Rebels welcome short-handed Colorado State

Colorado State basketball coach Larry Eustachy saw it coming and decided to be proactive.

Knowing he was about to lose three players for the spring semester because of academics, he shortened his lineup before being forced to go with seven players.

“We made a decision about a month ago to just stop playing them to get used to these seven players,” Eustachy said. “So it’s been a great opportunity, particularly for some guys that might not have played as much, a couple of freshmen.”

The Rams, who have eight players on their roster if you count late walk-on Juan Sabino II, haven’t gone away.

Colorado State (14-9, 6-4 Mountain West) has won three of four games entering Saturday’s 3 p.m. meeting with UNLV (10-13, 3-7) at the Thomas & Mack Center. The Rams opened as 1½-point favorites in a game that will be televised by CBS Sports Network, but the line dropped to a pick by Friday afternoon.

Eustachy is in his fifth season at Colorado State and 26th overall as a college head coach, and he generally prefers to run eight-player rotations, but hasn’t faced a situation quite like this one. In other seasons, he had the luxury of putting a warm body on the court in case of injury or foul trouble, but his options are severely limited.

Two veterans have been especially important — seniors Gian Clavell and Emmanuel Omogbo. Clavell averages 18.2 points and 6.6 rebounds and Omogbo 13.8 and 10.7.

“Obviously, they carry the heavy load,” Eustachy said. “They’re being asked to play as professionals almost. If they have their (down) moments, then our team really struggles. If they lose their concentration, then we have no chance.”

Eustachy has had to cut back on the length and intensity of his practices to save his players for the games, meaning scrimmages have been replaced by five-on-zero work.

“It hurts us,” Eustachy said. “You have to adjust. If you step on somebody’s ankle in a drill, now you’re down to six. So a lot of film, a lot of teaching. Not a lot of actual game-type stuff.”

The overriding question is how long can the Rams keep going before it all catches up?

Or does it catch up?

Eustachy wasn’t ready to concede a shortened roster would ultimately do them in, saying he learned a valuable lesson as Iowa State’s coach in the 2000-01 season and how to manage minutes. He led the Cyclones to the Big 12 Conference regular-season championship the season before, then went all out to repeat.

Iowa State did just that, but had little left by the time the postseason arrived and lost as a two-seed in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

“The only team that’s going to go to the tournament (from the Mountain West) this year is going to be the team that wins the conference tournament, in my opinion,” Eustachy said. “I used to think it was all about championships, but as the years have evolved, you don’t know who won the league (in the regular season), but you know who won the tournament.”

Contact Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2914. Follow @markanderson65 on Twitter.