Mines (0-0) vs. Colorado College (0-0) – Monday, 7 p.m. – Golden, Colo. [Live Stats] [RMAC Network PPV] [Tickets]
Mines (0-0) vs. St. Mary's (TX) (0-0) – Friday, 7 p.m. – Golden, Colo. [Live Stats] [RMAC Network PPV] [Tickets]
Mines (0-0) vs. Lubbock Christian (2-1) – Saturday, 7 p.m. – Golden, Colo. [Live Stats] [RMAC Network PPV] [Tickets]

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GOOD TO BE BACK  
A long offseason comes to an end with a busy opening week for the Colorado School of Mines men's basketball team, as they'll tip off the 2026-27 season with three games this week. The Orediggers will take the court at Lockridge Arena for the first time Monday against Colorado College before hosting St. Mary's (TX) and Lubbock Christian in Conference Challenge action Friday and Saturday.

LIVE COVERAGE
This weekend's matches will be available to watch with a subscription to the RMAC Network. Free live stats will be available as well. Links for video and stats can be found on minesathletics.com.
 
RMAC NETWORK 
The RMAC Network continues to have a pay-per-view model for all events. Fans can purchase monthly and annual subscriptions that will provide them access to all regular-season, championship, and archived broadcasts on the RMAC Network. A monthly subscription costs $25, and an annual subscription costs $130. Single-game passes are available for $12.50, which grants access to a single game for 24 hours. For technical support questions, fans can contact Hudl Support or email the RMAC directly (rmac@rmacsports.org). For further support, fans can visit the RMAC Network Help page.
 
FAN INFORMATION
Tickets can be purchased online in advance at minesathletics.com/tickets or at the gate on the day of the match. Mines students, faculty and staff will be admitted for free with their BlasterCard. Fans are encouraged to park in Lot D immediately to the west of Lockridge Arena, or the parking garage at the corner of West Campus Drive and Maple Street.

AT THE HELM
The 2026-27 season will be the 26th 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 490-248 overall with a mark of 347-165 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 third in the RMAC this season in October's Preseason Coaches Poll. Defending champions Black Hills State were picked to repeat, followed by CSU Pueblo and the Orediggers. Fort Lewis was fourth while MSU Denver rounded out the top five.
 
FIVE YEARS OF ELIGIBILITY PASSES
In early August, NCAA Division II passed a sweeping change to eligibility rules that now gives all student-athletes five seasons of eligibility in a five-year span, and eliminates redshirting. It will apply to this year's incoming freshmen, and returning players can either convert to the new rule or be grandfathered into continuing with the old four-year model, whichever is more beneficial. The new rules supersede the previous freshman rule that allowed them to play in up to four games while still redshirting. 
 
NCAA CHANGES POSTSEASON PROCESS
Another significant change coming to NCAA Division II is how they select the postseason championship field. Playoff selections will now be handled solely by the NCAA Power Index (NPI) instead of regional committees, removing the human element from the process; NPI takes into account winning percentage and strength of schedule, quality wins, and home/away weights, rewarding challenging schedules and road wins more so than in years past.

2025-26 RECAP
Mines went 16-16 overall last season and 12-8 in RMAC play in a bit of a rebuilding year. Alex Romack was named First Team All-RMAC and was one of the national leaders in double-doubles last season, while Jonathan Moore was one of the top shot blockers in the RMAC and earned Second Team All-Conference honors. Shelton_Henton was named Freshman of the Year as one of the top three-point shooters in the RMAC last fall, while Markus_Pastorcic-Straun averaged 20.0 PPG in despite missing most of the second half of the season with injury.
 
Despite a slow start to the season and some growing pains with a young rotation of players, Mines turned things around right before Christmas with a 72-70 win over Rollins at the Holiday Hoops Classic and proceeded to win seven of their next eight game. A record-setting 120-81 win at Regis on January 22 was one of the highlights of the season along with a 77-71 home win over Westminster on February 7 and a thrilling 94-91 win at MSU Denver in the final game of the regular season.
 
Six true freshmen saw action last fall, with five featuring regularly in the rotation with Henton, Trent Minter and Kellon Johnson starting more often than not, while Cooper Mroczek featured off the bench. Kasen Lehman saw his redshirt pulled in the second half of the season following the injury to Pastorcic-Straun, and took the RMAC by storm in the first weeks of his career. Will Essman preserved his redshirt under previous eligibility rules, but scored in all six games in which he appeared.
 
NOW INTRODUCING
Five newcomers joined the Orediggers for the 2026-27 season in the form of four freshmen and one graduate transfer. First-year players Anthony Andrew, Wyatt Horner, Holden Caltabiano and Mariano Lopez Aarden are joined by Northwest Missouri State veteran Jack Ratigan. Read more about the newcomers to the program here.
 
