By: Patrick Murphy
GOOD TO BE BACK
The 2025-26 season gets going for the reigning Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference champion #10 Colorado School of Mines this weekend as they head north to Billings, Montana for the D2CCA Tipoff Classic at The Trailhead for three games against Central Missouri, Nebraska-Kearney and Angelo State.
FAN INFORMATION
All information for this weekend's D2CCA Tipoff Classic at The Trailhead can be found
here. All games will be played at the Alterowitz Gym on the MSU Billings campus. Tickets can be purchased online at a discounted price and at the door with cash only. Children 11 and under will be admitted free. Day passes for all ages are priced at $26, while three-day passes for the entirety of the event are priced at $38 for children aged 11-17 and seniors 65 and over and $48 for adults.
LIVE COVERAGE
This weekend's games will be streamed on a pay-per-view basis on the GNAC Network. Single-game passes for each contest are available for purchase at $12.66 including taxes and fees. Links for video and stats for all games can be found on
minesathletics.com.
AT THE HELM
The 2025-26 season will be the 25th 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 474-232 overall and a mark of 335-157 in league play. Under Orser, Mines has won six RMAC regular-season championships and three RMAC Tournament titles and qualified for 14 NCAA Tournaments including two Elite Eight trips.
IN THE POLLS
Mines was picked to finish second in the RMAC this season in the preseason coaches poll announced in late October. Black Hills State was the favorite to win while the top five behind Mines included Colorado Mesa, UCCS and Fort Lewis.
Nationally, Mines was voted 10th in the NABC Division II Preseason Coaches Poll. Defending national champs Nova Southeastern opened the season at #1 followed by Washburn, Dallas Baptist, Daemen and Fairmont State.
2024-25 RECAP
The 2024-25 season was one to remember for Mines as they went 29-5 overall and 18-2 in the RMAC on their way to sweeping the league's regular season and tournament titles before advancing to the round of 16 in the NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Championship.
Majok Deng was named RMAC Player of the Year and D2CCA Regional Player of the Year, while
Pryor Orser took home Coach of the Year honors. An additional four Orediggers earned All-RMAC honors with
Riley Schroeder joining Deng on the First Team with
Markus Pastorcic-Straun earning Second Team honors and
Alex Romack earning Honorable Mention honors. Deng and Schroeder were also named to the NABC Division II All-Star Game following All-District and All-America honors for Deng, where they led the West to a 127-118 win.
HELLO THERE
A total of nine newcomers join the Orediggers this season as the defending champs look to reload for 2025-26. Get to know
Jackson Brennan,
Will Essman,
Shelton Henton,
Kellon Johnson,
Kasen Lehman,
Trent Minter,
Cooper Mroczek,
Ryan Pramenko and
Gil Schayes here.
NEW-LOOK OREDIGGERS
With the departure of seven players from last year's championship-winning squad, the Orediggers will look significantly different heading into the 2025-26 season.
Alex Romack and
Jonathan Moore each started at different times throughout the season while
Markus Pastorcic-Straun came off the bench to post a breakout season as a sophomore. That core trio is joined by returners
Caleb Clark,
Dom Girish,
Silas McCurnin and
Derek Lamb who will all look to take on larger roles this fall. A trio of young bucks who redshirted last fall are also eager to make an impact this season as
Braydon Jacob,
Matija Jordovic and
Will Cordonnier will play a role in the rotation as well. Combined with the nine newcomers listed above, Mines isn't looking to rebuild this season, but rather reload for another run at the top of the RMAC.
PRESEASON HONORS
Along with the release of last month's preseason poll, the RMAC announced preseason All-Conference teams and saw the duo of Mines juniors
Markus Pastorcic-Straun and
Alex Romack earn honors heading into the season. Pastorcic-Straun was a Second Team honoree last fall following a breakout season in which he netted 11.0 PPG off the bench and was second on the team with 90 assists. Romack followed up his Freshman of the Year campaign with Honorable Mention honors as a sophomore as he averaged 3.1 points and 5.0 rebounds per game while shooting .594 from the floor.
BENCH MOB
The Orediggers finished sixth nationally in Division II last season in bench scoring average as the reserves for Mines netted 37.2 PPG while their 1,264 total points scored were good for fourth in the country. As the Orediggers adjusted their style of play last fall, more players saw opportunities in the rotation with increased offensive output and ramped up defensive pressure. Compare that to the 2023-24 season in which mines 86th in Division II with just 718 bench points for an average of 23.9 per night. With a new standard established, a young and hungry Mines team will look to mirror the production from 2024-25 heading into a new season.
FOR ALL TIME
Ahead of his 25th 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. On January 20 of the 2023-24 season, 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. Just weeks later in February, 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.
