#RV Mines (7-3, 3-1) at #RV MSU Denver (8-2, 2-2) – Wednesday, 7 p.m.– Denver, Colo. [Live Stats] [RMAC Network]
#RV Mines (5-3, 1-1) at Western Colorado (3-6, 1-3) – Saturday, 3 p.m. – Gunnison, Colo. [Live Stats] [RMAC Network]

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ROAD TRIPPING
Two more games await the Colorado School of Mines men's basketball team this week as they'll look to head into the holiday break on a high note and continue their winning ways, taking on a new-look MSU Denver club Wednesday night in downtown Denver before heading out to the western slope Saturday for an afternoon meeting with Western Colorado.
 
LIVE COVERAGE
Coverage of this weekend's games will be available on the RMAC Network and have live stats available at minesathletics.com.
 
AT THE HELM
The 2023-24 season will be the 23rd for the Orediggers under the guidance of head coach Pryor Orser. Already the winningest coach in program history, he eclipsed the 400-win mark in November of last season and has a career record of 428-221 overall and a mark of 303-151 in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play, with both marks being second-most wins in conference history behind former Fort Lewis and Western Colorado head coach Bob Hofman who recorded 309 conference wins and 443 overall wins during his time in the league. Under Orser, Mines has won five RMAC regular-season championships and two RMAC Tournament titles, and qualified for 12 NCAA Tournaments including two Elite Eight trips. 
 
THE CAPTAINS
Second-year graduate transfer Sam Beskind and redshirt sophomore guard Cade Mankle will serve as captains for the Orediggers in 2023-24. Beskind burst onto the RMAC scene last year, averaging 9.3 points, 4.2 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game while also shooting .481/.338/.835 on the season and ranking second in the conference in total assists with 120 and leading the league in assist to turnover ratio at 2.2. Mankle split time between the starting five and the bench rotation in his first season of action last year, averaging 4.4 points and 1.6 assists per game while shooting .397/.310/.542 for the year.
 
IN THE POLLS
The most recent set of rankings from the NABC in the regular season came out Tuesday and saw the Orediggers again earn votes in this week's poll. Colorado Mesa jumped seven spots into the Top 10 this week at #8 with Fort Lewis climbing three spots to #17 while this week's first opponent MSU Denver dropped out of the Top 25 but still earned votes. In the D2CSC Media Poll, the Mavericks rose to #14 this week while the Roadrunners dropped out of the Top 25, allowing for the Skyhawks to check in at #24.
 
Speaking of the RMAC, Mines earned a trio of first place votes and was picked to finish third in the league season behind Colorado Mesa, who earned eight first place votes, and Fort Lewis who earned four. Black Hills State and Chadron State rounded out the rest of the top five.
 
WEEK 5 RECAP
Mines was back on the road for the South Dakota swing of the schedule, taking on South Dakota Mines and Black Hills State over the weekend. Friday night was a down to the wire thriller with the Hardrockers, as Mines picked up a 66-65 win the closing second by way of two Sam Beskind free throws as he finished with 10 points, Riley Schroeder went for 15 in the game while Alex Romack had 10 points and just missed out on a double-double with nine rebounds. Saturday in Spearfish, Mines was able to shake their recent demons against the Yellow Jackets, as Cade Mankle dropped a career-high 28 points on 11-18 shooting to lead the way in an 82-72 win. Beskind went for double-digits again, finishing with 13 points while Adam Krasovec turned in a season-high nine off the bench as nine of the 10 Orediggers who saw action found the scoring column in the game.
 
A BUSY, BUSY MAN
Graduate student Sam Beskind is an ambitious man and a bright one at that. After all, how many people can boast having two degrees from Stanford (B.S. & M.S. in Management Science & Engineering) already to their name while working on a second Master's degree while at Mines (Humanitarian Engineering/Advanced Energy Systems). The Tucson native is also doing all that in the classroom while also running the Orediggers offense from his point guard spot and is currently averaging 9.7 points per game and scored in double-digits in four of six contests this season while also averaging 5.8 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game. And as if he weren't busy enough, he hosts his own podcast called "Built for Earth", which is available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Started in January 2023, the series is already 23 episodes deep and features interviews with industry leaders in the renewable energy space and discuss wide-ranging solutions to help preserve the planet and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. If you need something new to listen to and maybe learn a thing or tune, be sure to tune in. We're sure Sam won't mind some new listeners when he checks his analytics.
 
