#13/13 Mines (4-0) vs. Kansas Wesleyan (6-0) – Friday, 5 p.m. – Golden, Colo. [Live Stats] [RMAC Network]
#13/13 Mines (4-0) vs. Westcliff (1-1) – Saturday, 6 p.m. – Golden, Colo. [Live Stats] [RMAC Network]

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HOME SWEET HOME
The #13/13 Colorado School of Mines men's basketball team returns home this weekend as they take the court at Lockridge Arena for the first time in the 2022-23 season after the Thanksgiving holiday when the welcome a pair of foes from the NAIA ranks, first hosting Kansas Wesleyan Friday evening at 5 p.m. before taking on Westcliff on Saturday evening at 6 p.m.
 
LIVE COVERAGE
The match this weekend will be available free of charge on the RMAC Network and will have live stats through Sidearm.

AT THE HELM
Entering his 22nd season in Golden, head coach Pryor Orser is the winningest coach in program history and enters the 2022-23 season on the cusp of 400 career wins, owning a career mark of 399-212 and a 282-146 mark in RMAC play, the second-most wins in conference history. Under Orser, Mines has won five RMAC regular-season championships and two RMAC Tournament titles, and qualified for 11 NCAA Tournaments including two Elite Eight trips. 
 
IN THE POLLS
The Orediggers were tabbed to finish third in the RMAC in the preseason poll, receiving 169 points and a first-place vote. Black Hills State garnered 196 points and the remaining 14 first-place votes while Colorado Mesa was picked second, earning 178 points. Fort Lewis (152) and UCCS (138) rounded out the top five in the poll. On the national stage, the Orediggers jumped in the Top 25 in the NABC Division II Coaches Poll at #13 while climbing seven spot to #13 in the D2SIDA Media Poll. Black Hills State climbed four spots to #6 in the NABC Poll and held firm at #5 in the D2SIDA Poll, with Fort Lewis claiming the final spot in the newest NABC rankings while CMU dropped to #24 in the D2SIDA rankings this week.
 
WEEK 2 RECAP
The Orediggers continued their hot start to the season by going 2-0 at the Otter Invitational hosted by Cal State Monterey Bay. Friday night the Orediggers took on Cal State East Bay and got a 27-point outing from Brendan Sullivan to lead the way while Sam Beskind and Trent Dykema also finished in double figures as Mines won 77-71 in a game in which they went 28-29 from the free throw line. Saturday against the host Otters, it was Beskind who erupted for a career-high, going for 25 points on 10-13 shooting, including 4-6 from three with seven rebounds and five assists as he was one of five Orediggers in double figures for the game. Riley Schroeder had 15 on 4-7 shooting and went 6-8 from the line and just missed a double-double by one rebound as did Adam Thistlewood, who had 14 points as he went 6-9 from the line with nine boards. Reagan Koch had the best game of his young career, also scoring 14 on 5-8 shooting and 2-3 from beyond the arc with four assists while Kai Barr dropped 11 on 5-7 shooting in his first start of the season in an 86-77 win.
 
SULLY'S SUPERLATIVES
Brendan Sullivan accumulated seven more honors following last season, including his second consecutive CoSIDA Academic All-America honor, second consecutive RMAC Academic Player of the Year award, RMAC First Team All-Academic for the third straight year as well as NABC Second Team All-District Laurels. He also wrapped up his undergraduate studies at Mines, completing a Bachelor's Degree in Civil Engineering in May and is now pursuing a Master's in Engineering Technology & Management. Through his first four seasons in a mines uniform, Sully's earned 25 honors, achievements and accolades; he might want to look into adding a shelf or two in order to have enough room for them all.
 
HELLO, MY NAME IS….
Several new faces join the Orediggers this season, including a pair of Division I transfers. Golden native Adam Thistlewood returns to play for his hometown team after a standout four-year career at Colorado State in which he etched his name all over the Rams record books. Sam Beskind arrives in Mines after four seasons at Stanford and already having earned a Bachelor's and Master's degree during his time with the Cardinal. They are joined by a trio of freshmen in guard Dom Girish and forwards John Derrick and Wade Kahl.
 
GRIZZLED VETERANS
Mines isn't short on experienced returners this season either, as Ben Boone, Trent Dykema and Brendan Sullivan are all back for a fifth year. Sullivan led the team in scoring last season, averaging 15.0 PPG and shooting 51% from the floor and hitting from beyond the arc nearly 39% of the time He also led the team in rebounding, pulling down 133 boards and averaging nearly five per contest. He also led the Orediggers with 35 steals and 24 blocks en route to First Team All-RMAC honors. Boone, an Honorable Mention All-RMAC selection last season, is coming off a year in which he dished out a team-high 59 assists while still scoring better than 13 PPG and shooting 46.5% from the floor, including a scorching 43.7% from three-point land. Dykema was a key contributor off the bench last season, shooting over 40% from the field and from beyond the arc while going turning in a perfect season from the free throw line.
 
