#13/18 Mines (4-1, 0-0) at Adams State (4-3, 0-0) – Thursday, 7:30 p.m. – Alamosa, Colo. [Live Stats] [RMAC Network]
#13/18 Mines (4-1, 0-0) at New Mexico Highlands (6-1, 0-0) – Saturday, 3 p.m. – Las Vegas, N.M. [Live Stats] [RMAC Network]

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RMAC OPENER
Coming off a convincing win over an RMAC foe in non-conference action last week, the #13/18 Colorado School of Mines men's basketball team will return to the road and open conference action this week as they'll head to Adams State and New Mexico Highlands Thursday December 5 and Saturday December 7.
 
LIVE COVERAGE
Both games this weekend will be streamed free of charge on the RMAC Network. Free live stats will be available for both games. Links for video and stats for both matches can be found on minesathletics.com.
 
AT THE HELM
The 2024-25 season will be the 24th for the Orediggers under the guidance of head coach Pryor Orser. The winningest coach in the history of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, Orser's record stands at 449-228 overall and a mark of 317-155 in league play. Under Orser, Mines has won five RMAC regular-season championships and two RMAC Tournament titles and qualified for 13 NCAA Tournaments including two Elite Eight trips. 
 
IN THE POLLS
The Orediggers were tabbed the preseason favorites to win the RMAC this season, earning 11 of 14 first place ballots and compiling 191 points. MSU Denver was picked to finish second followed by Regis, Black Hills State and Colorado Mesa.
 
Mines was on the move in the national polls this week at they ascended to #13 in the NABC Division II Coaches Poll while in the D2CSC Media Poll they rose to #18.
 
Nova Southeastern, West Texas A&M and Washburn remained 1-2-3 at the top of the Coaches Poll this week while West Liberty and Dallas Baptist each moved up one spot to round out the top five as Minnesota Duluth slipped up and dropped from fourth to 11th this week. Meanwhile in the media poll, the top four of NSU, WTMAU, WLU and WU remained the same while Ferris State rose three spots to take over fifth.
 
Mines again remained the only RMAC team ranked both in the NABC and D2CSC polls this week as MSU Denver once again earned votes in each.

WEEK 3 RECAP
In the lone action of last week, the Orediggers made light work of UCCS in non-conference action from Lockridge Arena, hitting the century mark and winning by a final tally of 107-67. Mines shot .574 from the floor, .481 from downtown and .889 at the stripe in the winning effort while getting 51 of their 107 points from their second and third units off the bench. Majok Deng led four in double figures with 24 points on 9-15 shooting including 4-5 from deep while Riley Schroeder shined with 15 points on 7-`5 shooting with three rebounds and three assists. Reagan Koch and Alex Romack each went for 13 off the bench with the former shooting 4-7 and 3-4 from three with four rebounds, four assists, two steals and a block while the latter and 3-5 from the floor and 6-6 at the line with seven boards and two steals of his own. Cade Mankle and Markus Pastorcic-Straun both finished with nine and combined to shoot 8-11 in the game with six rebounds, five dimes and three steaks between them.
 
FOR ALL TIME
Currently in his 24th season leading the Orediggers, head coach Pryor Orser has seen a thing or two and is subsequently no stranger to milestone moments and record-setting success. Back on January 20 against UCCS, the legendary coach added another to his list of accomplishments, becoming the winningest coach in terms of conference wins in the history of the RMAC with 310 and counting. On Saturday, Orser broke another conference record, this time for the most overall wins by a head coach in league history with a 74-56 win over Chadron State, giving him 442 for his career to again pass the great Bob Hofman who made a mark on RMAC history at Fort Lewis and Western Colorado over his 24 seasons between the two institutions. With seemingly no plans to hang it up anytime soon and enjoying another successful season this year, Orser has the potential to set a record that could stand for just as long, if not longer, than the previous mark as another point on an already remarkable resume in a coaching career matched by only a few.
 
SPREADING IT OUT
All 14 players that have seen time this season have scored for the Orediggers as part of a new-look rotation that through the first five games has seen plenty of straight up line changes with five players subbing on and off at most opportunities. Of those 14 players 10 are scoring at least 4.4 PPG with an 11th, Grant Pressly, is just shy of 4.0 PPG but has 18 assists and five steals. Delving deeper, eight of the 10 players previously mentioned are scoring better than 5.0 PPG. As the season goes on, it will be interesting to see if Mines is able to sustain their balanced attack that has been on display in the early going or if more individuals will start to separate themselves from the crowd.
 
