Mines at MSU Denver, Friday, 7 p.m. [Live Video] [Live Stats] [TV: CET]
Mines at Colorado-Colorado Springs, Saturday, 7:30 p.m. [Live Video] [Live Stats]
 

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READY FOR OUR CLOSEUP
Friday night's game at MSU Denver will air live on Comcast Entertainment Television in the Front Range region. CET can be seen on Comcast channels 105 or HD 900.

RECENT HISTORY
Mines earned wins over both MSU Denver and UCCS last year, beating Metro on the road 70-65 and UCCS 90-84 in Colorado Springs. Caleb Waitsman's 21-point, 10-rebound double-double paced Mines in their meeting with the Roadrunners, while Gokul Natesan drained 22 and Kaan Korkmaz a career-high 19 in the UCCS win.

NATESAN MAKING HIS MARK
Gokul Natesan continues to move his way up the Mines record book in his senior season. Natesan now has 1,573 points in his career (14th on the all-time list), and also ranks among the best in Mines history in assists (312, 4th), steals (200, 3rd), three-pointers (220, 4th),  and free throws (439, 4th). Natesan is only the third player in program history – and first since 1996 - to notch 1,500+ points, 300+ assists, and 200+ steals, joining Raul Varela and Mike Ziegler.

MINES QUICK LOOK
The Orediggers (7-3, 2-2 RMAC) are led by the RMAC's leading scorer, Gokul Natesan, who is averaging 20.7 points, 3.0 assists, and a league-leading 2.4 steals per game. Luke Schroepfer (11.8 ppg) and Caleb Waitsman (10.8 ppg, 6.5 rpg) bolster the scoring, with point guard Ben Sonnefeld dishing 3.3 assists per game with 5.8 points. Mines owns the RMAC's #3 scoring defense (66.5), #4 shooting percentage (.481), and #3 three-point shooting percentage (.401). Mines is also second in turnover margin at +4 per game.

SCOUTING MSU DENVER
The Roadrunners are 8-2 overall and a perfect 4-0 in RMAC play to start the season having played the same four opponents as Mines thus far. Metro is led by a quartet of scorers in Cameron Williams (15.3 ppg), Peter Moller (13.8 ppg), Sunday Dech (13.3 ppg), and Brian Howard (11.8 ppg). Andrew Harris' 7.3 rebounds leads the team with Dech also contributing 6.6 per game. MSU Denver shoots .443 as a team and owns the RMAC's best rebounding margin (+7.2) and second-best scoring defense (65.8).

SCOUTING UCCS
The Mountain Lions are 3-6 overall and 2-2 in RMAC play but are 3-0 at home this year. TreShawn Wilford is their only player averaging double digits at 12.8 ppg and a team-best 6.2 rpg. Despite not having any individual ranked in the RMAC top-10, the Mountain Lions are the best rebounding team in the league at 41.7 per game (including 13.9 offensive boards a night), and rank third in blocks (3.67/game). UCCS has struggled at the foul line, where the Mountain Lions are shooting an RMAC-worst .626.