#6/10 Mines (14-1, 8-1) at Regis (6-8, 3-5) – Friday, 7 p.m. – Denver, Colo. [Live Stats] [RMAC Network]
#6/10 Mines (14-1, 8-1) at UCCS (12-4, 6-3) – Saturday, 7 p.m. – Colorado Springs, Colo. [Live Stats] [RMAC Network]
#6/10 Mines (14-1, 8-1) at MSU Denver (6-8, 3-5) – Tuesday, 7 p.m. – Denver, Colo. [Live Stats] [RMAC Network]

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ON THE ROAD AGAIN
A busy stretch of three games in five days kicks off Friday night for the #6/10 Colorado School of Mines men's basketball team, first taking on Regis before heading south Saturday to square off with UCCS before making the short trip back to Denver Tuesday night for round two with MSU Denver.
 
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 408-213 and 289-147 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 in the Top 10 in both national polls to open the new year, gaining a spot in the NABC Division II Coaches Poll to move up to #6 while checking in at #10 in the D2SIDA Media Poll. Black Hills State remained #3 in both polls as they remained unbeaten on the season, while Fort Lewis remained at #15 in the NABC rankings and #17 in the latest media poll.
 
WEEK 8 RECAP
The Orediggers ran their winning streak to five games over the weekend behind a pair of wins over CSU Pueblo and New Mexico Highlands by scores of 97-62 and 76-56 respectively. Friday night against the ThunderWolves, five players finished in double figures for Mines led by Riley Schroeder's 16 points off the bench. Sam Beskind added 13 as did Ben Boone, playing in his first game in more than a month, while Brendan Sullivan and Reagan Koch each finished with 10 as Mines shot almost 70% in the second half and went 50% from three-point land in the game. Saturday against the Cowboys, the Orediggers overcame a sluggish start to the night and a got a big second half boost from Adam Thistlewood, who scored 15 of his game-high 23 over the final 20 minutes and closed out the night scoring nine of the final 11 points for Mines. Schroeder again went for 13 off the bench while Sullivan added 11 more in the winning effort.
 
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. Through the first 13 games of this season, he now stands at 1,701 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 just nine assists away from 250 for his career and would become the 10th player in program history to hit that milestone. His 140 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. Additionally, Sullivan is just eight blocks and just 14 three-pointers away from hitting the 200 mark in both categories for his career and needs 44 more rebounds to reach 600.
 
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. 15games into his time as an Orediggers, he's already accounted for 213 points and leads the team in scoring at 16.4 PPG and has ended in double figures in all but one game this season and has already gone for 20 or more four times.
 
ALLOW ME TO REINTRODUCE MYSELF
Out of action since November 18 after sustaining an injury against Cal State East Bay, Ben Boone announced his return to the rotation with gusto. Friday against CSUP, he came off the bench and scored 13 points in 14 minutes and went 5-9 from the floor, including 3-4 from three. He backed that up Saturday by scoring nine points in 17 minutes on 3-6 from three-point land against NMHU. The fifth-year senior enters this weekend on the cusp of a career milestone, just four points shy of 1,000 for his career; he would become the 16th Oredigger to reach that mark, and join teammate Brendan Sullivan as the only active pair of Mines teammates reach 1,000 career points exclusively wearing the silver and blue.
 
SHARING THE ROCK
15 games into the season, Mines leads the RMAC with 266 assists on the season, which comes out to an average of 17.7 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 third in the RMAC also among the top 30 in DII with 65 dimes. Adam Thistlewood is second on the club with 33 assists while redshirt freshman Cade Mankle has 28. 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 on December 18 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 second in the RMAC behind Colorado Mesa with 117 swipes, which breaks down to 7.8 per game. Again, Beskind leads the team and is second in the RMAC with 29, while redshirt freshman Reagan Koch has come off the bench to tally 21, including a career-high five against Western Colorado; he also has a steal in each of 11 of the last 12 games and has 8 in the last five contests. Brendan Sullivan now has 13 on the season while Trent Dykema has an even dozen.

