#15/24 Mines (24-4, 18-4) vs. Chadron State (19-9, 16-6) – Tuesday, 7:30 p.m. – Golden, Colo. [Live Stats] [RMAC Network]

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POSTSEASON PLAY BEGINS
The #15/24 Colorado School of Mines men's basketball team will begin their postseason journey Tuesday night at Lockridge Arena when they take on one of the hottest teams in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference over the last month of the season in fifth-seeded Chadron State in the opening round of the 2022-23 RMAC Men's Basketball Championship.
 
FAN INFORMATION
Fans are reminded that there is no passlist for the postseason. All students with a valid ID card will be admitted free of charge to all games. All games will be streamed on the RMAC Network. Tickets and additional tournament information can be found here.
 
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 419-216 and 300-150 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. 
 
THE FIELD IS SET
Eight teams qualified for the 2022-23 RMAC Men's Basketball Championship and it wasn't without drama on the final night of the regular season, as the top seed was up for grabs while there was a mad dash among several teams for the final two spots in this year's rendition of the event. Colorado Mesa and Fort Lewis finished the season tied for the top spot in the conference and are officially co-champions, but the Mavericks secured the #1 seed by virtue of their win over the Skyhawks on January 20. FLC earned the #2 seed while Black Hills State, who looked virtually unstoppable early in the season but stumbled over the final weeks ended up with the third seed. Mines locked up the four seed with a win over Chadron State who might as dangerous a fifth seed as you'll find anywhere. Westminster, Regis and MSU Denver round out the field.
 
The other three quarterfinal matchups Tuesday see the Mavericks host the Roadrunners in Grand Junction at 7 p.m., while Regis travels to Durango to play Fort Lewis at 6 p.m. while Westminster will head to Spearfish, South Dakota for a 7 p.m. date with Black Hills State.
 
RECENT TOURNAMENT HISTORY
The Orediggers will look for a different result in the postseason this year as they seek their third RMAC Tournament title in program history and first since 2017. In last year's edition of the tournament, Mines went on the road to UCCS and fell to the Mountain Lions in a close 74-71 game in the quarterfinals despite a 22-point showing from Ben Boone. During the 2020-21 season, the Orediggers advanced to the finals in Grand Junction against Colorado Mesa, but were again denied tournament gold for the second year in a row by the Mavericks in a 75-74 overtime loss, also coming up short in the 2019-20 championship 69-61.
 
IN THE POLLS
The latest NABC and D2SIDA polls came out last Tuesday and saw Mines check in at #15 and #24 respectively. Blacks Hills State fell to #10 and #8, while Fort Lewis and Colorado Mesa were both on the move, rising to fifth and sixth and 14th and 16th 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 latest batch of regional rankings were released Wednesday, as the first numerical list had the Orediggers slotted in at the sixth spot. Fort Lewis, Black Hills State and Colorado Mesa occupy the top three spots while Angelo State and West Texas A&M follow. Behind Mines comes Lubbock Christian, Texas A&M-Kingsville, St. Edward's and Eastern New Mexico.
 
WEEK 15 RECAP
Mines made it a clean sweep of the final weekend of the regular season as they returned to the road against Adams State and Fort Lewis, rolling to a 92-60 win over the Grizzlies behind a 23-point night from Adam Thistlewood and a 12 point, 12 rebound double-double from Kai Barr before picking up their first win over a top five opponent Saturday over the Skyhawks with a 75-64 win as Adam Krasovec turned in his best night of the season, dropping 20 off the bench and shooting 7-8 from the floor with five boards and two assists.
 
AND THE WINNER IS…
Kai Barr was named RMAC Defensive Player of the Week on Monday following a weekend in which he recorded his second double-double of the season and averaged 10.0 rebounds per game. The award is the first in the career for the Texan and the third this season for Mines, joining fellow big men Adam Krasovec and Adam Thistlewood. Read more about Kai's weekend here.
 
THE MILESTONE MAN
Continuing a storyline from last season, Brendan Sullivan continues to make his mark as one of the most prolific scorers in Orediggers history. Over the last four weekends, the Highlands Ranch product has cleared a quintet 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, collecting his 600th rebound against Colorado Mesa February 10 and eclipsing 100 career blocks Saturday night against Chadron State.  Through 26 games this season, he now stands at 1,864 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. His 154 steals are fourth all-time while his 269 assists are good for 11th.
 
A BRAINY BUNCH
The College Sports Communicators (CSC) released the 2022-23 Academic All-District teams for basketball last Tuesday, and three members of the Colorado School of Mines men's basketball program were recognized for the accomplishments on the court and in the classroom, as redshirt seniors Sam Beskind and Brendan Sullivan along with redshirt freshman Reagan Koch were among those named to the Division II team. Read the full story here.
 
TOP OF THE CLASS
Earlier this month 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.
 
LEAGUE LEADERS
With the regular season in the books, Mines found themselves atop or near the top of the RMAC in several team and individual stat categories. When it comes to scoring, the Orediggers are second in the league in offensive PPG at 82.7 and scoring margin at 13.9, while ranking third in defensive PPG at 68.9. When it comes to shooting the rock, Mines does so at a rate of 50.1% from the field and 37.2% from long range, good for third and fifth in the league while holding opponents to 41.9% and 32.6% respectively, both second in the conference. The Orediggers also rank second in rebounds with 1,048 and turnover margin at 1.93, while leading the league in assists with a whopping 506.
 