HOMECOMING FOR A HALL OF FAMER
This weekend will be a homecoming of sorts for Mines head coach
Pryor Orser, a 2014 MSU Billings Hall of Fame inductee following his time as a player and coach. A student-athlete for MSUB from 1986-89, Orser helped lead the Yellow Jackets to the Division II Final Four in 1987. At the time of his induction, he held eight career records and is still the program record holder in career three-point percentage at 45.3%. Orser also can be found on the all-time lists for career free-throw percentage, single-season free throw percentage and career three-point field goals. He helped lead MSUD to more than 80 wins during his time on the court with two trips to the NCAA Tournament and earned a pair of All-GNAC honors, including Second Team All-Conference in 1988-89. After transitioning to a coaching role, Orser spent three seasons on staff at MSUB before his path ultimately led him to the head coaching position at Mines.
BUTKOVICH INDUCTED TO MINES HOF
The first All-American in program history, Joe Butkovich was inducted earlier this fall to the Harry D. Campbell Mines Hall of Fame. A prolific scorer and rebounder in the post, Butkovich was named an all-American as a senior in 1971-72, the Orediggers' first national honoree. Upon the conclusion of his career, Butkovich was Mines' all-time rebounding leader with 891 and third on Mines' all-time scoring list with 1,641 points. More than 50 years after graduating, he still owns Mines' career and season per-game rebounding records of 11.7 and 12.3 (1970-71) rebounds per game, respectively, and he also set the record (since broken) for season scoring average with 24.9 points per game in 1971-72; today he ranks third in that category. That senior season saw him lead the RMAC in scoring and rank among the NCAA and NAIA national leaders in both scoring and rebounding, and his top individual games were a 37-point night against Western New Mexico (the Mines single-game record at the time) and 20 rebounds against UMKC.
Butkovich earned his degree in engineering from Mines in 1972. His post-collegiate basketball career included tryouts with the Denver Nuggets and Chicago Bulls, and he played professionally in France and Belgium before returning stateside to work as an engineer, spending much of his career dismantling chemical weapons across the United States.
CHECKING THE STATS
Heading up the stat sheet among the returners for the Orediggers this season is
Markus Pastorcic-Straun. Last season coming off the bench he averaged 11.0 PPG and shot .540 from the floor and .750 from the stripe while leading the team with 37 steals and finishing second with 90 assists.
Alex Romack split time as a starter and a coming off the bench as he averaged 9.1 points and 5.0 rebounds per game while shooting .594 with 38 assists, 31 steals and 19 blocks.
Jonathan Moore shared time with Romack as the starter the first half of the season and averaged 4.3 PPG on .619 shooting with 2.8 RPG, 38 assists and a team-high 22 blocks.
Last year Mines averaged 81.4 PPG on .499/.380/.744 shooting with 35.8 rebounds and 18.2 assists per game. They turned it over 12.8 times per game and had an assist/turnover ratio of 1.4 while scoring 16.2 PPG off turnovers. They also added 7.6 steals and 3.4 blocks per game defensively.
SCOUTING CENTRAL MISSOURI
Central Missouri went 15-15 overall last season and 9-10 in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. The Mules return four players in Kyran Tilley, Jake Fritz, Noah Martin and Kyree Polk and are bolstered by six transfers, three of which played at Division I last season.
Tilley is the team's leading returning scorer after starting 26 of 29 games last year and averaging 9.9 PPG on .426/.362/.851 shooting with a team-best 67 assists and 37 steals. Fritz was a staple off the bench in 27 games as he averaged 4.5 PPG on .423/.365/.700 shooting with 14 assists and 14 steals. Martin and Polk played in 17 and 18 games respectively last year, but neither produced much as they averaged less than nine minutes per game.
Of the newcomers, Division I transfers Naz Brown (Coastal Carolina), AJ Lux (Bellarmine) and Jevon Hill (South Dakota) are joined by Judah Salt (Belmont Abbey), Deadric Fikes (Newman) and Deshawne Crim (St. Thomas Aquinas (OH)). Brown played two seasons at Oklahoma State before arriving in Conway last fall where he came off the bench in 30 games and averaged 3.1 PPG as a .329/.314/.707 shooter with 36 assists and 18 steals. Lux played two seasons at Bellarmine and last year averaged 3.3 PPG on .375/.340/917 shooting with eight steals and five blocks in 23 games. Hill spent three seasons at South Dakota, appearing in 47 games and averaged 2.8 PPG with 54 rebounds while shooting .395/.337/.813. His best season came in 2023-24 when he averaged 4.0 points and 1.5 rebounds per game.
Sault played two years at Division II Belmont Abbey in North Carolina, where he started 30 times in 51 games. An everyday starter last season, Sault averaged 8.1 PPG, 4.1 RPG and shot .475/.407/.741 with 45 assists and 12 steals. Fikes played at DII Newman as a freshman and averaged 7.1 PPG in 27 games mostly coming off the bench dishing out 23 assists and shooting .491/.303/.726. Crim played two seasons at St. Thomas Aquinas, appearing in 62 games and averaging 6.2 PPG in his career as a .450/.350/.762 shooter with 57 assists and 36 steals.
