#1 Colorado School of Mines at Fort Lewis, Friday, 7:30 p.m. [RMAC Network] [Live Stats]
#1 Colorado School of Mines at Western Colorado, Saturday, 7 p.m. [RMAC Network] [Live Stats]
 

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ON THE ROAD
After another short layoff, #1 Colorado School of Mines returns to the court this weekend with a road trip to Fort Lewis and Western Colorado. It's the second time meeting both teams this season as the Orediggers beat FLC, 79-73, and Western, 67-57, at home back in December.

NO-SPECTATORS POLICY CONTINUES
As has been the case all season, spectators will be not allowed to attend this weekend's games, and due to local and state guidelines, spectators will not be allowed at home games until further notice. Mines Athletics will continue to re-evaluate this policy for home games in the future as conditions allow. The RMAC has also announced that all RMAC Tournament games will be played without spectators regardless of location. 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.

OREDIGGERS REMAIN #1 FOR FIFTH STRAIGHT WEEK
Mines hit #1 in the NABC Top 25 poll on Jan. 12, and has stayed there for the last five weeks, marking the longest stretch on top in program history. It's the second time under Pryor Orser that the Orediggers have hit #1; they also did it at the end of the 2011-12 regular season. In this week's poll, the top five was unchanged as Mines is followed by #2 Northern State, #3 Northwest Missouri State, #4 Lincoln Memorial, and #5 West Texas A&M; Colorado Mesa is #8.  

PERFECT 10
The Orediggers are 10-0 for the fifth time in program history, all coming since 2010-11 under head coach Pryor Orser. Mines has never failed to make the NCAA Tournament when starting 10-0, and they're now chasing the program's best-ever start, a 14-0 run in 2014-15.

LAST TIME OUT
Mines has been idle since Feb. 1 when it routed Regis 84-52 at home. Mines turned in a 49-point second half, shooting .615 overall with 19 points from Brendan Sullivan and 15 by Kobi Betts. The Orediggers hit a decisive 23-7 run to open the second half and won by their largest lead of the game at 32 points.

BETTS EARNS RMAC HONOR
Kobi Betts is the RMAC Defensive Player of the Week, marking the fourth time this year and second straight week an Oredigger has earned the accolade. Betts accounted for a career-high three blocks and a steal along with six rebounds (all defensive) against Regis, and he was a whopping +26 in the victory. He also pitched in 15 points and four assists at the offensive end. Mines held Regis to just 52 points and .345 shooting in the game. Betts is the only player in the RMAC this season to earn both the offensive (Dec. 2) and defensive (Feb. 8) player of the week awards.

GOING BOTH WAYS
The story for Mines early in the season was its defense - the Orediggers have held opponents to 60 or less points six times in 10 games, and 50 or less three times. Their 59.9 points per game surrendered ranks second in NCAA Division II as the Orediggers also put up the #2-rated field-goal percentage defense at .374. But in recent games, Mines' offense has broken out to be one of the nation's most efficient, ranking fourth nationally in field-goal percentage (.526) and boosting the Orediggers' scoring margin of +17.0 ppg to eighth in D-II.

MINES VS. FORT LEWIS
Fort Lewis gave Mines a tough test back on Dec. 19 when the Orediggers won 79-73 at Lockridge Arena. Brendan Sullivan erupted for a career-high 31 points in that game, shooting 10-of-14 overall to go with 12-point games by Ben Boone and Michael Glen. Riley Farris had 22 for Fort Lewis in a game that had 11 ties and 21 lead changes before Kobi Betts' 8-footer with 1:51 remaining made it a two-score game, and Boone iced it with a jumper and foul shots a minute later. Overall, Mines and Fort Lewis are playing for the 91st time since 1968 with FLC leading the series 54-36; Mines' current seven-game win streak is their longest in the series.

The Skyhawks are 5-5 overall and 4-5 in RMAC play, losing 84-77 at CSU Pueblo on Monday. Farris is one of the nation's best, averaging a league-leading 23.4 points per game and ranking fourth in the RMAC at 7.6 rebounds a night; Will Wittman adds 10.7 ppg and Brenden Boatwright 10.0 ppg.

MINES VS. WESTERN COLORADO
Mines beat Western Colorado 67-57 back on Dec. 18 with Brendan Sullivan scoring 24 points and Michael Glen pitching in 12. Mines overcame a slow first half to pull away from the Mountaineers early in the second as they were led by Matthew Ragsdale's 13 points while being held to .333 shooting. Both the most-played and oldest continuous series for Mines dating back to 1925, Western Colorado matches up with the Orediggers for the 184th time on Saturday holding a 98-85 series lead. However, Mines has won 11 of the last 12 and Pryor Orser is 19-7 against the Mountaineers.

The Mountaineers are 4-7 overall and 4-6 in RMAC play but a stout 4-1 at 7,723' in Gunnison, highlighted by a 78-72 win over then-#6 Colorado Mesa on Jan. 30. Ragsdale is having a breakout season with 17.3 points per gaem to lead the team and Cole Sienknecht (13.2 ppg), Avery Rembao (12.3 ppg), and Jackson Ehrlin (10.2 ppg) also cross double digits.

BITS AND PIECES
Mines has shot .500 or better in five consecutive games, including .571 (Black Hills St.), .588 (Adams St.), and .615 (Regis) in the last three games … The Orediggers have shot below .500 just twice this season, against UCCS (.356) and Western Colorado (.444) … Brendan Sullivan (Dec. 21, Offensive), Kobi Betts (Dec. 2, Offensive and Feb. 8, Defensive) and Austin Means (Dec. 2 and Feb. 1, Defensive) have been RMAC players of the week this season … Sullivan has outstanding in his junior season, leading Mines with a career-high 18.8 points per game … Means leads the team in rebounding (5.9 rpg) and blocks (1.2 bpg) … Michael Glen is right behind him with 5.6 boards per game … Sullivan, Betts (11.9 ppg), and Ben Boone (11.5 ppg) are the only Orediggers averaging double figures in scoring in what has been a balanced offense this season … Titus Reed leads all bench scorers at 8.0 points per game … Trent Dykema matched his career high with seven bench points in the Regis win … Mines is eighth nationally in blocks per game (4.4) and has a season-high seven swats in each of their last two games … Michael Glen became the third player in program history to reach 150 career blocks with his two in that game, and is 12 behind Trevor Wages for the Mines record ... Sullivan is at 911 career points.

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 371-198, 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. He is second all-time in RMAC history in conference wins with 263, trailing only Fort Lewis and Western Colorado legend Bob Hofman's 296 victories.

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 Orediggers will hit that 11-game mark this weekend. The champion and RMAC Tournament qualifiers will be determined by use of the NCAA Division II RPI system, with the RMAC's first RPI release coming up on Monday.

GETTING ELIGIBLE
This weekend could mark an important milestone for Mines – if they complete both games, they'll be postseason eligible. The RMAC requires 11 conference games played to be eligible for the RMAC Tournament (Mines is 9-0 in conference play), and the NCAA requires 11 overall games for their tournament (Mines is 10-0 overall).

LOOKING AHEAD
Pending any rescheduling of postponed games, Mines is set for their final home regular-season weekend on Feb. 19-20 hosting Westminster and Colorado Mesa. The Orediggers have a number of games hanging in the balance still looking for make-up dates; any schedule updates will be announced on minesathletics.com and @minesmbb on Twitter.