Two shots at home for Falcons to lose donut
Time is running out on an Air Force men's basketball team searching for its first Mountain West Conference victory.
The Falcons have just four games left in the regular season. And if they want to avoid going winless in league play for the first time, they had better get one of their next two - home games today (at 4 p.m.) and a week from today against Colorado State and Wyoming, respectively.
After that, the Falcons finish the regular season with back-to-back games at UNLV and BYU - and a victory in either of those spots would constitute an upset of borderline mythical proportions. Air Force has struggled at UNLV and BYU even during the best of times, having beaten the Runnin' Rebels in Las Vegas once in 14 tries and toppled the Cougars once in its past 17 trips to Provo, Utah.
So while players and coach Jeff Reynolds said they have tried to stay consistent with their approach to games, there should be an extra sense of urgency today and next Saturday. Colorado State and Wyoming are in seventh and eighth place, respectively, in the nine-team MWC.
"These next two home games will be a great opportunity for us," senior forward Matt Holland said. "We need to stay focused, play our hearts out and play desperate basketball with all the energy and effort that we can so we can take care of these last two home games."
In addition to giving the Falcons their first league win, a victory today would help them avoid some ignominious milestones - clinching last place in the MWC with three games left to play and matching the longest losing streak in program history.
It won't be easy. Colorado State is much improved from last season when it went 0-16 in MWC play. The Rams have won three conference games and on Wednesday took first-place Utah to overtime.
"We're better (than last season) - we're clearly better - but that hasn't translated into a whole bunch of wins and losses better," CSU coach Tim Miles said. "But at the same time, even though you don't see it in the win column, I think you see it coming, bit by bit."
Air Force has pointed to signs of improvement in recent weeks. But if the Falcons want a victory or two to show for it, they can't let the next two games slip away from them.
THREE THINGS TO WATCH, Colorado State at Air Force, 4 p.m. today, the mtn., 740 AM
1. CAN THE FALCONS AVOID A SECOND-HALF SWOON?
Air Force has had the lead at halftime in each of its past three games and five of its past eight. But the Falcons have been outscored by a double-digit margin in the second halves of all five - by an average of 41.8-27.8. "We just need to stay focused and stay energized," after halftime, senior forward Matt Holland said.
2. HOW MUCH BETTER IS CSU?
The Rams clearly are better than they were last season, when they went 0-16 in MWC play. But they also should be better than they were Jan. 20, when they beat Air Force 67-56 at Moby Arena. Senior guard Marcus Walker, the team's leading scorer, and junior guard Harvey Perry did not play in that game because of academic issues. But both are back and started in Wednesday's overtime loss to Utah. "They'll be drastically different and more athletic than when we played them up there," Air Force coach Jeff Reynolds said.
3. WILL AIR FORCE TAKE CARE OF THE BALL?
Turnovers hurt the Falcons in their first meeting with Colorado State - they committed 14 - and have been a major problem of late. Air Force has committed more turnovers than assists in each of its past six games, totaling 90 turnovers and 64 assists in that stretch.
QUOTE TO NOTE
"The kids played with a lot of energy and lot of passion, and that can keep us hanging around. But it doesn't always get you over the top - you have to execute too." - CSU coach Tim Miles on the Rams' play in Wednesday's 89-79 overtime loss to Utah.
NOTE TO QUOTE
Air Force's freshmen have combined to play 219 minutes and make 12 starts in the Falcons' past four games. During that stretch, they've scored just 15 points on 4-of-23 shooting, including 1-of-11 from 3-point range, and grabbed 15 rebounds (10 by Sammy Schafer). In conference play, Air Force's three seniors have accounted for 371 of Air Force's 599 points (61.9 percent).
DUBIOUS GROUP
Air Force's men's basketball team is one of four Division I programs to be winless in conference play this season: Air Force 0-12 (Mountain West), DePaul 0-13 (Big East), Oregon 0-14 (Pac-10) and Southeast Missouri State 0-16 (Ohio Valley). Air Force is the only school to have both men and women (0-12) winless in conference play.
