FORT COLLINS — The best offense in the Mountain West went ice cold at the worst possible time.

For a moment, Moby Arena breathed a sigh of relief. After Josh Pascarelli made his first 3-pointer of the game to give Colorado State a one-point lead with under 7:30 remaining, it felt like the tide was finally turning and that a poor shooting night was finally over.

But the time between that Pascarelli 3-pointer and the Rams’ next basket was nearly 6 1/2 minutes.

In that time, a bounce-back home win slipped through their fingers and slowly turned into a disappointing 75-62 loss to Nevada that drops CSU (9-4) to 0-2 in conference play in coach Ali Farokhmanesh’s first season.

It didn’t really matter where they shot it from, the Rams struggled to find the bottom of the net. They shot under 40% from the field as a team for the first time all season. They shot under 30% from 3-point range for the second time this year. They even shot just 62% from the free-throw line, their third-worst mark in a game.

“I thought it was a back-and-forth game, for the most part. It happens. Sometimes it’s a make and miss game, but I thought we played well enough defensively,” Farokhmanesh said.

They just didn’t finish possessions. Blame it on a lack of size with big men Kyle Jorgensen and Rashaan Mbemba out, but Farokhaensh won’t. The Rams actually outrebounded the Wolf Pack, 36-34, and on the offensive glass, 12-10. But Nevada scored 21 second-chance points off those 10 offensive rebounds.

“That basically means they scored every single time on an offensive rebound,” Farokhmanesh said. “Every time that we had those chances to get a kill (three stops in a row) or get that stop that we needed, they made a play and they scored off of it. That was the game.”

Those are the small margins CSU is working with now that Mountain West play is here, too.

Even though it ended up being a 13-point win for Nevada in the end, it was mostly a one- or two-possession game with neither team leading by double digits until the final 2 minutes. 

“Most of the night, we did a great job,” Farokhmanesh said. “In this league, when you’ve got two teams that are top 80 in the country, it’s gonna come down to a few possessions. The margins are small in this league.”

That’s how it’s going to be for the next few weeks, too. Mbemba is working his way back from a lingering injury that has limited him to just two appearances so far this season, but Jorgensen, the team’s second-leading scorer, likely won’t be back for another month or so, at the earliest. 

Junior forward Augustinas Kiudulas was thrust into a much bigger role and a slightly different position than he’s played all season in Jorgensen’s first full-game absence. He had just eight points on 3-for-7 shooting from the field and 2 for 8 from the free-throw line.

“He’s trying to find his groove,” Farokhmanesh said. “Augie’s a great player. He works just as hard as anybody in our program. Probably one of the hardest workers I’ve been around. He got put in a tough spot tonight, running a position he hasn’t ran all season.”

What looked like a promising first two months of the season with several impressive nonconference wins with an offense that was one of the country’s best has quickly evaporated in the span of two weeks.

First, the Rams were blown out in the Mountain West opener at Utah State. Now, a home loss to Nevada. It’s time to see if the roster Farokhmanesh built can withstand the adversity. 

“We’ve got enough guys,” Farokhmanesh said. “The strength of this team, we said, was the depth and we’re getting tested with it right now. It’s that time of year. We’ve got guys who have opportunities in front of them. Now it’s your chance to go take advantage of it.”

GAME RECAP

Nevada 75, Colorado State 62

What happened: The Rams (9-4, 0-2 Mountain West) dropped their second straight game to begin conference play as key injuries and poor shooting led to a disappointing showing in front of the home fans after the holiday break. CSU came into the game as the best 3-point shooting team in the country but managed to shoot just 6-for-24 (25%) from beyond the arc as a team.

Star of the night: Veteran guard Tyler Rolison tied his career high with 21 points off the bench for the Wolf Pack, despite entering the game averaging just over four points. He was 6-for-9 from the field and 7-for-11 from the free-throw line. 

Quotable: “It was our whole offense. As a group, we didn’t move the ball well. There was a lot of over dribbling, there was a (lack) of one more passes and whatnot. I think (it’s about) just getting back to what we do. Just moving the ball and sharing the ball. It was just uncharacteristic of who we’ve been and who we are.” — CSU coach Ali Farokhmanesh 

Up next: The Rams hit the road to face new Mountain West foe Grand Canyon on Saturday (6 p.m. Mountain West Network).