#8 Colorado School of Mines (2-0, 1-0 RMAC) at Regis (1-0, 1-0 RMAC), Thursday, 1 p.m. [RMAC Network] [Live Stats]
#8 Colorado School of Mines (2-0, 1-0 RMAC) vs. UCCS (0-1, 0-1 RMAC), Saturday, 7 p.m. [RMAC Network] [Live Stats]
 

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OREDIGGERS HAVE SPLIT WEEKEND AHEAD
Off to a 2-0 start to the season, #8 Colorado School of Mines will play two games this week, visiting Regis for a Thursday matinee before returning home to host UCCS Saturday night. No spectators are permitted at either game, but both will stream live on the RMAC Network. Thursday's game at Regis, with a 1 p.m. tipoff, is a makeup of their postponed meeting from Dec. 1 and will be the frontside of a doubleheader with the women's team. Saturday's game with UCCS will be a single game after the postponement of the women's match-up.

NO SPECTATORS THROUGH THE END OF 2020
Spectators will be not allowed to attend any Mines game – home or away – at least through the end of December due to local and state guidelines in Jefferson and Denver counties. Mines Athletics will continue to re-evaluate this policy for home games in the future as conditions allow. In the meantime, all games home and away are streamed live and for free on the RMAC Network, which is also available on the AppleTV, Roku, and AmazonFire app stores.

IN THE POLLS
Mines was this week's biggest mover in the NABC top 25 poll, jumping up five spots to #8, their highest ranking since the 2017-18 season. Mines received plenty of preseason love, appearing in three different national rankings and topping the RMAC coaches' poll. The Orediggers were #24 in the D2SIDA media poll (whose first regular-season edition comes out Jan. 12), and #11 in the Basketball Times poll. On Nov. 17, Mines was announced as the near-unanimous #1 team in the RMAC preseason poll with 13 first-place votes, ahead of Black Hills State, UCCS, and Colorado Mesa.

GROUND RULES
In late November, the RMAC released information about the season structure and return-to-play guidelines for basketball. All teams will have a 22-game conference schedule (non-conference play being optional), and any game that is not played due to COVID-19 issues will be declared a "no contest." All student-athletes and team support staff must test negative within 72 hours of the game, and in the state of Colorado, everyone in the arena will wear a mask except for the 10 active players on the court. An RMAC champion will be declared if at least five teams complete 50 percent of their originally approved schedule (11 games). The champion and RMAC Tournament qualifiers will be determined by use of the NCAA Division II RPI system.

OREDIGGERS HANDLE SOUTH DAKOTA MINES
Another terrific defensive performance helped Colorado School of Mines start off RMAC play with a win, beating South Dakota Mines 70-49 at Lockridge Arena on Friday. The Orediggers pulled away late in the first half after a feisty first 10 minutes from the young Hardrockers, who returned just one starter from their RMAC Tournament semifinalist squad last year. Austin Means led the Orediggers with 15 points and five rebounds, while Kobi Betts (12), Brendan Sullivan (11), Ben Boone (10), and Titus Reed (10) contributed to a distributed scoring load. Kolten Mortensen was the only Hardrocker in double figures with 12 points. Mines' defense was lights-out, holding SDM to 39 percent shooting overall as they committed 22 turnovers. Sullivan had four steals and a block while Boone swiped three among the Orediggers' 10 steals.

MINES-SDSMT NOTABLES
The last time Mines held opponents to under 50 points in consecutive games was the 2013-14 season, doing it against Colorado Mesa (48) and Western Colorado (45) … The Orediggers improved to 16-9 all-time against SDM, and snapped a three-game regular-season losing streak to the Hardrockers … The Hardrockers' 49 points were the second-fewest in the series, since a 74-48 Orediggers' win in the 1962-63 season … Mines shot 50 percent for the game (27-54) despite being just 3-for-15 from beyond the arc. SDM was 16-of-41 overall and 5-for-20 for three.

DEFENSE TURNING HEADS EARLY
Giving up just 48 and 49 points in their first two games, Mines' defense has been stifling so far this season. Through the first two weeks of the season, the Orediggers own NCAA Division II's best scoring defense (48.5 ppg) and second-best field-goal percentage defense (.333) and scoring margin (+27.5). Individually, Brendan Sullivan is averaging 3.0 steals and Ben Boone 2.0 steals per game, while Austin Means, the RMAC's Week 1 Defensive Player of the Week, has 2.0 blocks per game.

MINES VS. REGIS SERIES
The Rangers are 1-0 after routing South Dakota Mines 90-52 on Saturday, with Brian Dawson scoring 25 points in the win including five three-pointers. Mines and Regis meet for the 134th time dating back to 1925, the second-oldest continuous series in the Mines record book (a week younger than their series against Western Colorado). The Rangers hold a 68-65 advantage in what has been a historically competitive series. Mines has won the last two meetings but they've split the last four. In their only game last year, Kobi Betts' floater with 0.4 seconds remaining helped Mines escape Regis Fieldhouse with a 70-68 win as Betts capped a career-high 20-point night and Brendan Sullivan pitched in 16.

MINES VS. UCCS SERIES
UCCS is 0-1 having lost 85-78 to Adams State on Saturday despite a 23-point performance by Alijah Comithier and 43 bench points. Mines and UCCS will meet for the 47th time since 1988 with the Orediggers leading the series 34-12. The Mountain Lions will take on CSU-Pueblo Thursday before visiting Golden. Mines has won four of the last five and two of the last 10 match-ups. Last year, the two teams each won on each other's courts; UCCS beat Mines 82-77 early in the season with a late surge led by DaRaun Clark's 30 points; Mason Baker had 27 points and Titus Reed scored 18. In the return leg, Mines won 74-57 to cap the regular season as Kobi Betts scored 20 and Brendan Sullivan notching an 18-point, 11-rebound double-double.

TWO DECADES AT THE HELM
The 2020-21 season marks the 20th on the bench for Mines head coach Pryor Orser. Under Orser, Mines has gone 363-198, won five RMAC regular-season championships and two RMAC Tournament titles, qualified for 10 NCAA Tournaments, and currently is on a seven-season 20+ win streak. His 363 career wins ranks fourth in RMAC history, while Orser's 255 career RMAC victories rank second all-time behind only Fort Lewis and Western Colorado legend Bob Hofman (296 wins).