#10/9 Mines (9-1, 3-1) vs. MSU Denver (4-6, 1-3) – Saturday, 7 p.m. – Golden, Colo. [Live Stats] [RMAC Network]
#10/9 Mines (9-1, 3-1) vs. Western Colorado (2-6, 0-4) – Sunday, 7 p.m. – Golden, Colo. [Live Stats] [RMAC Network]

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BOUNCE BACK WEEKEND
After being dealt their first loss of the season over the weekend, the ## Colorado School of Mines men's basketball team closes out a four-game home stand this weekend at Lockridge Arena as Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play rolls on, first hosting MSU Denver Saturday December 17 before welcoming Western Colorado to town Sunday night December 18. Both games are set to tip at 7 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 on Friday November 25, he reached the 400-win mark in his career with an 82-58 win over Kansas Wesleyan. Heading into RMAC play this weekend, his overall record stands at 404-213 and 285-147 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 remained inside the Top 10 in both national polls this week, dropping two spots in the NABC Division II Coaches Poll to #10 while climbing one spot to #9 in the D2SIDA Media Poll. Black Hills State remained #5 in the NABC Poll and at #4 in the D2SIDA Poll, with Fort Lewis climbing to #9 in the NABC rankings and debuting at #22 in the media poll.
 
WEEK 5 RECAP
The Orediggers went 1-1 in their return home last weekend as they dispatched South Dakota Mines Friday night 68-61 before taking Black Hills State to the brink before falling in overtime 85-77 for their first setback of the season. Adam Thistlewood dropped a season-high 24 against the Hardrockers on 9-12 shooting while Sam Beskind added 15, eight of which came from the free throw line, while pulling down five boards, dishing out five rebounds and collecting two steals. Riley Schroeder had a game-high seven boards while Reagan Koch had eight points on 4-7 shooting and three steals off the bench. Saturday night saw four players finish in double figures led by Beskind and Cade Mankle with 15 points, the latter shooting 5-6 from the floor and 3-3 from deep with five boards as well, while Thistlewood had 13 on a tough-night shooting with six boards and Brendan Sullivan adding 12. While it was a back-and-forth game throughout regulation, Mines had a chance to win on the final possession but couldn't get the opportunity to do so before BHSU pulled away in the extra period to secure the 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. Through the first six games of this season, he now stands at 1,641 career points and is coming off the second 400-point campaign of his career in 2021-22. A better than 52% shooter in his career, Sully has his eyes on continuing his march up the all-time scoring list. Additionally, he's now 13 assists away from 250 for his career and would become the 10th player in program history to hit that milestone. His 138 steals are now fourth all-time in program history, having passed Farris Broussard (2000-05) a few weeks back. He now sets his sights on Raul Varela (1992-96) who ranks third with 206.
 
RARE AIR
Saturday December 3 against Westminster, Golden native Adam Thistlewood eclipsed the 1,000-point mark in his collegiate career and now stands at 1,015 combined points in his time with Colorado State and with Mines. A four-year member of the Rams' program, Thistlewood scored at least 255 points in each of his first three seasons in Fort Collins, including a career-best 297 as a sophomore in the 2019-20 season in which he averaged 10.2 PPG. Just eight games into his time as an Orediggers, he's already accounted for 167 points and leads the team in scoring at 16.7 PPG and has ended in double figures in all but one game this season and has already gone for 20 or more four times.
 
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 MSU DENVER
The Roadrunners dropped both of their games last weekend to Black Hills State and South Dakota Mines at home by scores of 84-62 and 93-88 after splitting the opening weekend of RMAC play. Last weekend was the first time all season MSUD was held winless in a weekend, as they split their first four weekends of the season. Tyrei Randall headlines a trio of Roadrunners in double figures, scoring 16.4 PPG and shooting at a .402 clip with a team-leading 19 steals as well as 19 three-pointers. Caleb McGill leads the way with 12 blocks and 4.9 RPG while scoring 14.3 PPG and shooting .582 from the floor, with Jaden Kennis rounding out the group at 10.5 PPG and shooting .463 from the floor and .436 from deep. Brayden Maldonado's 30 dimes are tops on the team while he's scoring 8.0 PPG and shooting .400 on the season, while Luke Jones has been primarily used off the bench and dished out 20 assists while scoring 5.5 PPG. For the year, MSUD is only -2.7 in scoring margin and is shooting .472/.365/.726. They are +2.2 in rebounding margin but are also -3.3 in turnover margin, turning it over 17.1 times per night.

SCOUTING WESTERN COLORADO
The Mountaineers are still in search of their first RMAC win of the season and have just one game this weekend when they head to Golden Sunday. They've dropped four straight after winning their first two games of the season at The Inn at Tomichi Village Thanksgiving Classic against Simon Fraser and Northern New Mexico. Last weekend they were on the wrong end of an 81-70 loss to Chadron State and a 61-57 decision against Colorado Christian. Robel Desta is one of two players for WCU in double figures, scoring 15.3 PPG and also leading the team with 8.3 RPG while shooting .452 from the floor. Avery Rembao isn't too far behind checking in at 14.4 PPG with 13 assists but is shooting just .345 on the season. Gino Corridori leads the team with seven rejections and 16 assists in eight games and is scoring 8.9 PPG and rebounding at a clip of 6.6 per night. Off the bench, Jonathan McCloud is shooting .406 from the field and .429 from three and checks in at 6.2 PPG. As a unit, WCU is shooting just .361 this season and only .276 from three-point land. They are -8.3 in scoring margin and -3.2 in turnover margin, as they've been coughing it up an average of 15 times per game.
 
CHECKING THE STAT SHEET
Three Orediggers are scoring better than 10 points per night heading into week six of the season, led by Adam Thistlewood's 16.7 PPG as he's also shooting at a .491 clip and pulling down a team-best 7.2 RPG. Sam Beskind checks in at 13.9 PPG and leads the team in assists and steals with 46 and 20 respectively, both of which rank second in the RMAC, and is shooting .570 from the floor. Brendan Sullivan is also scoring at a clip of 12.6 PPG and shooting .483 with a team-best 19 triples to go with 18 assists and 10 steals. Riley Schroeder's seven blocks lead the team in that category while Reagan Koch has been a key piece off the bench, collecting 13 steals and shooting .533 from the floor and .474 from three while Cade Mankle has also been a spark in a reserve role, dishing out 15 dimes while shooting .400 from the field and is coming off a career-high 15 points against BHSU. As a team, Mines is +10.8 in scoring margin and shooting .481/.390/.758 and is registering 15.6 assists per game, the second-most in the RMAC behind UCCS. The Orediggers are also +2.8 in turnover margin and have 77 steals along with an assist-turnover ratio of 1.3.
 
SERIES HISTORY
Saturday night with be the 82nd meeting between the Orediggers and Roadrunners and first since the 2019-2020 season, with Mines leading all-time 45-36 and having won the last seven meetings going back to 2018 and 11 of 12 going back to 2016. The Orediggers won the only matchup between the schools last season in Denver by a score of 91-78. Sunday evening against Western Colorado will mark the 187th matchup against the Mountaineers, who lead the series 99-87. The two teams split last season's meeting, each winning at home as WCU won an 83-79 affair in Gunnison last December while Mines took a 79-74 victory in Golden in February. The Orediggers have won five of the previous six games, as the December loss snapped a four-game winning streak, and dating back to 2013, have won 13 of the last 16 meetings.
 
LOOKING AHEAD
After taking some time off for Christmas, the Orediggers close out the year with a New Year's Eve clash in Lakewood against Colorado Christian at 5 p.m.
 
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.