SLINGIN' SAMMY BESKIND
Graduate student Sam Beskind has picked up this season right where he left off last year when it comes to dishing out assists. The RMAC runner up in that category behind former BHSU point guard Adam Moussa, the Stanford transfer is second the league with 39 assists and is averaging 3.9 per night, dishing out 19 alone two weekends ago with nine against Colorado Mesa and 10 against Westminster, setting a career high on back-to-back nights. Also one to fill up the rest of the stat sheet, Beskind is also scoring 9.3 PPG with six steals and five blocks while shooting .465 from the field.
 
BLOCK PARTY
As is no surprise when it comes to Pryor Orser coached teams, defense plays a big part in the success of the team and how the year will go. Through 10 games, Mines is second the RMAC with 33 blocks for an average of 3.3 per game and are led by senior Riley Schroeder with 10. Alex Romack has eight while Sam Beskind has five with another seven players recording at least one rejection this season.
 
ROAD WARRIORS
Following this week's games, the Orediggers will look forward to spending some time at Lockridge Arena once the calendar turns over to 2024. After this weekend, Mines will have played nine of their first 12 games of the season on the road with long-haul trips to Florida and Texas highlighting the journey around the country so far. Following this week's games, Mines will have played games in four different states and eight different cities to begin the season.
 
BOARD MAN
Freshman Alex Romack has made himself known in the five weeks of the season by being a major force on the glass. Entering this weekend, Romack is averaging 8.3 rebounds per game and posted his second double-double of the season against Westminster with 10 rebounds. He now has three games with 10 or more rebounds and has eight or more in eight of eight 10, giving him 83 on the season to rank second in the RMAC. The native of the Hoosier State has sure been showing his prowess in the paint in the early going this season.
 
LOOKING AT THE STATS
Majok Deng was largely held in check scoring-wise this past weekend, but still leads the team at a rate of 14.8 PPG along with 4.0 rebounds per night in addition to eight assists and four steals while shooting .426/.407/.791. Cade Mankle is coming off a career-high 28 points against BHSU and is scoring 13.3 PPG to go with 3.5 RPG and 17 assists while shooting .537 from the floor. Riley Schroeder checks in at 9.5 PPG with a team-high 10 blocks, good for sixth in the RMAC, and also has eight steals while Sam Beskind is second in the RMAC in assists with 39 and is scoring at a rate of 9.2 PPG while also hauling in 5.5 rebounds per night with six steals and five blocks.
 
Freshman forward Alex Romack has started all but one game this season and enters the week scoring 7.3 PPG and leading the team with 8.3 rebounds per game, as his 83 boards on the season are second in the RMAC. Fellow freshman Markus Pastorcic-Straun has come off the bench all season long and provided a nice spark, scoring 6.3 PPG with 12 assists, 10 steals and a pair of blocks while shooting .468 from the field. Three-point specialist Juani Dassie has connected from deep 11 times this season off the bench as well and is averaging 5.3 PPG while shooting .469 overall from the field while Grant Pressly has 16 assists coming off the bench while running the point.
 
Collectively, Mines is scoring 70.8 PPG and is +3.9 in scoring margin, shooting .463/.320/.667 on the season. The average 36.3 rebounds, 12.6 assists, 12.9 turnovers, 5.6 steals and 3.3 blocks per game. Through 10 games, they find themselves +4.9 in rebounding margin but -2.2 in the turnover battle. Opponents this season are scoring 66.9 PPG and shooting .421/.335/.795 with 31.4 rebounds, 10.2 assists, 10.7 turnovers, 6.2 steals and 2.1 blocks per game.
 
SCOUTING MSU DENVER
After winning just 12 games in the entirety of the 2022-23 season, the Roadrunners already have eight wins to their credit this season in the second year of the Dan Ficke era. Eight members of last year's team are back including RMAC Co-Freshman of the Year Brayden Maldonado, but the difference has been the addition of four players from Ficke's previous stop Belmont Abbey.
Maldonado headlines the stat sheet, leading the team in scoring at 19.4 PPG, assists with 34 and steals with 21 while also logging five blocks and 4.0 RPG while shooting .521/.466/.896 with a team-best 27 three-pointers made. Caleb McGill, in his second season after transferring from UC Davis, is next at 16.9 PPG and leads the team with 12 blocks while pulling down 5.7 boards per game and is also shooting .518 on the season and joins Maldonado as the only two Roadrunners with at least 40 makes from the free throw line this season.
 