Individually, Adam Thistlewood is 10th in the RMAC in scoring (15.5), rebounding (6.5) and field goal percentage (50.5%). while Brendan Sullivan (13.3 PPG) and Kai Barr (5.2 RPG) are both just outside the top 20. Sullivan also ranks eighth in field goal percentage at 51.6% and fourth in three-point field goal percentage at 43.1%. Sam Beskind and Thistlewood are among the top 20 conference wide in assists with 103 and 65 respectively, while Barr is tied for fifth with 30 blocks and is joined in the top 20 by Sullivan and Riley Schroeder with 18 each. Beskind also is among the league leaders in steals, as his 37 are tied for eighth.
 
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
The Orediggers rank fifth in all of NCAA D-II this season when it comes to assist/turnover ratio at 1.65. 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 1.29 followed by Black Hills State and Fort Lewis at 1.28 and 1.07. Through 28 games, the Orediggers have 506 assists and have turned the ball over just 307 times. That's usually a recipe that will lead to a great deal of success on the court.
 
 
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 CHADRON STATE
After opening the new year with losses in four of their first five games, Chadron State won 11 of their final 12 games entering the postseason, with their lone blemish being a 78-74 loss to Mines back on February 18. Bryce Latimer has come off the bench in all 28 games this season and leads the team in scoring at 15.5 PPG and is fifth in the league with 98 assists and is shooting .484 from the floor this season. Isaiah Wyatt is close behind at 15.4 PPG and has connected on a team-high 80 three-pointers and is shooting .453 from the field and .473 from three with nine blocks and 24 steals. John Robinson leads the Eagles in rebounding at 8.3 per game and has 152 for the season while scoring at a clip of 14.0 per game and shooting better than 60%. Porter Anderson is scoring at a rate of 8.5 PPG and rebounding at a clip of 4.7 per game and shooting .556 with a team leading 11 blocks. MJ Foust (6.2 PPG) and Marcus Jefferson (8.2 PPG) are first and second on the team with 29 and 28 steals, while the former has 113 rebounds and the latter's 112 dimes are second in the conference. As a team, CSC is averaging 78.7 PPG and is +6.4 in scoring margin while shooting .472/.392/.745 on the season. They are averaging 36.2 rebounds per game and are +4.8 in rebounding margin and average 14.1 assists per night, while turning the ball over less than 11 times per game. Defensively, the Eagles hold opponents to 72.3 PPG and have logged 176 steals and 47 blocks.
 
CHECKING THE STAT SHEET
Adam Thistlewood ended the regular season as the Mines leader in scoring and rebounding at 15.5 points and 6.5 rebounds per game, marks which both rank 10th in the RMAC. The Golden native shot .505 from the field and .344 from three with 65 assists, 19 steals and 10 blocks during the year as well. Brendan Sullivan enters the tournament averaging 13.3 PPG and shooting .516 from the field with a team-high 59 three-pointers and shooting at a .431 clip from deep. The redshirt senior is also averaging 3.5 rebounds per night and has 55 assists, 30 steals and 18 blocks. Ben Boone is the third Oredigger averaging better than 10 a game, scoring at a rate of 11.2 per night and shooting .468 from the floor and .405 from three. Kai Barr, one of the top shot blockers in the league with 30 this year, is scoring at a rate of 9.4 PPG and is second to only Thistlewood in rebounding at 5.2 per game and is shooting .577 from the field. Sam Beskind (9.3 PPG) has seen his scoring output decrease of late but is still shooting .503 from the floor and is fourth in the league with 103 assists and tied for eighth with 37 steals, while Riley Schroeder (7.6 PPG, 3.9 RPG, 18 BLK) and Adam Krasovec (6.6 PPG, 3.0 RPG, .596 FG%) are always a threat to come off the bench and have a big night. On the year as a team, Mines is scoring 82.7 PPG and is +13.8 in scoring margin, holding opponents to less than 69 points per night, the third-best mark in the RMAC. They are shooting .501/.372/.750 this season and average 37.4 rebounds and 18.1 assists per game, the latter of which leads the league. A team that is very mindful of possession, the Orediggers only turn it over 11 times per game and collect almost seven steals and four blocks per game.
 
SERIES HISTORY
The Orediggers and Eagles will be meeting for the second time in 10 days Tuesday night and the latest installment in the series was a good one, as Mines recorded a 78-74 win on Senior Day to win their 27th straight game in the series. All-time, Mines and Chadron State are 44-44 in 88 meetings, but when it comes to playing in Golden, the Orediggers are 24-14 and haven't lost at home since 2003.
 
LOOKING AHEAD
Should Mines advance in the 2022-23 RMAC Men's Basketball Championship, they will play the winner of top-seeded Colorado Mesa and eighth-seeded MSU Denver Friday March 3. Location and time will be determined based up the results of opening round play Tuesday night.
 
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.