CLIMBING THE RANKS
Continuing a storyline from last season, Brendan Sullivan continues to make his mark as one of the most prolific scorers in Orediggers history. He enters this season with 1,515 careers points and is coming off the second 400-point campaign of his career in 2021-22. Just about a 52% shooter in his career, Sully has his eyes on continuing his march up the all-time scoring list. Additionally, he's now 26 assists away from 250 for his career and would become the 10th player in program history to hit that milestone. His 131 steals are now fourth all-time in program history, having passed Farris Broussard (2000-05) over the weekend. He now sets his sights on Raul Varela (1992-96) who ranks third with 206.
 
RAISING THE BARR
Kai Barr took a big step forward in 2021-22 despite fighting through injury last season. The redshirt junior posted career bests in scoring (8.9 PPG), rebounding (4.2 RPG), assists (1.1 APG) and blocks (0.8 BPG), and is the fourth-leading returning scorer entering this season. He scored 19 on three occasions and put up double-figures in four of Mines' last six games.

SCOUTING KANSAS WESLEYAN
The Coyotes are off to a 6-0 start to the season and are already 3-0 in Kansas Collegiate Athletic conference play following an 82-78 win over Friends University Tuesday night. The Coyotes, who will be playing Friday's game as an exhibition, are averaging just shy of 78 points per game and shooting .455 for the season while holding opponents to just over 60 points per night and a .354 shooting percentage, including .221 from three. Jun Murdock leads the team in scoring at 13.8 PPG on .459 shooting and also has a team-high 18 assists. Easton Hunter and Tyus Jeffries are each averaging 8.0 PPG, with the former shooting .393 from beyond the arc and the latter shooting .463 from the field. Defensively, Alex Littlejohn is the team leader in rebounding, pulling down 12.4 per night while scoring nearly 9.5 per game on .457 shooting. Thurbil Bile leads the Coyotes in both blocks and steals with 13 and seven in each category, while pulling down 6.7 rebounds and scoring 6.0 points per game. Kansas Wesleyan began the season receiving votes in the NAIA Preseason Top 25.

SCOUTING WESTCLIFF
The Warriors, who will playing Saturday's game as an exhibition, take on Colorado Christian Friday afternoon before making the trip up to Golden the following day. Westcliff is just 1-1 in countable games this season, losing their season opener to The Master's 83-52 before collecting an 85-66 win over Chapman. Tuesday night they took on Cal State Fullerton in their second of four exhibition matches this month, falling by a score of 78-57. Statistically in those countable games, Josh Harrison leads the team with 14.0 PPG and is shooting .579 from the floor. Olisa Ngonadi scored 12 points and recorded 10 rebounds in his only action of the season while Ray Witt Jr. is averaging 7.5 PPG and leads the team from shooting beyond the arc at .375. Abdul Abdullah socring 6.5 points and pulling down 8.0 rebounds per game while Gary Harris, who dropped a team-high 15 against the Titans Tuesday, leads the team in steals with five and is averaging 5.5 PPG. Micaiah Hawkins, who also went for double figures against Fullerton off the bench with 14, is shooting .444 for the season and averaging 4.5 PPG.
 
CHECKING THE STAT SHEET
Through four game this season, Sam Beskind finds himself atop the scoresheet, checking in at 15.0 PPG after going for double figures in each of the last three games. He also leads the team with 17 assists and is second in rebounding with 5.8 per game and is one of four Orediggers scoring double figures this season. Brendan Sullivan checks in at 13.5 PPG and is shooting .545 from the floor and .444 from three-point land. Adam Thistlewood, the team's leading rebounder at 7.8 per night, is also scoring 12.5 per game and shooting .500 from beyond the arc and is second on the team with 11 assists. Ben Boone, who is second on the team with five steals, is scoring just over 10.0 PPG and shooting .571 from the floor. Kai Barr is coming off a season high scoring night against CSUMB and enter the weekend averaging 8.3 PPG and is tied for the team lead in blocks at three with Riley Schroeder, who also scored a season high Saturday night and is averaging 6.8 PPG along with 5.3 rebounds per night and has six assists. Redshirt freshman Reagan Koch also went for double figures in the win Saturday, raising his scoring average to 4.3 PPG off the bench with six assists and three steals. As a team, Mines is shooting better than 50% from the field and .388 from three this season.
 
SERIES HISTORY
Friday night will be the third meeting all-time between the Orediggers and Coyotes. Kansas Wesleyan took the first-ever meeting back in 1948 55-44 but Mines has won the last two meetings in 2009 and 2018 by scores of 75-58 and 87-57 respectively. Saturday will be the first time Mines and Westcliff meet. Following last weekend, the Orediggers are now 14-13 all-time against teams from California heading into Saturday's game with the Warriors.

LOOKING AHEAD
The Orediggers wrap up non-conference play when they return home to Golden for a pair of games after the Thanksgiving holiday, beginning Friday November 25 against Kansas Wesleyan before taking on Westcliff Saturday November 26. Both games will tip-off at 5 p.m. at Lockridge Arena.
 
Fans can keep up with Mines men's basketball on Twitter and Instagram at @minesmbb. They can also keep up with Colorado School of Mines Athletics all year long on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram using the handle @MinesAthletics.