600 CLUB
After dropping 567 points in his debut season at Mines, Majok Deng now stands at 642 career points as an Oredigger with an average of 15.0 PPG this season. Taking into account his time at Pepperdine, the Tucson native is now on the north side of 750 points in his collegiate career and is poised to hit 1,000 by season's end. Adam Krasovec is also now on the northside of 600 as he enters RMAC play with 615 points now as he looks to finish his career out strong as well.
 
MILESTONE WATCH     
Several other Orediggers on the cusp of hitting a few milestones across several statistical categories. Juani Dassie blew past the 200-point mark in his career during week two in Texas and is now up to 229 while Reagan Koch is cleared the 150-rebound mark last week while recording his 50th steal opening weekend. Adam Krasovec is up to 331 rebounds and 43 blocks in his four seasons at Mines, while Cade Mankle is up to 152 rebounds, 149 assists and 448 points in his three seasons. Riley Schroeder returned to play week two and surpassed the 700-point mark in his career as he's now up to 728, while also boasting 336 rebounds and 49 steals. Fellow big man Alex Romack also rolled through the 300-point mark on opening weekend and is now up to 250 rebounds in his career while being 20 blocks from 50 in his young career.
 
GETTING THAT SILVER
Grant Pressly and Reagan Koch each completed their undergraduate degrees in May and collected their silver-plated diplomas as they walked across the stage and are back for more as both have begun graduate programs. Pressly, a fifth-year man out of Plano, Texas earned a Bachelor's degree in Business Engineering and Management Science while Koch needed just three years to graduate with a degree in in Mechanical Engineering. Both men are currently pursuing graduate degrees in Engineering and Technology Management.
 
CHECKING THE STATS
Following his big night last Tuesday, Majok Deng is back atop the leaderboard in scoring at 15.0 PPG and is shooting .429/.348/.950 this season and it tied for the team lead in rebounding at 5.0 per game along with five steals and two blocks. Riley Schroeder has started off hot in his first three games after missing opening weekend, scoring 12.0 PPG and shooting .517 from the floor and .462 from deep while Juani Dassie is scoring 12.6 PPG off the bench and shooting .611 from the field and .577 from downtown with a team-leading 15 three-pointers in addition to seven steals.
 
Markus-Pastorcic Straun and Alex Romack are both scoring 8.6 PPG and shooting .471 and .583 respectively with the Canuck leading the team with eight still and adding 16 assists while the Hoosier is tied for the team lead in rebounding and has three blocks and three steals. Reagan Koch is scoring 8.2 per night off the bench and has 13 assists while Cade Mankle (6.6 PPG, 7 STL) is tied for the team lead with 18 assists alongside Grant Pressly (3.4 PPG, 5 STL). Jonathan Moore leads the way with seven blocks while scoring 4.8 points and hauling in 4.0 rebounds per game while Adam Krasovec checks in at 5.2 PPG with four steals and two blocks.
 
For the season, Mines is averaging 86.6 PPG and is +17.6 in scoring margin. They are shooting .495/.397/.767 while opponents have shot .412/.358/.744. Mines averages 36.6 rebounds per game and finds themselves +4.2 in that category while dishing out an eye-popping 20 assists per game. They turn the ball over at a rate of 13.4 times per game and are +2.8 in TO margin while scoring better than 20 points per game off opponent turnovers. Defensively they averaged 10.4 steals and 3.2 blocks per game.
 
SCOUTING ADAMS STATE
The Grizzlies opened up the season with three straight wins against Western New Mexico, UT Permian Basin and Cameron before suffering a reversal of fortune with three straight losses to Midwestern State. West Texas A&M and Northwestern Oklahoma State. Last week they rebounded with a pre-Thanksgiving win over Northern New Mexico heading into RMAC play.
 
The Grizzlies bring a mix of returners and newcomers into RMAC play this season with Jude Tapia already winning a pair of Offensive Player of the Week honors while leading the team in scoring at 17.9 PPG and assists with 25, field goals and three pointers as he's shot .478/.449/.882 to open the year. Junior college transfer Ta'Veus Randle is second on the team in scoring at 12.6 PPG and has 12 steals with four blocks while shooting .333 from the floor and .793 at the line.
 
