The men’s basketball team looks to continue its early success in conference play when it hosts the Colorado State Rams at 7 p.m. tonight in Daniel-Meyer Coliseum.During the holiday break, the Horned Frogs (10-5, 2-1 in conference) sported a 4-2 record while downing two conference opponents, the New Mexico Lobos and the Utah Utes. The 10-5 mark through 15 games matches the record of the 2004-05 team, and is a six-game improvement from last season’s record of 4-11 through 15 games.

Despite the improvement, the Horned Frogs are looking to bounce back from an 89-65 loss to the BYU Cougars that saw a TCU defense, which was holding opponents to an average of just over 60 points a game, give up 89 points on 59 percent shooting.

Head coach Neil Dougherty said, in a teleconference call, the Frogs ran into a hot team in the Cougars. He said he was still pleased with the way the team was playing, despite a wave of injury and sickness during the break, highlighted by a knee injury sustained by junior forward Alvardo Parker.

“As our health improves, our team will improve along with that,” Doughtery said in the teleconference.

In order to rid themselves of the bad taste left by the BYU game, the Horned Frogs will have to get by a Rams team (12-4, 2-2 in conference) led by Jason Smith, a 7-foot junior center averaging a little more than 17 points and nearly 10 rebounds a game. Like Parker, Smith is also battling a knee injury.

Colorado State head coach Dale Layer told reporters in the teleconference call that he “doesn’t think there’s a problem with (Smith) playing Wednesday.