FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2020
CONTACT: John A. Martin, Assistant Director of Athletics Communications
(540) 476-1259 | John.A.Martin@colostate.edu
ONLINE: https://csura.ms/3eNdICx
Stevens Preseason All-Mountain West, Rams Picked To Finish Fifth in 2020-21
FORT COLLINS, Colo. – Colorado State’s sophomore Isaiah Stevens has been selected to the Preseason All-Mountain West squad as the Rams were picked to finish fifth in the conference race, as announced today by the league office. The vote for both the order of finish and preseason all-conference members was done by the league’s media from the respective cities.
The second-ever league Freshman of the Year for the Rams, Stevens made an immediate impact on the program in 2019-20, starting all 32 games and leading the team in scoring at 13.3 points per game, which ranks 13th in the league. He also was third in the Mountain West at 4.5 assists per game and assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.18. He played more minutes than any other Ram and scored in double figures in 24 games last season. He hit a pair of game winners in the final seconds last year in wins over Loyola Chicago and Nevada. The Allen, Texas product also led the Rams with 26 points and a school record-tying 12 assists in the triple-overtime win at Tulsa Dec. 21. He was the first CSU freshman ever to earn Mountain West Player of the Week on Feb. 3 after leading CSU to a pair of wins over Nevada and UNLV when he averaged 16.5 points, 5.5 rebounds and 4.5 assists in those contests. He set a new CSU freshman assists record of 144, which is fifth on the CSU single-season chart and is a Mountain West record for a freshman. He also broke the record for Mountain West only games with 84 last year, surpassing Sam Merrill (Utah State) with 71 in 2016-17.
The Rams are coming off a 20-12 season where they tied for fifth in the regular season with an 11-7 mark. The 20-win season was just the 11th in program history and an eight-win improvement under then second-year head coach Niko Medved. In his seven years as a collegiate coach, Medved has continued to improve on the previous win total in each of his stops, including the two years at CSU.
2020-21 MOUNTAIN WEST PREDICTED ORDER OF FINISH
Rank Team (First-Place Votes) Points
1 San Diego State (14) 211
2 Boise State (4) 188
3 Utah State (2) 177
4 UNLV 160
5 Colorado State 141
6 Nevada 114
7 New Mexico 106
8 Fresno State 93
9 Wyoming 59
10 Air Force 39
11 San José State 32
2020-21 PRESEASON ALL-MOUNTAIN WEST TEAM
Pos. Name Yr. Team
G Derrick Alston, Jr. Sr. Boise State
G Isaiah Stevens So. Colorado State
F Matt Mitchell Sr. San Diego State
G Bryce Hamilton Jr. UNLV
C Neemias Queta Jr. Utah State
Preseason Player of the Year
Derrick Alston, Jr., Sr., G, Boise State
Preseason Newcomer of the Year
David Jenkins, Jr., Jr., G, UNLV
Preseason Freshman of the Year
Nick Blake, G, UNLV
– CSURams.com –