6-8 forward Mario Lacy Jr. is the first of the four Belmont Abbey transfers to mention and is averaging close to a double-double on the season with 10.2 points and 9.2 rebounds per game while shooting .688 and doing most of his work down low. KJ Garrett, another former Crusader, is the fourth Roadrunner averaging better than 10 points per night this season at 10.1 and is second on the team with 28 assists along with five steals while shooting .596 from the field. Ryan Maslow, the third BAC transfer, is scoring 7.5 PPG and has 12 assists, six steals and three blocks while shooting .391 from the floor and trailing only Maldonado in three-pointers with 14.
 
Off the bench, Quave Propst-Allison and Marzouq Ibn Abdur-Razaaq have been ones to watch, averaging 6.3 and 6.0 PPG respectively with the former connecting on six three-pointers and the latter shooting .463 from the field with six steals.
 
As a team, MSU Denver is averaging 81.3 PPG and is +8.0 in scoring margin. They are shooting .495/.402/.742 on the season and average 35.3 rebounds, 11.7 assists. 12.8 turnovers, 5.7 steals and 2.5 blocks per game. Opponents meanwhile are averaging 73.3 PPG and shooting .436/.317/.711 with 30.8 rebounds, 9.5 assists, 12.1 turnovers, 6.8 steals and 1.9 blocks per game. MSUD is +4.5 in rebounding margin, and just in the negative in turnover margin at -0.7.
 
SCOUTING WESTERN COLORADO
Under the direction of first year head coach Zac Claus, the Mountaineers enter their lone game of the week with Mines on a three-game slide, falling to Fort Lewis, Colorado Christian and Chadron State after knocking off Adams State in overtime to begin RMAC play. Winners of just four games last season, WCU is already up to three in their first nine games in the new campaign.
 
Avery Rembao is the leading man for Western Colorado to start the year, averaging 11.1 PPG with 18 assists, eight steals and two blocks and shooting .357/.324/.700 and leading the team with 28 made free throws. Kade Juelfs is next at 10.0 PPG and has hit a team-best 13 three-pointers and is shooting .458/.433/.793 with 15 assists and also has eight steals and two blocks.
 
Xavier Harris has come off the bench in all nine games and is scoring at a rate of 8.1 PPG with 17 assists and a team-best nine steals, while Jamel Hollins is the team's rebounding leader at 5.8 RPG while scoring 6.9 PPG with 18 assists, five steals and two blocks. Trevin Lieck has four blocks and is shooting .439 from the field and scoring 6.2 per night while Amar Rivers has seven blocks to lead the team.
 
On the year, WCU is -9.5 in scoring margin at 61.6 PPG and is shooting .421/.371/.667. They average 32.3 rebounds, 11.4 assists, 17.6 turnovers, 5.1 steals and 2.2 blocks per game and are -5.5 in turnover margin and -3.7 in rebounding margin. The opposition averages 71.1 PPG and shooting .459/.340/.345 while pulling down 36.0 rebounds, dishing out 9.7 assists and turning it over 12.1 times with 8.8 steals and 3.1 blocks per game.
 
SERIES HISTORY
Mines leads the all-time series with MSU Denver 47-36 and took both meetings last season in convincing manner by scores of 106-70 in Golden in December and 70-55 in Denver in January. Mines has won each of the last nine meetings and 14 of the last 16 going back to the 2014-15 season, but is just 18-18 when playing the Roadrunners on the road. When looking at the series with Western Colorado, the Mountaineers lead it 99-89 but they haven't found much success over the last decade as the Orediggers are 15-3 in the series since 2013 and have won three straight games and eight of the last 10. Last season's two meetings saw Mines win by scores of 101-59 in Golden and 79-65 in Gunnison, a place where they are just 35-57 all-time.
 
LOOKING AHEAD
Following this week's games, Mines will be off for two weeks for the Christmas break before returning to action on December 31 at Lockridge Arena for a 3 p.m. non-conference bout with Northern New Mexico.

Fans can keep up with Mines men's basketball on X and Instagram at @minesmbb. They can also keep up with Colorado School of Mines Athletics all year long on Facebook, X and Instagram using the handle @MinesAthletics.