Mines at UCCS, Saturday, 7:30 p.m. [Live Video] [Live Stats]
 

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THE WEEKEND AHEAD
Colorado School of Mines (3-3) opens RMAC play Saturday with a single game this weekend at the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs (2-3). It's the start of a three-game road swing for the Orediggers, who will visit Colorado Mesa and Western Colorado next weekend.

LAST WEEKEND
Mines cruised to a pair of home wins last weekend, beating Kansas Wesleyan 87-52 and Haskell Indian Nations 95-69. Against KWU, the Orediggers were led by Austin Means' first career double-double (12 points, 12 rebounds) and Brendan Sullivan's 14 points. Every player who saw the court for Mines scored as the youngsters shined, with freshmen combining for 33 points. Against Haskell, Ben Sonnefeld's 19-point, seven-assist night led the way and Michael Glen pitched in 18 points with Joe Miks adding a career-high 16 off the bench.

BLOCK PARTY
Mines had a dominant defensive performance against Kansas Wesleyan with 13 blocks, the most in a game since the same total against Adams State in 2003. Six different Orediggers had rejections with four - Ben Clare (4), Austin Means (3), Michael Glen (2), and Brendan Sullivan (2) - having multiple stops.

OFF THE BENCH
The Orediggers struggled with bench production over the first four games of the season, averaging 11.25 points off the bench in that span. But last weekend, the Mines second wave produced 23 points per game in the two wins, led by successive career highs from Joe Miks (12 vs. KWU, 16 vs. HINU) and Austin Means' career-high 12 against KWU.

LEADING THE WAY
Ben Sonnefeld leads Mines in scoring (14.2 ppg) and assists (4.3 apg) through the first six games of the season, one of three Orediggers in double-digit scoring along with Mason Baker (12.5 ppg) and true freshman Brendan Sullivan (11.7 ppg). The Orediggers are out-rebounding opponents by a +5.8 per game margin and have also doubled opponents on blocks (36 to 18) while outshooting opponents overall (.435 to .402) and from three (.357 to .316).

MINES PICKED SECOND IN THE RMAC
The Orediggers were picked second in the RMAC Preseason Coaches' Poll behind Regis. The Orediggers (22-9 in 2017-18) received 203 points and four first-place votes to sit second in the poll behind last year's RMAC Tournament winner Regis (216 points, 8 first) but ahead of defending regular-season champ Fort Lewis (199 points, 2 first) and new RMAC member Dixie State (185 points, 2 first), who won last year's PacWest regular-season and tournament titles. UCCS was chosen seventh.

THE SERIES VS. UCCS
Mines is 33-10 all-time against UCCS, including wins in four of their last five match-ups. The two split their regular-season series last year with both winning on the road, but Mines won the rubber match in the RMAC Tournament quarterfinals, 95-83, led by Duke Douglas' 29 points. Ben Sonnefeld scored 14 with a 10-for-10 free-throw shooting night and Michael Glen had 13 in that game. Elijah Ross scored 24 for the Mountain Lions while Justin Smith had 10 points and 10 rebounds.

LOOKING AHEAD
Mines stays on the road to visit Western Colorado and Colorado Mesa next weekend.