FORT COLLINS — The growing pains Niko Medved envisioned have arrived. But through three games, no losses have accompanied them.

Colorado State held off a feisty Denver team for a 74-65 win Tuesday night at Moby Arena to improve to 3-0.

“Found a way to win,” Medved said. “I don’t think we played particularly well. For whatever reason, I just don’t think we had a lot of juice tonight. We’ve got a lot of new players who are going through a lot of new stuff.”

Medved could sense it at halftime. Despite leading, his Rams team wasn’t in the right headspace. They let a 10-point lead get cut down to two points in the final minute and a half of the opening 20 minutes. The Pioneers came out with a game plan that was much different from the one that the CSU coaches expected to see.

DU was leaving CSU fifth-year senior and Purdue transfer Ethan Morton wide open offensively and putting all of their attention on Nique Clifford, who’s also adjusting to life as the guy at the top of the opposing scouting report.

Morton was 0-for-3 from the field and scoreless at the break and just looked visibly rattled — as did several of his teammates.

“You can’t play well when you’re frustrated,” Medved said. “We looked frustrated. Heck, I probably did, too, and I gotta be better that way. Even though there was a lot of frustrating things going on, if you play frustrated, it just goes worse.”

But, part of the reason the Rams wanted to add Morton out of the transfer portal was because of his experience in all types of games and his ability to provide energy when the team needs it the most.

He did just that in the second half — grabbing rebounds, getting steals, leading the team in transition and just generally doing all the little things required to pull away from a scrappy team.

“I thought he really responded as a fifth-year senior and really brought some energy to the team,” Medved said.

The same goes for Jalen Lake, who had a game-high 19 points and now, in his senior season, is becoming a bigger weapon offensively and has essentially the guy CSU turns to if Clifford doesn’t have it or is being taken away by the opposing team.

“It’s part of being a senior,” Medved said. “He had a great offseason. He got a lot stronger. He got more confident. He knows I trust him. I think he’s kinda been our steadiest guy right now.”

As Medved said, he’ll take an ugly win over an ugly loss any day of the week. It’s a relatively young team and one that is still going to take time to get used to playing with one another.

They’ll be put to the test this weekend against a top 25 team in Ole Miss in what is essentially a road game in Southaven, Miss. — just 30 minutes from the Rebels’ campus. No one is expecting the repeat of the massive upset win over Creighton from last season, but Medved’s message heading into this game is as simple as it gets.

“Go compete,” Medved said. “We try to always schedule these opportunities for our guys. It’s gonna be unique. It’s a great opportunity for us to go down there and challenge ourselves against a team that I think looks like an NCAA Tournament team. I think our group’s gonna respond here from this.”

GAME RECAP

Colorado State 74, Denver 65

What happened: The Rams (3-0) pulled away late to beat the Pioneers (1-2) for an in-state win in Fort Collins. DU used an 8-0 run to close to within two at halftime and even held a 1-point lead in the final 10 minutes, but CSU was too much down the stretch.

Star of the night: Jalen Lake continues to look like he’s ready to assume a bigger role as a senior. After a career-high 22 points last Friday, the native Texan had 19 points on 7-for-10 shooting from the field.

Quotable: “He’s been here for four years, he knows this stuff inside and out. I think he’s always been a good shooter. The game’s just slowed down for him on offense and he’s playing with great poise that way. He’s just such a steady guy.” — Niko Medved on Lake

Up next: CSU heads to Mississippi to face No. 25 Ole Miss in a technical neutral site game in Southaven, Miss. Tipoff on Saturday is set for 2 p.m. on SEC Network+.