to get back to starting off right,” he said. “We’ve been a little slow at the start of games, so I was just trying to do my part and I feel like the rest of my teammates did what they were supposed to do as well. We started off strong and it kind of continued throughout the whole game. We just need to be consistent about doing that.”
This is the Mountain West, so nothing is going to come easy, especially against the Aztecs, who played for the national championship last season. They would eventually make a run, and for a brief moment, even took a lead at 61-60 in the second half with 7:29 remaining. Coming out of a timeout, Stevens fed Patrick Cartier for an easy bucket in the lane, which Clifford followed with a pump-fake behind the arc, driving to the basket for a dunk.
It would eventually become a 9-0 run to regain a lead the Rams would never relinquish. Others might have wondered.
Medved never did.
“That’s what all these games come down to. People make runs. It happens,” he said. “You’ve just got to gather yourself, come out and try to win the next moment. We have a team that’s done that. We’ve won some big games this year.”
Clifford finished with 20 points and 11 rebounds while dealing with a bit of foul trouble, his fifth double-double of the season and for the second consecutive game. Stevens matched his points, adding six assists on the night.
But Stevens wanted it to be known – he basically begged Clifford to admit it but wouldn’t – that he was the superior player in kickball, delivering the winning run when he said Javonte Johnson crept in too close in left field and his drive cleared him.
A win, Medved said, set up by classic baserunning mistakes earlier – by coaches Joe De Ciman and Brian Cooley, no less.
“It was a real close game, but they did get the upper hand on us that day,” Clifford said, with Stevens asking – “Who made that play? Come on Nique, don’t do this to me on camera.”
“If we did best out of three though, our team is money for sure,” Clifford finished with no acknowledgement to his teammate. “But they got the best of us that day.”
The Rams’ players had put their past behind them.
By the end, Joel Scott, who hit a big 3 to extend the lead to eight with 2:08 remaining, cashed in 15, and Josiah Strong added 10 on a night when the start meant just as much as did the finish.
– CSURams.com –