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
The Orediggers rank ninth in all of NCAA D-II this season when it comes to assist/turnover ratio at 1.6. An assist/turnover ratio of 1.0 is considered great, and Mines is the only team in the RMAC with an ATR of higher than 1.5; Black Hills State ranks 35th at 1.3. On the season, the Orediggers have 266 assists and have turned the ball over just 171 times. That's usually a recipe that will lead to a great deal of success on the court.
 
HOME AWAY FROM HOME
Brendan Sullivan has enjoyed a great deal of success against Regis in his career. Since 2019, in five games against the Rangers, Sullivan has scored no fewer than 16 points and has a pair of 20 point performances. In three trips to the Regis Field House, Sully is averaging 18.3 PPG and shooting .556 from the floor and connecting on 50% of his shots from deep while also pulling down 5.3 RPG. Suffice to say, Regis will be happy to see someone else wearing #5 this time next year.
 
Adam Krasovec also wasted little time making himself at home the Gallogly Events Center in Colorado Springs. In his debut game against UCCS, the Hungarian dropped 16 points on 6-9 shooting, including 2-3 from three-point land with six boards, three assists, two blocks and a steal.
 
RED HOT RILEY
Following some shuffling to the lineup at the end of 2022 and continuing into the new year, Riley Schroeder has been on a different level over the last four games for Mines, scoring in double figures in three of them; he had previously only hit double digits three times over the first 11 games of the season. In addition, he has been scorching hot shooting the ball at a .741 clip and is averaging 5.3 rebounds per game and has four steals in that span. If there was a weekly award for the Sixth Man, Schroeder would be a shoe-in for it.

SCOUTING REGIS
The Rangers went 1-2 over the last week of league play, dropping a 74-64 decision to Chadron State in a make-up contest from December 16 at home before rebounding on the road with a 79-77 win in the closing moments over Adams State, after which they came out on the wrong end of a 75-62 contest against Fort Lewis. Two players for Regis are currently scoring better than 10 points per night, with two more not far off from joining them. David Simental leads the team at a clip of 14.1 PPG and has 25 assists while shooting .388 from the floor and having made a team-best 20 three-pointers. Aaron Bokol is next, scoring 10.3 PPG and leading the team in rebounding at 8.6 per night as well as steals with 17 while shooting .481 from the field. Eddy Egun and Brayden Carter are both averaging 9.6 PPG, with the former shooting .466 and the latter leading the team with 11 blocks. Aidan Sevilla is the team's leader in assists, having dished out 30 in 12 games while scoring himself at a clip of 5.3 PPG. As a team, Regis is -2.9 in scoring margin and shooting .421/.331/.717 this season and is pulling down 32.3 rebounds per night. They are in the positive when it comes to turnover margin at 1.1 and have 68 steals and 37 blocked shots on the season.
 
SCOUTING UCCS
The Mountain Lions saw their four-game winning streak come and an end at the hands of Fort Lewis on Friday night with a 77-69 loss, but they bounced back Saturday to down Adams State 91-79. UCCS opened the season 5-0 and has been one of the top teams in the RMAC since conference play began. Three players are scoring double figures per game this season, led by Jon'il Fugett at 14.6 PPG, good for 12th in the league, while also leading the way in three-point field goals with 36, steals with 26 and assists with 66, now second in the league in that category. Mac Stodart is next at 12.4 PPG and is shooting .434 from the floor while Beni Fungula checks in at 11.4 PPG with 36 dimes and is shooting .521. Each member from that trio has also sunk at least 40 free throws this season as well. William Becker is the team's leading rebounder, pulling down nine per game and ranking second in the RMAC with 135 in 15 games while also blocking 15 shots to rank among the top five in the conference. One of four teams scoring better than 80 points per night, UCCS is averaging 81.3 PPG and is +8.2 in scoring margin. They are shooting .469/.371/.713 and lead the RMAC in three-pointers, having connected 159 times from deep on 428 attempts. The Mountain Lions are also +3.7 in rebounding margin, but are -1.2 in the turnover battle, coughing it up more than 15 times per game. Their 107 steals and 47 blocks as a team are both good for fifth in the league.
 