MR. DOUBLE-DOUBLE
Alex Romack had himself a year in 2025-26 when it came to double-doubles. Entering last season, he had just eight double-doubles in his first two seasons with six of those coming in his Freshman of the Year season. Last year Romack turned in 17 double-doubles, 12 of which came in a 16-game stretch from December 13-February 14. That total ranked sixth in Division II last season and was just one of 24 players in the entire country across all levels of the NCAA with at least 17 double-doubles. Prior to last season, the most double-doubles by an individual in a season in the last 13 years came courtesy of Trevor Wages with 14 in the 2013-14 season. In fact since the year 2000, there have just been three seasons with 10 or more double-doubles by an Oredigger, as Wages recorded 12 in the 2012-13 season. And for more context as to what Romack accomplished last year, over the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons, Mines had a combined 13 double-doubles as a team and in the two seasons before that, combined for just 10 total double-doubles.
 
YOU'VE BEEN BLOCKED
Last season teams went inside at their own peril against the Orediggers. Mines led the RMAC with 134 blocked shots and were one of two teams that averaged more than four blocks per game along with Adams State. Jonathan Moore was the leading force behind that, as his 41 blocks were second the conference while Alex Romack's 34 were good seventh. A total of 12 different players registered at least one block last season, while five turned in double figure totals. Along with Moore and Romack, Trent Minter (13), Will Cordonnier (11) and Derek Lamb (10) proved to be tough tasks to overcome for the opposition. Overall Mines was 23rd in Division II last season in total blocks, and will look to continue that trend into the new year.
 
CHECKING THE STATS
Alex Romack leads the way into the new season, having averaged 14.7 points and 8.8 rebounds per game last year with 64 assists, 34 steals and 34 blocks while shooting .565 from the floor. Jonathan Moore led Mines with 41 blocks last season to go with 43 assists while averaging 12.8 PPG and 5.8 RPG while shooting .489/.439/.895 with 47 three-pointers.
 
Kellon Johnson netted 7.5 PPG as a freshman on .457 shooting with 30 three-pointers while dishing out 57 assists with 23 steals on defense. Trent Minter scoring 5.8 PPG with 4.4 RPG and led Mines with 104 assists last year to go with 33 steals and 13 blocks while shooting .463 from the floor and .765 from the line. Kasen Lehman scored 5.8 PPG on .385 shooting with 13 assists and 11 steals in the second half of the season. Will Essman and Cooper Mroczek averaged 4.8 PPG and 4.6 PPG respectively with the former shooting .423 and the latter pocketing 25 steals. Will Cordonnier shot .352 with 23 three-pointers last season and logged 36 assists with 19 steals and 11 blocks.
 
Braydon Jacob connected 29 times from long range this fall and shot .800 from the line with 46 assists and 19 steals, while Derek Lamb recorded 10 blocks while shooting .455 from inside. Silas McCurnin shot .400 in limited action while Matija Jordovic had seven assists and shot .714 while battling injury.
 
Last year, Mines averaged 78.1 PPG and was +1.9 in scoring margin while shooting .457/.357/.705. They averaged 36.6 RPG and were +2.9 in rebounding margin while dishing out 16.6 assists per night. Winning the turnover battle was a challenge last season, as the Orediggers turned it over 13.1 times per game and were -2.6 in TO margin. Defensively they averaged 6.4 steals and 4.2 blocks per game.
 
SCOUTING COLORADO COLLEGE
The Division III Tigers are first on the schedule Monday night and will be playing the contest as the second of two exhibition dates. Their official season opener is November 19 at UC Santa Cruz. CC played Northern Colorado in an exhibition on November 2 and came out on the short end of a 117-64 final score. Last season the Tigers went 12-14 overall and 10-6 in Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference action.
 
The Tigers return seven members off last year's team led by Ty Hendler. He was second on the team in scoring last season at 12.2 PPG with 3.4 RPG while shooting .371/.230/.819 with 35 assists and 14 steals. Gavin Carter started 23 times last season and averaged 7.0 PPG and led CC with 121 assists and 33 steals while shooting .326 from the floor. Christian Drummond, who scored 11 points on 5-11 shooting at UNC, averaged 6.6 PPG thanks to .418 shooting with 13 three-pointers and had 25 steals to go with 10 blocks on defense. Kyle Kihlberg was second on the team last fall with 21 blocked shots and shot .518 from the floor, while TJ Satcher had 17 steals and was a .424 shooter last year. Nick Brashear, who scored 13 points on 5-8 shooting with two steals last Monday, had 10 assists and 12 steals in limited action, while Kamran DuBois made just seven appearances last season.
 
In action against the Bears last week, Brashear and Drummond were joined in double figures by Bryson Gaines who scored 12 points on 4-7 shooting and 3-7 from the line. Kihlberg scored seven points with seven rebounds. CC shot .361 (22-61) in the game and .304 (7-23) from three. They struggled at the line, shooting .542 (13-24) and committed 13 turnovers, resulted in 23 points for Northern Colorado. UNC also outrebounded CC 50-25 in the game.
 
