#19/25 Mines (20-4, 14-4) vs. Colorado Christian (9-15, 5-13) – Friday, 7 p.m. – Golden, Colo. [Live Stats] [RMAC Network]
#19/25 Mines (20-4, 14-4) vs. Chadron State (16-8, 13-5) – Saturday, 6 p.m. – Golden, Colo. [Live Stats] [RMAC Network] [TV: KWGN]

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BACK TO BUSINESS
The #19/25 Colorado School of Mines men's basketball team will take the court at Lockridge Arena for the final time in the regular season this weekend when they welcome Colorado Christian and Chadron State Friday and Saturday evenings as the action heats up in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play.
 
LIVE COVERAGE
The match this weekend will be available free of charge on the RMAC Network and will have live stats through Sidearm. Saturday night's game against Chadron State will also be broadcasted on KWGN Colorado's Own Channel 2.
 
GENTLEMEN, THANK YOU
Saturday night will be Senior Night for the Orediggers, as Adam Thistlewood, Trent Dykema, Ben Boone and Brendan Sullivan will be playing the final regular season home games of their collegiate careers. Those four will be recognized in a ceremony prior to tip off.
 
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 415-216 and 296-150 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 latest NABC and D2SIDA polls came out on Tuesday and saw Mines check in at #19 and #25 respectively. Blacks Hills State moved up to second in the coaches poll while remaining third in the media poll, while Fort Lewis and Colorado Mesa were both on the move, rising to ninth and 11th and 17th and 18th respectively. When it comes to the RMAC, Mines was tabbed to finish third in the league 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.
 
Additionally, the first batch of regional rankings from the NCAA were released on Wednesday and saw Mines as one of the 10 teams in the South Central Region under consideration. This year, the first batch of regional rankings is a non-numeric alphabetized list of schools, with the second set of rankings being the first numerical set. Joining the Orediggers from the RMAC are Black Hills State, Colorado Mesa and Fort Lewis, while Lone Star Conference schools Angelo State, Eastern New Mexico, Lubbock Christian, St. Edward's, Texas A&M Kingsville and West Texas A&M make up the rest of the 10 schools in the running for the national tournament.
 
WEEK 13 RECAP
Mines had just one game on the docket last weekend in a Top 25 clash with then #19/22 Colorado Mesa. Despite double-digit performances from Brendan Sullivan, Adam Thistlewood and Kai Barr, the Orediggers couldn't overcome a hot-shooting night by the Mavericks, who went .554 in the game and .594 in the second half as they moved past the Orediggers for third place in the RMAC standings with two weeks to play.
 
ONE OF THE GREATS
Continuing a storyline from last season, Brendan Sullivan continues to make his mark as one of the most prolific scorers in Orediggers history. Through 24 games this season, he now stands at 1,1830 career points, passing Kyle Pape (2005-2009) for seventh all-time and is coming off the second 400-point campaign of his career in 2021-22. A better than 51% shooter in his career, Sully has his eyes on continuing his march up the all-time scoring list. Over the last three weekends, the Highlands Ranch product has cleared a quartet of milestones, surpassing 250 career assists on January 27 against Fort Lewis, collecting his 150th steal February 3 against Black Hills State, draining his 200th three-pointer on February 4 against SDM and collecting his 600th rebound against Colorado Mesa last Friday. His 154 steals are fourth all-time while his 259 assists are good for 11th. Entering play this weekend, Sully is on the cusp of two more milestone numbers; he's five rebounds away from 600 and two blocks away from the century mark.
 
ELITE COMPANY
Ben Boone became the latest Oredigger to join an elite club January 13 at Regis, as with his first three-pointer in the second half, he surpassed 1,000 career points in an Oredigger uniform and enters this weekend with 1,100. Mines now has three active 1,000-point scorers on the roster this season, led by Brendan Sullivan who currently ranks eighth all-time at Mines with 1,815 and Adam Thistlewood, who hit the mark earlier this season against Westminster and has 1,242 points between his time at Colorado State and back home in Golden. Between them, the group has scored over 4,000 points and is collectively shooting over .480 for their career.
 
