Sam Houston State Bearkats vs. Colorado State Rams Game Preview

Coming off a blowout loss at the hands of the Texas Longhorns, the Sam Houston State Bearkats will look to get back into the win column in a game against the Colorado State Rams.

The game against the Rams is a much more winnable game for the Bearkats, but it still will be an uphill battle.

For starters, the game is on the road, a long way from home and in the thin air of Fort Collins, Colorado. The high altitude will make it much harder for players to catch their breath when they are on the court.

Generally, coaches like to give their players an extra day or two to get used to the altitude, but that just wasn't possible for Coach Hooten with the Thanksgiving holiday falling the week before the game.

Beyond the conditions, Colorado State presents a stiff challenge.

They are a veteran team that is battle-tested from playing in the underrated Mountain West Conference. The MWC gets overlooked among the top basketball conferences in the nation, but they have five school that have made recent trips to the NCAA Tournament in San Diego State, BYU, UNLV, Air Force and New Mexico.

They finished 16-16 last year and made the CBI postseason tournament.

To boot, they are also off to a 2-0 start with a blowout win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff and a win over a solid Denver program.

The Rams are led by senior forwards Andy Ogide and Travis Franklin. They are both averaging 17 points and 6.5 rebounds per game—talk about getting similarly consistent performances from your top players.

In terms of guard play, Colorado State is led by sophomores Jesse Carr and Dorian Green. Carr leads the team in assists to turnover ratio, while Green has made three of his five three-point attempts in the young season.

For the Bearkats, they have looked to the post to find their points. Gilberto Clavell has had a solid start to the year, a tough game against the Longhorns not withstanding. Antuan Bootle has stepped his game up and has quietly averaged 10 points per game so far. Josten Crow has averaged 12.7 points per game, mostly coming from him finding his way to the hoop when his outside shot isn't falling.

I don't expect that to change with this game. Not only has the post game been successful, but the outside shots have yet to come around. As a team, the Bearkats are shooting 24.6 percent from outside the arc. Only Drae Murray, who has made four of 11 attempts, could be classified as shooting the three relatively well.

On top of that, Colorado State is one of the few out-of-conference Division I teams that Sam Houston State can match up with in terms of size.

Of all the players in the rotation, only 6'9" Andy Ogide is a post threat taller than the Bearkats' best post players.

The Rams have two players in 6'10" Chad Calcaterra and 7'0" Trevor Williams; both would be mismatches but neither of them are in the regular rotation.

I expect the Bearkats to come out playing hard, looking to avenge the tough loss to Texas. Certainly the Rams being on their home court will play a part as well.

I look for the Bearkats to keep within one or two possessions the entire game. The question will be will they be able to close the game out on the road when they desperately need a basket.