Last season Colorado College averaged 75.9 PPG and was just +0.8 in scoring margin while shooting .440/.318/.667 as a team. They averaged 42.0 rebounds per night and were +4.7 in rebounding margin while averaged 12.7 assists per game. CC turned it over at a rate of 14.7 times per game and was -1.8 in TO margin while defensively averaging 7.5 steals and 4.2 blocks per game.
 
SCOUTING ST. MARY'S (TX)
Friday night will be the season opener for the Rattlers. They'll take on MSU Denver Saturday in their second game of the weekend from Golden. Last season St. Mary's went 22-10 overall and 13-7 in the Lone Star Conference, making a run to the conference tournament semifinals before advancing to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
 
St. Mary's saw their top six scorers from last season depart the program while returning six players from last year's team. Lawyer Jones leads that group after coming off the bench exclusively last season and averaging 6.6 PPG while shooting .385 with 36 steals and 27 assists. Michael Grant played in 29 games but averaged just 5.7 MPG and recorded three blocks, seven steals and seven assists. Raken Vargas made 30 appearances but clocked just 6.3 MPG and ended the year with 12 assists and five steals, while Carsen Bindseil and Enrique Cardenas combined to make 12 appearances.
 
The Rattlers added a group of six transfers that include Anesu Dehwe, Amare Banks, Liam Switzer, KD Davis, Jai Chisolm and Paora Winitana. They also added six freshmen in Sean Parks, Avery Webb, Wesley Wake, Jonathan Wenthe, Tristan Garza and Cannon Furio.
 
Last season the Rattlers averaged 73.4 PPG and were +6.3 in scoring margin while shooting .459/.347/.757 as a team. They averaged 35.7 RPG and were +5.5 in rebounding margin while averaging 11.6 assists per game. St. Mary's turned the ball over at a rate of 12.7 times per game and were +1.4 in TO margin. Defensively, they averaged 8.7 steals and 3.8 blocks per game.
 
SCOUTING LUBBOCK CHRISTIAN
Lubbock Christian is 2-1 to start the season after they opened up competition at the D2CCA Tipoff Classic hosted by Central Washington October 30-November 1. The Chaps opened the year with 78-73 and 72-67 wins over MSU Billings and Western Washington before losing to the host Wildcats 74-62. Last season LCU went 27-6 overall and 17-3 in the LSC, making it to the semifinals of the conference tournament and also appearing in last season's NCAA Tournament.
 
LCU returns just three players off last season's team in Jett McCasland, Reagan Fiedler and Leo Nordberg but added several transfers from the junior college and Division II ranks. One of two freshmen, DeAndre Lott, leads the Chaps in scoring through three games at 16.7 PPG with 3.7 RPG, seven steals and five blocks while shooting .500 from the floor and .769 from the line in the early going. Nordberg is second in scoring at 13.7 PPG on .375/.316/.917 shooting with six early three-pointers and 12 assists.
 
West Texas A&M transfer Brendan Ballard is averaged 13.3 PPG and 5.3 RPG on .571 shooting while Fielder missed the weekend finale, but in two games is averaging 10.5 PPG and 5.0 RPG while shooting .500. West Liberty transfer Hayden Abdullah is scoring 8.3 PPG on .563 shooting with two blocks and two steals while another transfer Charlie Onana leads LCU in rebounding at 7.7 RPG while scoring 7.3 PPG with five assists and is shooting .438.
 
Through three games, Lubbock Christian is averaging 70.7 PPG and is -0.7 in scoring margin while shooting .440/.283/.750. They are averaging 30.3 RPG and are +2.7 in rebounding margin while dishing out 8.7 assists per game. The Chaps are turning it over at a clip of 12.3 times per game and are even with the opposition in turnovers, while defensively average 8.3 steals and 4.3 blocks per game.

SERIES HISTORY
Monday will be the 167th all-time meeting between Mines and Colorado College, with the Tigers leading the series 96-71. The teams first played in 1915 and after a 23-year hiatus, resumed the series last fall which saw the Orediggers post a 105-72 win. All-time at home, Mines is 45-41 with the last meeting of the teams in Golden resulting in a 79-39 win back in 2002.
 
Against St. Mary's, Mines is 8-4 all-time and coming off a 68-62 loss in San Antonio last season. Prior to that, the Orediggers had won the last two meetings 66-63 in Dallas in the NCAA Tournament and 83-63 the last time the teams played in Golden in 2024. Mines is 2-1 in three games against the Rattlers in Lockridge Arena.
 
The winner of Saturday's game with Lubbock Christian will reclaim the all-time lead in the series as the Orediggers and Chaps are 6-6 in their first 12 meetings. Last season LCU posted a 63-58 win in Lubbock and has won back-to-back games in the series, with an 89-78 win in 2024 in their last trip to Golden. Mines last won in 2023 in San Antonio 61-59 with their last win in Golden coming in 2019 by a score of 75-47. The Orediggers are also 2-1 when playing in Lockridge Arena against Lubbock Christian.

LOOKING AHEAD
Mines hits the road for the first time this season November 20-21 when they head to Texas for more non-conference regional action at UT Tyler and UT Dallas.
 
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.