#8/9 Mines (11-1, 5-1) vs. Colorado Christian (6-6, 2-4) – Sunday, 3 p.m. – Lakewood, Colo. [Live Stats] [RMAC Network]

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BACK TO BUSINESS
The #8/9 Colorado School of Mines men's basketball team will return to action this weekend when they make the short trip over to the CCU Event Center to take on Colorado Christian as Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play resumes. Just one difference, instead of tipping off on the final day of 2022, the Orediggers and Cougars will be in action to ring in the new year Sunday, as the games were rescheduled on account of issues for student-athletes returning to campus due to recent airline cancelations.
 
LIVE COVERAGE
All RMAC contests will stream live and for free on the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Network. The RMAC Network can be accessed at www.minesathletics.com/tv, as well as with apps on all major smart TV platforms by searching RMAC. Live statistics are also available at www.minesathletics.com.
 
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 406-213 and 287-147 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 held firm in the Top 10 in both national polls this week, climbing two spots in the NABC Division II Coaches Poll to #8 while maintaining their #9 ranking in the D2SIDA Media Poll. Black Hills State moved up to #3 in both polls as they remained unbeaten on the season, while Fort Lewis dropped to #15 in the NABC rankings but rose to #18 in the media poll. Colorado Mesa was back in the mix as they earned votes in this week's coaches poll.
 
WEEK 6 RECAP
The Orediggers rebounded from their first setback of the season by winning their final two home games of 2022 in emphatic manner on January 17 and 18, downing MSU Denver 106-70 and Western Colorado 101-59. Brendan Sullivan led the charge in both games, scoring 22 and 24 points respectively, going 8-10 from the floor in both games, including a 6-8 performance from three-point land against the Roadrunners that saw him make five-straight treys at one point in the second half.  Adam Thistlewood poured in 19 while Sam Beskind and Kai Barr added 17 and 10 in the win Saturday night. Sunday night against the Mountaineers was the same song, second verse with Sullivan leading the way once again while Riley Schroeder dropped a season-high 18 points off the bench while Cade Mankle, who made the first two starts of his career over the weekend, went for 14 while Thistlewood finished with 13. Adam Krasovec was named the RMAC Defensive Player of the Week following the two wins, as he came off the bench both nights for score seven points on 3-5 shooting while recording five rebounds, four blocks and two steals during his time on the court.

POINTS, POINTS, POINTS
The Orediggers accomplished a rare feat as they closed out 2022 with back-to-back 100-point outings against MSU Denver and Western Colorado. The last time Mines scored 100 or more points in back-to-back games was the 2014-14, during which they accomplished the feat twice. Additionally, Mines now has their first season with multiple 100-point outings for the first time since the 2018-19 season, when they also hit the century mark twice.
 
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.
 
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. 12 games into this season, he now stands at 1,687 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 139 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 1,084 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 12 games into his time as an Oredigger, he's already accounted for 199 points and leads the team in scoring at 16.6 PPG and has ended in double figures in all but one game this season and has already gone for 20 or more four times.
 
SHARING THE ROCK
12 games into the season, Mines leads the RMAC with 201 assists on the season, which comes out to an average of 16.1 per night and ranks inside the top 30 nationally in Division II. Stanford transfer Sam Beskind has been at the head of that effort of distributing the ball on offense, as he is second in the RMAC also among the top 30 in DII with 55 dimes. Adam Thistlewood is second on the club with 26 assists while redshirt freshman Cade Mankle, who made his first two starts of the season in the final games of 2022, has 24. Of the 13 players who have seen game action this season for the Orediggers, 12 have recorded an assist and nine have 10 or more including Grant Pressly, who had six assists last time out against Western Colorado, finishing just one shy of his career high.

PICKPOCKETS
Mines' success on offense this season has been a big result of what they have been able to do on defense, especially when it comes to steals. The Orediggers are tied for the top spot in the RMAC alongside Colorado Mesa with 95 swipes, which breaks down to 8.6 per game. Again, Beskind leads the team and is second the RMAC with 24, while redshirt freshman Reagan Koch has come off the bench to tally 19, including a career-high five last time out against Western Colorado; he also has a steal in each of the last nine games and has 10 in the last four contests. Brendan Sullivan is also in double-figures with 11 while Trent Dykema is on the cusp of that mark with nine as 11 different players have at least one steal to their ledgers this season.

SCOUTING COLORADO CHRISTIAN
The Cougars are 2-4 over their last six games after rattling off four consecutive wins to end the month of November. Last time out, CCU dropped a pair of close games before the holiday break, dropping a 92-86 decision to UCCS on the road before a late rally against Regis fell short 81-80 at home. Jason Gallant is one of three players in double figure scoring this season, leading the way with 13.9 PPG while leading the team with 42 assists while shooting .412 from the floor and .410 from three with just five misses in 48 trips to the charity stripe. DJ McDonald is close behind at 13.6 PPG and has 27 dimes and leads the Cougars with 29 three-pointers this season. Noah Kon rounds out the group with 11.7 PPG as has a team-best 15 steals and is second with 29 assists while shooting .463 from the field, but has been prone to turnovers this season and enters the game with 30 on the year. Maro Egodotaye leads the team with 60 rebounds and 12 blocked shots while scoring at a clip pf 7.9 PPG. Nine different players have started at least once this season for the Cougars with just two, Gallant and Shaylen Woodberry starting all 12. As a team is +1.4 in scoring margin this season, averaging 72.3 PPG and is shooting .454/.335/.708. They are also +3.8 in rebounding margin and dish out more than 13 assists per game, but do turn it over nearly 15 times per game.
 
CHECKING THE STAT SHEET
Three Orediggers are scoring better than 10 points per night heading into week seven of the season, led by Adam Thistlewood's 16.6 PPG as he's also shooting at a .504 clip and pulling down a team-best 6.8 RPG. Brendan Sullivan is also scoring at a clip of 14.3 PPG and shooting .541 with a team-best 28 triples to go with 18 assists and 11 steals. Sam Beskind checks in at 13.2 PPG and leads the team in assists and steals with 55 and 24 respectively, both of which rank second in the RMAC, and is shooting .579 from the floor. Riley Schroeder's 10 blocks lead the team in that category while Reagan Koch has been a key piece off the bench, collecting 19 steals and shooting .512 from the floor and .417 from three while Cade Mankle, who starred early this season off the bench before earning starts last weekend, has dished out 24 dimes while shooting .417 from the field and is coming off a career-high 15 points against BHSU. As a team, Mines is +15.5 in scoring margin and is shooting .498/.394/.767 and is registering 16.8 assists per game to lead the RMAC. The Orediggers are also +3.5 in turnover margin and have 95 steals along with an assist-turnover ratio of 1.5.
 
SERIES HISTORY
New Year's Day will be the 50th meeting between Mines and Colorado Christian, with the Orediggers leading 36-13 through the first 49 matchups. Recently, it has been all Mines in the series, having won the last 14 meetings, including the lone game last season by a score of 85-50. Saturday will be the third-straight game in Lakewood as Mines is 18-6 on the road all-time.
 
LOOKING AHEAD
The Orediggers will return to Lockridge Arena January 6 and 7 when they host CSU Pueblo and New Mexico Highlands. Both games are set to tip at 7 p.m. Tickets can be purchased online at www.minesathletics.com/tickets or at the door. Free live coverage will also be offered at www.minesathletics.com.
 
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.