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Colorado State Rams vs. New Mexico Lobos: Series Preview, How To Watch, Odds, More
Colorado State hosts New Mexico after Lobos choose to finish season
Contact/Follow @MWCwire
Colorado State eyes second consecutive conference sweep
Who: New Mexico Lobos (5-11, 1-11 Mountain West) vs. Colorado State Rams (14-4, 11-3 Mountain West)
When: Tuesday, February 9 – 9:00 PM MST
Thursday, February 11 – 6:00 PM MST
Where: Moby Arena – Fort Collins, CO
TV: Tuesday – FS1 | Thursday – CBS Sports Network
Stream: FuboTV – Get a seven-day free trial
Radio: Colorado State | New Mexico
Odds via BetMGM: Colorado State -18.5
The season was off.
At least it appeared that it may have been so for the New Mexico Lobos. But after some clarification, the Colorado State Rams are set to host the Lobos Tuesday at Moby Arena in Fort Collins, CO at 9:00 PM MT with the second game of the series happening on Thursday at 6:00 PM MT.
The Rams are coming off a narrow conference sweep over Wyoming, while the Lobos are coming off a ten day hiatus since voluntarily postponing their series with San Diego State which was later cancelled altogether.
David Roddy (15.9 points, 9.3 rebounds, 2.6 assists per game) and Isaiah Stevens (14.9 points, 4.8 rebounds, 5.9 assists per game) have been the primary catalysts for Colorado State’s strong performing 2020-2021 campaign which has the Rams squarely in the at-large bid conversation for the 2021 NCAA Tournament. Some media outlets have the Rams as high as an 8-seed in college basketball’s biggest tournament, but the Rams won’t stay at eight for long if they fumble against the Lobos.
New Mexico, sitting at 305 in the NCAA’s NET ranking system, is a definitive quadrant 4 game for the Rams and a loss in either game would all but knock them out of the at-large conversation. For that to happen would be asking a lot out of a Lobos team that has suffered losses in more ways than one throughout the season.
Prior to the season getting underway, there was the tragic killing of Santa Fe High star and Lobo signee J.B White. Lobo Assane Ndiaye, a 7’1 transfer from Kilgore College, has been unable to play due to medically related reasons and two Lobos (senior guard Keith McGee and freshman point guard Nolan Dorsey) have elected to opt out of the season. Add to that substantial roster and staff turnover that also took place and strict COVID-related regulations imposed by the New Mexico Governor’s office (which forced all practices and games to be played out of state) and you start to see how pinned down this squad has been. Most recently, starter Rod Brown (8.1 points, 5.0 rebounds, 1.3 assists per game) went down with an ankle injury against UNLV and Isaiah Marin has been out with an undisclosed illness. It is unclear whether they will play on Tuesday.
Just based on the number of scholarship players available, it would be much more than a mere surprise for New Mexico to win, let alone cover the nearly 19 point spread.
A win should be considered a massive success for New Mexico, but if the Mountain West wants to keep its chance of having four teams compete in the NCAA Tournament, it’s one the Rams can’t afford to lose.
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