#16/21 (3) Mines (23-7, 17-5) vs. (6) Regis (15-13, 12-10) – Tuesday, 7 p.m.– Golden, Colo. [Live Stats] [RMAC Network PPV]

---

 
RETURN TO POSTSEASON PLAY
After sweeping their final home weekend of the regular season to open the month of March, the #16/21 Colorado School of Mines men's basketball team embarks on their 2024 postseason campaign Tuesday night at Lockridge Arena as the third seed in the 2024 RMAC Men's Basketball Championship when they host the six seed Regis in the third meeting of the season between the two teams.
 
LIVE COVERAGE
This weekend's championship match along with all matches in the 2024 RMAC Men's Basketball Championship will be available on the RMAC Network at a price of $9.95 per day. Additional information can be found below. Free live stats will also be available through SIDEARM.
 
FAN INFORMATION
Fans are reminded that there is no passlist for the postseason. All college students of the teams that are playing who present a valid student ID card will be admitted free of charge to all matches. Fans are encouraged to purchase advance tickets through the Hometown Fan App on their mobile device, or the RMAC Box Office on their computer, which are subject to processing fees. When purchasing tickets electronically, fans will need to select 'Site 2' to purchase tickets to attend the game at Mines. The only tickets that may be purchased at the venue will be cash only transactions. Adult tickets are priced at $15 dollars, while tickets for seniors and children over the age of five are priced at $10. Regis and Mines students with a valid student ID card will be admitted at no charge.
 
Also, fans are reminded that the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference will be implementing a subscription model for all championship broadcasts. Fans will be able to purchase day passes for each day of the tournament priced at $9.95 per day plus a small service fee. To purchase the day pass, fans will navigate to www.rmacnetwork.com and will be directed to select the institution that they are supporting through their viewership. Once the payment submission is complete, fans will have access to any RMAC championship contest available for that specific sport. Day passes will expire within 24 hours of the purchase.
 
For technical support questions, fans may submit a support ticket with Hudl Support or email the RMAC directly (help@rmacsports.org). For further support, fans can visit the RMAC Network Help page.
 
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 Mines history, he eclipsed the 400-win mark in November of last season and has a career record of 444-225 overall and a mark of 317-155 in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play, and is now holds the records for most conference wins and most wins all-time by a head coach in the RMAC, surpassing the previous record holder Bob Hofman of Fort Lewis and Western Colorado fame as he held the records for decades prior to Orser's incredible run. 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
Mines remained in the Top 25 last week with only their game against Chadron State counting towards this week's rankings, jumping up to #16 by virtue of their win over the Eagles. The lastest top five saw a new number one team as preseason favorite Nova Southeastern (22-2) regained their place atop the country as previous #1 West Texas A&M (25-2) suffered their second loss of the season and dropped to fourth. Fort Lewis (24-2) rose from second to third and Minnesota State (26-2) also climbed from fourth to third while Gannon (25-2) remained in fifth. Colorado Mesa (23-3) also moved up in the coaches poll, gaining two spots to seventh. The latest D2CSC Media Poll also featured an appearance by the Orediggers this week at #21 and also saw NSU take over the top spot followed by MSU, WTAMU, GU and Northwest Missouri State (22-4) with FLC in sixth and CMU in ninth.
 
Additionally, in the first set of numerical regional rankings released last week, Mines found themselves fifth in the South Central Region. West Texas A&M, Fort Lewis, Dallas Baptist and Colorado Mesa made up the top four with Eastern New Mexico, Lubbock Christian and MSU Denver making up the sixth through eighth spots with Angelo State and Cameron the first two teams out in ninth and 10th.
 
WEEK 16 RECAP
Following a disappointing loss to CCU last Monday, Mines rebounded in a big way at home to close out the regular season, beating Adams State 93-68 on senior night Friday before winning a close one in a Top 25 showdown against #2/6 Fort Lewis 70-65 on Saturday.
 
Against the Grizzlies, the Orediggers had their hands full early with a series of lead changes in the first half, but were able to finally settle in regaining the edge and stretching the lead to 15 by the break and outscoring ASU by 10 over the final 20 minutes of the night. Juani Dassie scored a career-high 20 points on 7-11 shooting including 6-10 from downtown while both Sam Beskind and Riley Schroeder went for 14 points with the former going 5-8 in the game with eight dimes and the latter going 6-10 with six rebounds. Majok Deng added 11, nine of which came via the three ball while Taylor Spurlock scored the last eight points of the night for a career-high performance on his senior night.
 
Saturday was a postseason primer for all in attendance as Mines and Fort Lewis dueled it out in a tightly-contest, highly physical and very emotional game. The Oredigger scored first but the Skyhawks showed why they were ranked second in the country and battled back to take the lead in the first half. The lead changed hands several times before Mines regained it for good and withstood a late rally in closing minutes to pick up their first win over a ranked opponent this season since November 5. Deng scored a game-high 18 points while Cade Mankle went 6-13 in the game to add 13 while Schroeder and Adam Krasovec each had 10.
 