WATCHLIST SEASON
Sam Beskind and Adam Thistlewood were both recently named to the Bevo Francis Award watch list. The award is presented annually by Small College Basketball to the player who has had the finest overall season for a non-NCAA Division I team. The initial watch list consists of 100 players from the NCAA II, NCAA III, NAIA and USCAA ranks.
The duo, both Division I transfers from Stanford and Colorado State respectively, have started every game of the season for the Orediggers and have emerged as some of the top players in the RMAC this season. Beskind ranks in the top five in the league when it comes to assists and leads the league in steals, while Thistlewood is inside the top 10 in both scoring and rebounding. The two are responsible for close to 33% of the Orediggers' scoring output this season and are also the top rebounders on the team, pulling down 221 between them, nearly one-third of the team total, as well as the top two distributors on scoring plays with 116 assists.
 
TOP OF THE CLASS
Last Thursday the RMAC announced the All-Academic First Team for men's basketball and three Orediggers earned recognition for their work in the classroom with one claiming the league's top academic accolade. Brendan Sullivan was named the Academic Player of the Year for the third consecutive season while Ben Boone and Trent Dykema were also recognized for their accomplishments. The trio all wrapped up their undergraduate studies last May and are all currently working towards graduate degrees in Engineering & Technology Management. Sullivan becomes the fifth Oredigger to earn Academic Player of the Year honors during the 2022-23 season from the RMAC, joining Michael Sprauer of men's soccer program, John Matocha of football and Zoe Baker and Duncan Fuehne of cross country.
 
SHARING THE ROCK
With just four games left before the postseason, Mines leads the RMAC with 440 assists on the season, which comes out to an average of 18.4 per night and ranks seventh 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 fourth in the RMAC and also among the top 30 in DII with 89 dimes. Adam Thistlewood is second on the club with 54 assists and is followed by Reagan Koch (51), Brendan Sullivan (46) and Cade Mankle (41). Of the 13 players who have seen game action this season for the Orediggers, 12 have recorded an assist and 10 have 20 or more.

WE'LL TAKE THAT
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 fourth in the RMAC with 174 swipes, good for an average of 7.3 per game. Again, Beskind leads the team and is fourth in the RMAC with 35, while redshirt freshman Reagan Koch has come off the bench to tally 27, including a career-high five against Western Colorado back on December 18. Brendan Sullivan also now has 26 on the season while Adam Thistlewood has 17.
 
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
The Orediggers rank fifth in all of NCAA D-II this season when it comes to assist/turnover ratio at 1.62. 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 1.3; Chadron State is second at 1.30 followed by Black Hills State and Fort Lewis at 1.25 and 1.15. Through 24 games, the Orediggers have 440 assists and have turned the ball over just 271 times. That's usually a recipe that will lead to a great deal of success on the court.
 
RACE TO THE TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN
With just two weeks left in the regular season, it's a tight race for the regular season crown, as Black Hills State and Fort Lewis hold the top two spots in the league with Colorado Mesa in third, Mines in fourth and Chadron State lurking in fifth. The Orediggers remaining schedule sees them take on Colorado Christian and Chadron State at home this weekend before ending the season the road against Adams State and Fort Lewis. The Yellow Jackets opened a span of seven games in 14 days starting last weekend beating UCCS and Regis on the road before losing to FLC Monday night in the first two meetings this week, as they return to Spearfish with the Skyhawks February 17 before ending the season against ASU, CCU and CSC. Fort Lewis will head to South Dakota this weekend for round two with BHSU and South Dakota Mines before retuning to Durango to host MSU Denver and the Orediggers. Colorado Mesa will end with three of four at home against New Mexico Highlands, CSU Pueblo and Westminster before heading to Gunnison to close the regular season at WCU, while Chadron State has Metro and Mines on the road and the South Dakota schools at home left on their slate. It's sure to be an exciting race to the finish to see who will claim the regular season title and how the seeding will shake out for the 2023 RMAC Men's Basketball Championships.
 
TO BE THE BEST…
As the chase for the 2023 NCAA Division II Tournament heats up, its worth at least noting the makeup of the most recent Top 25 coaches poll. 17 different conferences are represented and six of them are represented by at least two members of the league, but only one, the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, has four teams inside the Top 25. The same can be said of the D2SIDA Media Poll where 16 different leagues are represented with seven claiming multiple teams, but again none can boast more than the RMAC. Just taking that a face value, Mines is playing in one of the toughest conferences in Division II this season against one of the toughest schedules around, meaning by the time the postseason rolls around, they'll be well-tested in big games.
 
