#1 Colorado School of Mines vs. Westminster, Friday, 7:30 p.m. [RMAC Network] [Live Stats]
#1 Colorado School of Mines vs. #7 Colorado Mesa, Saturday, 7 p.m. [RMAC Network] [Live Stats]
 

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NO PLACE LIKE HOME
For the final time in the regular season, #1 Colorado School of Mines will host a weekend RMAC back-to-back, and none this season has been more consequential as they welcome Westminster and #7 Colorado Mesa to Lockridge Arena. Both nights will be doubleheaders with the women's team, and all games will stream live on the RMAC Network.

NO-SPECTATORS POLICY CONTINUES
As has been the case all season, spectators will be not allowed to attend this weekend's games, Mines Athletics will continue to re-evaluate this policy for home games in the future as conditions allow. The RMAC has also announced that there will be no spectators for any of their championship tournaments in any sport this winter. 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 SIXTH STRAIGHT WEEK
Mines hit #1 in the NABC Top 25 poll on Jan. 12, and has stayed there for the last six 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 shuffled with #2 Northern State and #3 Northwest Missouri State holding their spots but West Texas A&M bumping up to #4 and Truman State to #5. Colorado Mesa moved up one spot to #7.

LOOKING AROUND THE RMAC
Because of imbalanced schedules due to COVID-19 this season, the RMAC regular-season champion is not determined by winning percentage but by the NCAA's RPI system, a calculation that takes into account winning percentage and home and away strength of schedule. The RMAC released its first official RPI standings this week and Mines tops the list ahead of Colorado Mesa, with MSU Denver, Black Hills State, and Adams State rounding out the top five. It's essentially a two-time race between Mines and Mesa, with Saturday's winner having the upper hand at the regular-season championship. The RMAC Tournament will still have the same familiar format of eight teams, with the highest remaining seed hosting the semifinals and final.

CHASING HISTORY
Mines is 12-0 for the third time in program history, all under Pryor Orser. The Orediggers started 13-0 in 2013-14 and 14-0 – their best ever - in 2014-15.

LAST TIME OUT
Mines is returning from a Western Slope road trip with two wins, coming back to beat Fort Lewis 67-63 on Friday and then routing Western Colorado 103-82 on Saturday. At FLC, Mines trailed by 13 points in the second half before Brendan Sullivan sparked a furious comeback, scoring 20 of his 23 points in the second half including 12 points in the final 4:39 of the game to lead the Orediggers to victory. At Western, Sullivan again had a big game with 26 points as Mines came back from a point down at halftime to shoot a white-hot .701 in the second half and pull away. Michael Glen added 22 points and Kobi Betts 19 in that win.
 
NO PLACE LIKE HOME, PART 2
Last Friday, Lockridge Arena was announced as the predetermined host for the 2021 NCAA Division II Men's Basketball West Regional, which will take place on the second weekend in March. The Orediggers will still need to qualify for the tournament on their own merits. This year's tournament features shuffled regions to balance the number of schools playing basketball; instead of the South Central paired with the Lone Star Conference, the RMAC will play in the West along with the PacWest and several members of the GNAC. The NCAA field will be announced on Sunday, March 7.

FOUL SHOOTING ON THE REBOUND
Oredigger teams under Pryor Orser have typically been among the best in the RMAC at foul shooting, but this season certainly didn't start that way. Mines was just .655 at the charity stripe over the first five games, but something clicked in their first meeting meet with Fort Lewis and since then, the Orediggers are .756 at the line over their last seven games, including a season single-game best .900 (18-of-20) last weekend against FLC. Leading the way in that improvement has been Brendan Sullivan, who was struggling at .611 in the first five games, but has been a red-hot .842 since, and Kobi Betts also also upped his game from .714 in the first five, to .923 since, missing just one free throw in his last seven outings.

MINES VS. WESTMINSTER
Although the Griffins are a relatively recent member of the RMAC, Mines has a long history with them dating back to 1955 as they meet for the 53rd time with WC leading the series 28-24. The pair have split their last four games, with Westminster winning their only meeting last season 68-66 in Salt Lake City. Mines nearly erased a nine-point deficit with 2:35 to go, but WC's Joonas Tahvanainen and Jai Jai Ely made free throws in the closing seconds to win.

This season, the Griffins are 7-8 overall and in league play, but come in having lost six of their last eight despite beating CSU Pueblo 106-103 in overtime last Saturday. Joey Andrews is their leading scorer at 13.1 points per game and also leads WC with 6.7 rebounds per night, while Reme Torbert adds 11.1 and Isaiah Banks 10.7 points per game, respectively.

MINES VS. #7 COLORADO MESA
Mines and Colorado Mesa match up for the 81st time since 1976, with CMU leading the all-time series 50-30. Mines has won four straight regular-season meetings, but their last game was a 69-61 Mavericks win in the 2020 RMAC Tournament final. CMU pulled away in the final minute to win the tournament paced by MVP Tommy Nuno's 18 points and 15 rebounds.

Like Mines, Mesa is having a magical season at 14-1, with their lone loss coming to Western Colorado on Jan. 30. The Mavericks have been the RMAC's cardiac kids, playing overtime five times and winning all five this season; they've also won twice in regulation by a single score. Ethan Menzies and Georgie Dancer lead the way scoring 15.5 and 13.7 points per game, respectively, and sixth man Reece Johnson is a bench spark with 10.6 points per game.

BITS AND PIECES
Mines has shot .500 or better in six of their last seven games, including .603 against Western Colorado and .615 against Regis … Mines leads the RMAC in both field goal percentage (.523) and field goal percentage defense (.391) … The Orediggers are also in the top 10 nationally in both categories, ranking fifth in field goal percentage and seven in defense … Mines is also third in D-II in scoring defense at 62.0 ppg … 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 been outstanding in his junior season, leading Mines with a career-high 19.8 points per game which ranks fifth in the RMAC … He's also seventh in the RMAC in field goal percentage at .597 … Sullivan enters the weekend with 940 career points … Trent Dykema is coming off a career-high 16 points against Western, coming off the bench to go 6-of-8 at the line and 4-of-6 overall … Kai Barr, who has seen his minutes increase of late, also had a career-high seven in that game … Means leads the team in rebounding (6.2 rpg) and blocks (1.2 bpg) … Michael Glen is right behind him with 5.8 boards per game … Sullivan, Betts (12.2 ppg), Ben Boone (10.9 ppg), and Glen (10.8 ppg) score in double figures … Titus Reed leads all bench scorers at 7.4 points per game … Mines is eighth nationally in blocks per game (4.4) and is averaging 5.8 blocks per game over their last four outings … With 152 career blocks, Michael Glen is 10 behind Trevor Wages for the Mines record … He cracked the RMAC career top-10 last week at tenth in career blocks … Glen is the only player in program history with 1,000+ points, 700+ rebounds, and 150+ blocks in his career … His 702 career rebounds rank sixth all-time.

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 373-198, 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 265, 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 hit that 11-game mark last weekend to become postseason eligible, and enough teams are now over the mark to ensure a champion will be crowned. The champion and RMAC Tournament qualifiers will be determined by use of the NCAA Division II RPI system.

LOOKING AHEAD
Pending any last-minute make-ups, the Orediggers' final regular-season action is slated for Feb. 26-27 at Adams State and CSU Pueblo. The RMAC Tournament would start with the quarterfinals on March 2 and the semifinals and final on March 5-6.