TOURNAMENT TIME
Following the conclusion of the regular season Saturday night, the field has been set for the 2024 edition of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Tournament. With a little help from the Orediggers Saturday night, Colorado Mesa (25-3, 21-1) laid claim to the regular season crown and earned the top seed and will begin the tournament at home hosting eighth-seeded Chadron State (12-16, 9-13), who edged out South Dakota Mines for the final spot as both teams had an identical RMAC record, but the Eagles won the head-to-head matchup with the Hardrockers in their only meeting of the season. Fort Lewis (25-3, 20-2) slotted in as the two seed and will host a resurgent CSU Pueblo (14-14, 10-12) team that rallied their way into the postseason as the seven seed. Mines (23-7, 17-5) will be at Lockridge Arena to host the six seed Regis (15-13, 12-10) in the third of three meetings and second in Golden this season, while Black Hills State (16-12, 14-8) earned the final opening round host spot as the fourth seed and will welcome fifth seed MSU Denver (19-9, 13-9) to Spearfish.
 
Once the dust settles Tuesday, four teams will advance to the semifinals to compete for a spot in the finals, which will be hosted by the highest remaining seed in the tournament on Friday night March 8 with the tournament title game Saturday March 9.
 
FOR ALL TIME
Currently in his 23rd 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.
 
LOOKING AT THE STATS
Entering the postseason, Majok Deng remains the locker room leader in scoring at 17.0 PPG and is shooting .435/.429/.830 as the team leader in made three-pointers with 75 and made free throws with 127 while adding 23 assists. Cade Mankle is scoring 9.9 PPG and is shooting .478 from the floor with 81 assists while Alex Romack continues to impress, scoring 8.9 per night while continuing to lead the team in rebounding at 6.8 RPG while shooting .667 from inside with 30 assists, 22 blocks and 16 steals. Riley Schroeder raised his scoring average to 9.3 PPG and is shooting .487 on the season with 3.7 RPG and a team-high 25 blocks with Sam Beskind stuffing the stat sheet across the board at 8.9 PPG, 6.2RPG and 4.6 APG while adding 28 steals and 14 blocks while shooting .412 from the field.
 
Adam Krasovec (7.8 PPG, 4.3 RPG), Markus Pastorcic-Straun (6.1 PPG, .492 FG%) and Juani Dassie (5.3 PPG, .514 3FG%) have been key figures on the second unit throughout the season, impacting the game in various ways on both sides of the ball and will figure to play integral roles heading down the stretch and into the postseason.
 
Collectively, the Orediggers are +8.2 in scoring margin at 77.5 PPG and shooting .481/.381/.718 on the season. They average 37.8 rebounds per night and are +7.8 in rebounding margin while also averaging 16.8 assists per night and continue working to lower their turnover number to 12.2 per game, yet still find themselves -1.4 in that category while registering 5.2 steals and 3.2 blocks per contest. Comparatively, the opposition this season scores at a clip of 69.3 PPG and shoots .429/.328/.763 with 30 rebounds, 10.4 assists, 10.8 turnovers, 6.3 steals and 2.5 blocks per game.
 
SCOUTING REGIS
Regis dropped a close 77-75 decision to CSU Pueblo to close the regular season Saturday but posted 82-75 and 82-76 wins over Western Colorado and New Mexico Highlands before that.
 
Chase Mayo Harman leads the Rangers into the postseason scoring at clip of 16.1 PPG and shooting .437/.418/.855 and leading the team in field goals (145), three pointers (56), free throws (106) and assists (66). Eddy Egun is the second Ranger scoring in double figures at 12.8 PPG and is shooting .552 on the season and has 48 assists while his 34 steals are second on the team. Jalen Brown enter Tuesday night shooting .434 on the season with 28 assists and 15 steals while Eisa Tarig is shooting .471, scoring 8.5 PPG and is the team's rebounding lead with 140 on the year for an average of 5.0 per night with a team-high 44 blocks that ranks first in the RMAC.
 
Ty Cox averages 8.2 per night scoring and has 21 assists to go with 23 steals, while Trey Bryant (6.5 PPG, .456 FG%) and CJ Reed (4.4 PPG, .357 3FG%) lead RU with 35 steals apiece and are in the top 10 in the conference in that statistic.
 
As a team, Regis is scoring 75.1 PPG and shooting .446/.328/.745 on the season and averages 33.6 rebounds, 13.1 assists, 12.9 turnovers, 8.4 steals and 3.2 blocks per game and are -2.0 in rebounding margin and +1.4 in turnover margin. Opponents average 73.2 PPG and shoot .460/.348/.670 while collecting 35.6 rebounds, 13.1 assists, 14.3 turnovers, 5.8 steals and 3.0 blocks per game.
 
SERIES HISTORY
Mines is already 2-0 against Regis this season, winning a non-conference game on January 4 on the road 93-79 before taking the lone conference meeting of the season two weeks later on January 19 at Lockridge Arena 79-61. All-time the series is tied at 70-70 but the Orediggers are on a three-game winning streak and have won seven of the last 10 games going back to 2018. The last time the teams met in the postseason was in 2018 in Durango which was won by the Rangers 89-83.
 
LOOKING AHEAD
Should Mines pick up a win Tuesday night, they'll likely be on the road somewhere for the semifinals and potentially finals of the 2024 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference men's basketball tournament which will be hosted by the highest remaining seed following the quarterfinals Tuesday. With a loss, the Orediggers will await their NCAA Tournament fate on Selection Sunday at 10 p.m. MT.

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.