Three more players are scoring better than 10 points per night, as Luke Williams is next at 12.4 PPG while leading the team in rebounding at 7.0 per contest while also dishing out 24 assists and pocketing 13 steals on his way to .500 shooting from the field off the bench. Another JUCO product Jaylan Alexander is scoring 11.5 PPG on .612 shooting with a team-high seven blocks while hauling in 5.5 rebounds per game and also has 10 steals. Another transfer Wyatt Helming has also come off the bench to scoring 10.0 PPG and shooting .565 from the floor and .737 at the stripe.
 
Returner John Harge is another major contributor, scoring 9.9 PPG and shooting .565 from the floor and .867 at the free throw line while collecting 5.7 rebounds per game and recording 12 assists. Fellow returner Cameron Kimble is also one to watch, scoring 4.4 PPG and shooting .480 but has 12 assists and six steals.
 
One key area to monitor Thursday night is the turnover battle, as the first six for the Grizzlies have all committed 10 or more turnovers with Tapia leading the team with 32 while Harge has coughed it up 21 times.
 
For the season, ASU averages 87.1 PPG and is -3.4 in scoring margin. They are shooting a.465/.322/.775 clip while opponents have gone .450/.374/.772 in the first seven games. They average an even 38 rebounds per game and are -1.9 in that category while dishing out 15.3 assists per night. The Grizzlies turn the ball over at a rate of 18.6 times per game and are -2.9 in turnover margin, but are outscoring teams in points off turnovers at 19-9-18.3. Defensively they average 10 steals and three blocks per game.
 
SCOUTING NEW MEXICO HIGHLANDS
The Cowboys are off to a red-hot start to the season at 6-1 with wins over Angelo State, Northern New Mexico (2), CSU Pueblo, Western New Mexico and Western Colorado with their lone loss coming in the second game of the season to Eastern New Mexico on November 9. They'll host Regis Thursday night before taking on Mines to close out the weekend Saturday.
 
Kenard Richardson, this week's RMAC Offensive Player of the Week, leads four scoring in double digits at 17.2 PPG on .521/.423/.727 shooting with 11 assists and 11 steals, the latter of which is tied for the team lead. Richardson also leads the team in rebounding at 5.5 RPG. Kyrie Thomas follows at 11.7 PPG and leads the team with 17 three-point field goals while pocketing eight steals and shooting .500/.447/.700 in seven games. Newcomers Blessin Kimble checks in at 10.3 PPG and has nine assists, a team-high five blocks and five steals while TJ Sanchez is scoring 10.2 PPG and shooting .489/.381/.875 while eight steals, six assists and two blocks.
 
KJ LaMonte as been a contributor right away as a freshman for NMHU, scoring 9.7 PPG and shooting .444 from the floor and .800 at the line with a team-best 24 made free throws while leading the way with 14 steals and 11 dimes. Nathan Hasberry and Daniel Rosenber are both scoring 7.2 PPG entering the week and shooting .517 and .415 respectively with nine steals and seven blocks between them.
 
As a team, the Cowboys are scoring 83.2 PPG and are +6.3 in scoring margin. They are shooting .440/.333/.691 on the season while opponents are shooting .502/.368/.748. They average 32.2 rebounds per night and are -2.2 in that category while dishing out an even 13 assists per game. A team that minimizes turnovers, the Cowboys average just 11.3 per game and are +7.0 against opponents while collecting 11.0 steals and 3.8 blocks per contest.
 
SERIES HISTORY
All-time the Orediggers at 77-90 against Adams State and 23-53 when playing as the visiting team but have won 11 in a row dating back to January of 2019 and five straight in Plachy Hall. Last season Mines swept the season series, first posting a 117-84 win in Alamosa on February 3 before carding a 93-68 win in Golden March 1. The last loss in the series came in Alamosa in January of 2018 by a score of 60-54.
 
Against New Mexico Highlands, Mines sports a 48-33 record but is 17-22 when on the road. Winners of the last five in the series as well as the previous five meetings on the road, the Orediggers took the lone meeting of the teams last season in Las Vegas by a score of 69-60 in a tightly contested contest. The last loss in the series came in Golden in February 2020 while the last road loss was a 70-68 affair back in January of 2016.
 
LOOKING AHEAD
The Orediggers return to Lockridge Arena for week two of RMAC play next weekend against Colorado Mesa and Westminster. Due to graduation, the weekend schedule has been adjusted as Mines will take on the Mavericks Saturday December 14 at 3 p.m. followed by the Griffins Monday December 16, also at 3 p.m.

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.