SCOUTING COLORADO CHRISTIAN
The Cougars are in the midst of a four-game road trip and have lost four of their last five games, dropping both games last weekend to CSU Pueblo and New Mexico Highlands 77-58 and 79-63. An 8-5 team when playing in Lakewood this season, CCU is just 1-8 in true road games this season with that one win being at Western Colorado back on December 10. DJ McDonald leads four Cougars scoring better than 10 points per game at 14.3 and is shooting .392 from the floor and has a team-leading 65 three-pointers along with 61 assists, good for second on the team. Jason Gallant, the only player to start all 24 games for the Cougars, is next at 13.4 PPG and leads the team with 77 assists and is second with 21 steals while shooting .405 from the floor and .891 from the line. Noah Kon has come off the bench in 19 off 22 games and is scoring at a clip of 11.4 PPG and shooting .473 form the field with 47 assists and leads the Cougars with 26 steals while Isaiah Alonzo rounds out the group, scoring 11.0 PPG while leading the team in rebounding at 7.2 per night and shooting .527 to go with 10 blocks. Maro Egodotaye (6.1 PPG) leads CCU in blocks with 16 and is second behind Alonzo in rebounding at 4.5 per game and is shooting .574 on the season. As a team, CCU is -5.1 in scoring margin and is shooting .444/.344/.713 this season and is +1.7 in rebounding margin, pulling down 33.7 boards per game. They average just shy of 13 assists per night, but are -2.3 in turnover margin and do so at a rate of more than 14 per game but still maintain an ATR of 0.9.
 
SCOUTING CHADRON STATE
The Eagles continue a four-game road trip of their own and enter the weekend as one of the hottest teams in the RMAC right behind Mines in the standings in fifth. They've won their last eight including knocking off NHMU and CSUP 76-54 and 89-85 in overtime last weekend and take on MSU Denver before making the trip to Golden Saturday night. Isaiah Wyatt, the ninth-leading scorer in the RMAC this season, is averaging 15.5 PPG and has 37 assists, 21 steals and nine blocks while shooting  .444 from the floor and connecting on 70 three-pointers this season at a .473 clip. Bryce Latimer, one of the best distributors in the league, scores at a rate of 14.5 PPG and has 88 assists along with 21 steals of his own and is a .477 shooter off the bench. Josh Robinson is the final Eagles scoring in double figures at 13.1 PPG and among the conference leaders in rebounds with 196, good for 8.2 per night while shooting .607 and also adding 21 steals. Porter Anderson (8.2 PPG) has 111 rebounds on the season for 4.6 per night and leads CSC with 10 blocks, while Marcus Jefferson (7.7 PPG, 27 3FG) and MJ Foust (6.7 PPG, .568 FG%) lead the team with 27 and 26 steals respectively. On the year, Chadron State is +6.7 in scoring margin, putting up just shy of 78 points per game and shooting .464/.385/.732. they are +5.0 in rebounding at 37.2 per game and average 14.2 assists and just 11 turnovers per game.
 
CHECKING THE STAT SHEET
Adam Thistlewood leads a group of four Orediggers in double figure scoring for the season while a fifth isn't too far off from joining the party. The Golden native checks in at 15.3 PPG and also leads Mines in rebounding at 6.9 per night and is shooting .486 from the floor with 4546 assists, 17 steals and eight blocks. Brendan Sullivan follows at 13.1 PPG and is shooting .509 from the field and .433 from deep with 87 boards, 46 assists, 26 steals and 13 blocks while Ben Boone is scoring at an 11.8 clip and shooting .461 for the season and is .424 from three-point land. Sam Beskind rounds out the group at 10.0 PPG and is one of the league leaders in both assists and steals with 89 and 35 respectively and is shooting .518 from the floor. Kai has gone for 10 or more points in seven of the last eight games and is now up to 9.4 PPG and is second in rebounding at 4.8 per night while leading the team with 24 rejections, good for sixth in the RMAC this season.
 
SERIES HISTORY
The Orediggers and Cougars met on New Year's Day in Lakewood, a contest which resulted in a 77-63 Mines win to improve to 37-13 all-time in the series now having won 15 straight meetings between the schools. The Orediggers are 18-7 in the series when playing in Golden, with the last home game in the series coming all the way back in 2018 which resulted in a 97-80 win. When it comes to Chadron State, the Eagles hold a one-game lead in the all-time series at 44-43, but since 2008 it has been all Mines, winners of 26 straight games including a win in the only matchup last season, a 65-62 win in Golden where the Orediggers are 23-14 all-time.
 
LOOKING AHEAD
Mines will hit the road for their final two games of the regular season, making the return trips to Adams State and Fort Lewis February 24 and 25. Tip off against the Grizzlies is set for 7:30 p.m. in Alamosa, while action with the Skyhawks is set to get underway 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.