Fort Collins – A glance at Sean Morris’ linescore in Colorado State’s 84-78 victory over Utah last weekend gives every indication of a starting guard: 18 points, five assists and no turnovers in 30 minutes.
Morris, a 5-foot-10 sophomore shooting guard, hasn’t started a game, however, since freshman Stephan Gilling moved into the lineup in the sixth game of the season. Against Utah, coach Dale Layer started defensive-minded reserve Andrew Patterson to start. That’s fine with Morris.
“It’s not about starting,” Morris said. “I try to bring scoring off the bench. That’s my game.”
What would really make him and his teammates happy is an end to the Rams’ 17-game Mountain West Conference road losing streak when CSU travels to UNLV tonight for an 8:30 p.m. tipoff. The Rebels will be looking for him after he averaged 25 points in two games against them a year ago.
Some players would go into a funk over not starting. Not Morris, who recently met with Layer.
“I was telling him how much I appreciated how he’d been playing, that he was certainly capable of starting,” Layer said. “I also recognized he is in kind of a good groove coming off the bench.”
Instead of dealing with typical coaching headaches from too many players demanding starting roles or minutes, Layer said. “We have unselfish players all the way around. That’s what makes it so much fun to coach them.”
