FORT COLLINS — Through the first four games of the season, the new-look Colorado State men’s basketball team under first-year head coach Ali Farokhmanesh did just about everything right.
The Rams played solid defense. They shot, and made, 3-pointers at a high percentage. Their offense flowed, averaging 92 points per game.
Friday, however, everything the Rams did well in those first games, they didn’t against visiting Denver at Moby Arena.
Ahead of next week’s Battle 4 Atlantis tournament in The Bahamas, CSU suffered its first defeat of the season, 83-81, to the Pioneers.
“Give a ton of credit to Denver,” Farokhmanesh said. “I thought their game plan defensively, they executed it well, and it was clear they were trying to take away Josh (Pascarelli) and Brandon’s (Rechsteiner) threes more so than anybody else. And they were effective in that.”
After giving up the lead late in the first half and playing from behind most of the second, the Rams got within a point at 80-79 after a pair of free throws by Carey Booth with 43 seconds remaining.
With time winding down, CSU had a chance to take the lead after corralling a block by Booth, but Jevin Muniz missed a layup on the offensive end. The teams then traded free throws, and DU had an 83-81 lead when the Rams called a timeout with 2.3 seconds left.
Pascarelli missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer, and the Rams lost for the first time this season.
“I thought we probably could have sold it a little more on the fake back-screen, but I thought they executed it well in terms of even getting the ball to half-court,” Farokhmanesh said of the final play. “We’d been working on that all the time. It was ironic.
“I’m not going to complain too often about Josh Pascarelli getting a three off.”
Pascarelli’s last miss was indicative of how the Rams’ 3-point shooting went all night. After combining for 30 3-pointers in their previous two games, CSU made only 8 of 18 against the Pioneers.
CSU’s shooting woes weren’t limited to their shots behind the arc, either. The Rams struggled at the free throw line as well, especially in the first half when they made only 12 of 19 from the stripe.
Defensively, the Rams weren’t as sharp as they were in their previous games. DU got good looks from the floor and at the rim all game.
“We’ve got to be better on the defensive end, period,” sophomore forward Kyle Jorgensen said. “It’s never offensive struggles that has us lose these games. We gave them too many open shots. We gave them too many open layups. It’s just mistakes that can’t happen in a college basketball game.”
There were a few bright spots for the Rams, who led for much of the first half. Jorgensen scored 29 points, recording a career high for the third time in five games.
Rashaan Mbemba returned to action after missing the team’s first four games. He finished with three points in eight minutes of playing time.
Booth finished with 18 points and Rechsteiner had 11.
Now the Rams must take what they learned and apply it moving forward, something they were able to do last season.
The loss to DU came almost a year to the day of the Rams’ first defeat at home last season, an overtime loss to UC Riverside at Moby Arena. CSU went on to win the Mountain West Conference and nearly advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.
Now the Rams must regroup, because a couple of big tests await them next week at the Battle 4 Atlantis.
CSU will open the tournament against Virginia Tech on Wednesday before facing either St. Mary’s or Wichita State in bracket play Thursday.
“It’s exciting,” Farokhmanesh said. “You want to play in those events. You want to get those opportunities to play against some of the better teams in the country. That’s why you sign up for those events, you get to go play on ESPN and you get to go play in front of a good crowd and also get the experience for your guys to connect even more in a new environment than they’ve ever been in.”
The Rams (4-1) won’t be back home again until Dec. 6, when they host CU at 3 p.m. at Moby Arena.