SCOUTING MSU DENVER
The Roadrunners are 2-1 since their first meeting with Mines this season back on December 17 and are coming off a 2-0 weekend with 73-66 and 69-63 wins over New Mexico Highlands and CSU Pueblo at home. They'll hit the road this weekend as well and take on UCCS Friday night before heading across town to Regis Saturday night ahead of Tuesday's night's rematch with the Orediggers. Tyrei Randall remains the team's leading scorer at 14.8 PPG and has a team best 25 steals and 23 made three-pointers while shooting .385 from the field. Caleb McGill is averaging 14.1 PPG and has 14 blocks, good for sixth in the RMAC, and leads MSUD with 4.9 RPG while shooting .559. Jaden Kennis enters the week at 10.8 PPg and also has 23 made three-pointers to his credit along with 14 assists and 12 steals. Brayden Maldonado remains the leading distributor for MSU Denver with 36 assists on the season while scoring at a clip of 8.5 per night, while Chandler Bevans comes in averaging 5.2 points and 4.0 rebounds per game with eight steals and eight assists. On the year, the Roadrunners of -3.8 in scoring margin and are shooting .453/.353/.744. they are +1.5 in rebounding margin, pulling down 33.6 per game but are nearly minus three in the turnover department, turning the ball over almost 17 times per game.
 
CHECKING THE STAT SHEET
With the return of Ben Boone to action over the weekend, Mines now has four players scoring in double figures per game, led by Adam Thistlewood at a clip of 16.3 while also leading the team with 6.8 RPG while shooting .516 from the field with 33 assists. Brendan Sullivan is next at 13.8 PPG and is shooting .472 from beyond the arc while registering 23 assists and 13 steals. Sam Beskind enters the week at 12.1 PPG and ranks among the top of the RMAC in assists with 65 and steals with 29 while going .569 from the floor and .400 from deep. Boone checks in at 10.6 PPG and has hit 50% of his three-point attempts this season and already has five steals and four blocks in five games. Kai Barr, coming off a four-block game Friday, leads the team with 14 on the season and is shooting .527 while scoring 7.2 PPG. Riley Schroeder came off the bench two score in double digits twice over the weekend and has 11 blocks on the season while scoring at a 7.8 clip; both Barr and Schroeder are pulling down 4.5 rebounds per game. Other standouts include Cade Mankle with 28 assists who is shooting .429 from the floor and Reagan Koch, who has 21 steals and 25 assists while connecting on almost 42% of his three-point attempts.
 
SERIES HISTORY
Friday night will be the 138th meeting of the Orediggers and Rangers as Mines looks to snap a two-game losing streak in the series and get back closer to .500 all-time, as Regis leads 70-67. The Rangers won a pair of close games last season, taking a 66-62 decision in Golden before securing a 66-64 win at home later in the season. The last Orediggers win came in Golden during the 2020-21 season by a score of 84-52, while the last win in Denver was a 73-50 result earlier that season.
 
Saturday's trip south to UCCS will be the 50th meeting in the series, with Mines leading 36-13 over the first 49. However, the Mountain Lions took the last meeting between the teams in the RMAC tournament in March of last season by a final of 74-71. The lone regular season meeting, also in Colorado Springs, went the way of the Orediggers 64-54 as part of a three-game winning streak. This will be the third-straight game of the series with Mines as the visiting team and fourth time in the last five meetings.
 
Mines moved to 46-36 all-time against MSU Denver back in December with a 46-point rout of the Roadunners in a 106-70 win for their eighth consecutive victory in the series. However, the road hasn't been kind to the Orediggers in the series, as they are just 17-18 away from Golden but have won the last five trips down I-70, most recently last season by a score of 91-78.
 
LOOKING AHEAD
After playing three times over the span of five days to open the four-game road trip without straying too far away from Golden, the Orediggers will close out the trip with one game Saturday at Western Colorado at 7 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.