#7 Colorado School of Mines at Adams State, Friday, 7:30 p.m. [RMAC Network] [Live Stats]
#7 Colorado School of Mines at CSU Pueblo, Saturday, 6:30 p.m. [RMAC Network] [Live Stats]
   (NOTE: The game time at CSU Pueblo has been changed from 7:30 to 6:30 p.m.)
 

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WRAPPING UP THE REGULAR SEASON
It's hard to believe that the regular season is already near an end as #7 Colorado School of Mines heads out for their final RMAC back-to-back visiting Adams State on Friday and CSU Pueblo on Saturday. The Orediggers are in the hunt for the top of the conference ahead of the start of the RMAC Tournament on Tuesday.

NO-SPECTATORS POLICY CONTINUES
As has been the case all season, spectators will be not allowed to attend this weekend's games due to individual university's policies. 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.

THE POSTSEASON PICTURE
With two games left, Mines trails Colorado Mesa for the #1 seed in the RMAC under the league's RPI system. The Orediggers need to win both of their games this weekend, and then have CMU lose one against either Western Colorado or Fort Lewis, to overtake the Mavericks for first place and the regular-season title. Mines is assured of no worse than second place, however, and will host a home RMAC Tournament quarterfinal on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. against an opponent to be determined. The semifinals and finals will be held at the highest remaining seed on March 5-6. 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.

OREDIGGERS STAY IN TOP 10 AT #7
After enjoying a program-record six weeks at #1 in the NABC poll, Mines fell to #7 in this week's ranking after suffering their first loss of the season. Mines first hit #1 in the NABC Top 25 poll on Jan. 12. Northwest Missouri State took over the top spot this week.

REGIONALLY SPEAKING
The NCAA this season is releasing "teams under consideration" for the postseason rather than regional rankings due to the disparity in the number of games played between conferences. In any event, Mines finds themselves being considered for the second straight week in their temporary home, the West region, along with seven other teams from the RMAC, PacWest, and GNAC: Adams State, Biola, Colorado Mesa, Fresno Pacific, Hawaii-Hilo, Northwest Nazarene, and Point Loma.

NOT A BAD START
Mines started the season 13-0, which tied for the second-best in program history, trailing only the 14-0 start in 2014-15. The Orediggers were also 13-0 in 2013-14.

LAST WEEKEND
Mines had a 1-1 weekend at home, beating Westminster 63-50 on Friday before falling to then-#7 Colorado Mesa, 64-58, on Saturday. Against Westminster, Mines did enough down the stretch to pull away from the Griffins as all five starters scored in double figures. Mines shot .550 in the second half and 18-of-21 overall at the line in the win. Against CMU, the Orediggers led early but went cold in the second half as the Mavericks took the lead late in the second half. Brendan Sullivan scored 15 and Kobi Betts 14 to lead the way.

THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME
Earlier this month, 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.

MINES VS. ADAMS STATE
Mines defeated Adams State 86-70 at Lockridge Arena back on Jan. 30, with Austin Means turning in a 16-point, 10-rebound double-double and all five starters scoring in double figures. All-time, Adams State leads the series 90-70 dating back to 1946-47, but Mines has won four straight and nine of the last 10. The two will play for the 161st time.

Adams State, at 8-7 in RMAC play, could possibly snag a RMAC Tournament top-four seed with a strong closing weekend as they currently sit fifth in the RPI ranking. Destan Williams is one of the RMAC's top scorers at 19.5 points per game, with Frederick Jackson adding 15.8 points and 6.9 rebounds per night and Kaelin Crane scoring 14.3 ppg. The Grizzlies own the RMAC's best scoring offense at 79.5 points per game, but also rank near the bottom defensively allowing 79.7 per game, ranking 11th out of 14 teams.

MINES VS. CSU PUEBLO
Mines and CSU Pueblo did not play their scheduled game in Golden earlier this season due to COVID-19 concerns and will be meeting for the first and only time on Saturday. Mines and CSU Pueblo (formerly Southern Colorado) have met 62 times since 1965 with CSUP leading the series 36-26, but Mines dominating over the last decade with four straight wins and a 10-3 record since 2011.

The Thunderwolves are looking to end a 3-13 season on a high note as they try to break a seven-game losing skid. That said, they have one of the most explosive scorers in the RMAC in David Simental, who scores 19.3 points per game, supported by Tre Brown (13.4 ppg), Lian Ramiro (12.7 ppg), and Tristan Hurdle (10.1 ppg). CSU Pueblo ranks fifth in the RMAC in scoring at 77.0 points per game, but last in defense allowing 84.7 points.

BITS AND PIECES
Mines owns the RMAC's best defense in terms of scoring (61.3 ppg) and percentage defense (.393) … Their scoring defense is more than five points per game lower than the second-best team, Chadron State (66.5 ppg) … The Orediggers also own the #3 scoring defense and #9 field-goal percentage defense in NCAA Division II … Mines also ranked 12th nationally in field-goal percentage offense (.505) …  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 18.8 points per game … Sullivan is shooting splits of .570/.379/.746 … Sullivan enters the weekend with 986 career points … Sullivan is the only player in the RMAC to rank in the top 10 in both blocks (1.0 bpg, 4th) and steals (1.6 spg, 7th) … Michael Glen and Austin Means co-lead the team in rebounding at 5.9 per game … Kobi Betts (12.2 ppg), Glen (10.8 ppg), and Ben Boone (10.4 ppg) are all over 10 points per game along with Sullivan … Titus Reed (7.1 ppg) has been an effective sixth man this season, leading all bench scorers … Mines is 11th nationally in blocks per game (4.6) led by Means (1.1 bpg) and Sullivan (1.0 bpg) … With 152 career blocks, Michael Glen is 10 behind Trevor Wages for the Mines record … He cracked the RMAC career top-10 earlier this month 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 714 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 374-199, 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 266, trailing only Fort Lewis and Western Colorado legend Bob Hofman's 296 victories.

SCHEDULE UPDATE
Due to COVID-19 issues within the program and around the RMAC, the Orediggers entered this week with eight games marked "postponed" on the schedule; those have all officially now shifted to "canceled" as all RMAC games must be played by Feb. 27. With 14 games played and 13 in the RMAC, the Orediggers have passed the minimum number of games played (11) to be eligible for both the RMAC and NCAA Tournaments.

LOOKING AHEAD
The Orediggers will host a quarterfinal in the RMAC Tournament on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. against an opponent to be determined.