Last season UCM averaged 62.8 PPG and shot .413/.322/.723 as a team. They averaged 31.9 rebounds and 10.4 assists per game. The Mules turned it over 11.8 times per game and were +0.9 in assist/turnover ratio while averaging 12.7 points off turnovers. They also averaged 7.2 steals and 2.7 blocks per game.
SCOUTING NEBRASKA-KEARNEY
Nebraska-Kearney is coming off a 12-16 season in which they went 10-9 in in MIAA play. They tip their season Friday morning against Angelo State and bring back six regulars from last plus a trio of redshirts while welcoming four transfers and four freshmen.
Ja'Bryant Hill is the leading returning scorer who started all 28 games and averaged 16.0 PPG with 3.1 RPG on .393/.322/.54 shooting with a team-high 95 assists along with 57 steals. Taylor Harrell was a swingman last year and averaged 8.3 PPG in 91 games on .612 shooting from inside with a team-leading 5.9 RPG. Kendrick Gilbert started last season as well and averaged 7.7 points and 4.6 rebounds per game with 30 assists and 16 steals while shooting .508 from the floor and .674 from the line. Clayton Moore averaged 4.5 PPG on .483 shooting with 29 assists awhile Jamerson averaged .40 PPG on .508 shooting with a team-high 13 blocks. Johnston played sparingly and averaged 2.4 PPG but did record 13 assists in 17 games.
Connelly missed last season with injury but has played three season for the Lopers with his best year coming in 2022-23 when he started 23 times and averaged 7.0 points and 4.7 rebounds per game while shooting .433 from the floor and .388 from three with 14 assists and 12 steals. Neither Momma or Swift saw time last year.
As a team in 2024-25, UNK averaged 74.4 PPG on .436/.334/.719 shooting with 33.5 rebounds per game and 12.4 assists per game. They turned the ball over 10.6 times per game and were +1.2 in assist/turnover ration with 14.7 points off turnovers. Defensively they worked 8.5 steals and 2.1 blocks per game.
SCOUTING ANGELO STATE
Angelo State went 17-12 overall and 13-9 in the Lone Star Conference last year. They'll play UNK and New Mexico Highlands to start the weekend before playing Mines Sunday. Just two squad members return this season for ASU in the persons of Darius Brady and Chace Fields as 11 transfers and two freshmen enter the fray.
Fields and Brady both played sparingly last season, appearing in a combined eight games between them. Several Division I transfers join the Rams starting with Tulsa transfer Jesaiah McWright who averaged 2.8 PPG in three seasons. Ja'Queze Kirby played three seasons at Division II Augusta and was a 1,000-point scorer in his career after transferring from Murray State. In his three seasons with the Jags, he started 88 times in 95 games and shot .481/.393/.783 with 11.5 points and 5.9 rebounds per game to go with 101 steals, 73 blocks and 167 assists. Jaqai Murray played at DI NC Central last year and averaged 6.0 points and 4.5 rebounds per game on .514 shooting while Jordan Crawford spent three season at Louisiana Tech and was named C-USA All-Freshman Team in his debut season in which he dished out 95 assists and pocketed 35 steals.
JUCO All-American Jhordan Ryan arrives in San Angelo from Iowa Lakes CC where he averaged 14.0 points and 11.2 rebounds per game on .578 shooting. Another JUCO product Jabbari Barry arrives from Mississippi Gulf Coast where he netted 14.3 points, 3.0 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game as a freshman while shooting .460/.456/.814. Zyon Little transfers from LSC rival Texas A&M-Kingsville where he posted 9.3 points and 4.0 rebounds per game last year as he led the team in three-pointers.
As a team in 2024-25, Angelo State averaged 68.6 PPG and shot .440/.345/.710 with 34.0 rebounds per game. They dished out 12.3 assists and turned the ball over 12.3 times per game as well with a 1.0 assist/turnover ratio while scoring 13.6 PPG off turnovers. Defensively the Rams added 7.2 steals and 2.4 blocks per game.
SERIES HISTORY
Mines and Central Missouri will meet for just the third time Friday morning and the first time in nearly 30 years. UCM has taken both meetings, first in Warrensburg in 1979 by a score of 95-77 followed by a 1996 win in Las Vegas 90-64.
A former RMAC member, Nebraska-Kearney is back on the schedule for the first time since the 2019-20 season as they lead the series 34-16. the Lopers won that last meeting in Golden 74-66 and have won the last two meetings. Mines' last win came in 2017 in Golden by a score of 86-79 as part of a six-game winning streak that started in 2013.
Despite being regional foes, last year was the first-ever meeting between Mines and Angelo State as the two squared off at the DII Holiday Hoops Classic at the South Point Casino. The Orediggers took that matchup 71-54.
LOOKING AHEAD
Regional crossover action awaits the Orediggers in week two as they'll head to Texas to take on #25 Lubbock Christian on November 14 and #RV St. Mary's (TX) on November 16.
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.
