Grand Junction, Colo. – After being on the road for the past three weekends, the Colorado Mesa men's basketball will finally get the chance to play on their home court. Brownson Arena will be the playing field for the Holiday Inn – Airport Thanksgiving Classic, as the Mavericks host Our Lady of the Lake Friday, followed by Simon Fraser Saturday, both games slated for a 7 p.m. tip-off. 

Maverick fans can stream the game and follow live stats at the links above.

Last Time Out
Traveling up the road to Gunnison for the Comfort Inn Classic at Western Colorado, the Mavericks had quite the successful weekend posting two big wins over opponents.

The team opened up with a 99-59 win over Washington Adventist on day one, behind five players who posted double-figures.

Blaise Threatt posted his second straight 20-plus point game, with 22-points to lead all scorers. His eight rebounds also led the team. Trevor Baskin was not far behind with 19-points, while also contributing four rebounds, a block and a steal.

Isaac Jessup put up 15-points off the bench, while also tallying three steals and three rebounds.
After coming up just shy of 100-points the day prior, Colorado Mesa surpassed that point total the next day with a 106-52 win over University of the Southwest. Six Maverick players finished in double-figures, led again by another 22-points from Threatt.

Baskin was a dual threat behind a double-double with 18-points and 13-rebounds. The Pomona High School product also tallied a trio of blocks, steals and assists.

From the Start
All five of the Colorado Mesa's opening games have come against opponents who are receiving national recognition. The Mavericks were at a 2-3 record overall, but held their own in the midst of figuring out a new lineup.

The Mavericks are averaging 79.3 points per game, and are shooting at a .478 clip from the floor. Defensively, they are outrebounding the competition by a 7.2 margin, and are averaging just over four blocks per game.

Scouting the Opponents
Our Lady of the Lake
With a 4-3 record coming into the weekend, Our Lady of the Lake opened the campaign winning four straight but hit a bit of the snag dropping the last three outings, the most recent being a 62-75 decision to Montana State University – Northern.

It will be the Mavericks third consecutive NAIA opponent. Led by Joseph Anderson, the Saints point-guard is averaging 15-points per game and hitting a 44.6 clip. Ellis Jones is right behind with 13.6 ppg, followed by Jordan Embry with 10.3 ppg and leads the team in rebounds averaging 6.7.
All three put up double figures in the last outing.

Simon Fraser
Making their way into the states, and out of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference is Simon Fraser. SFU is 3-2 coming into the weekend, riding a two-game win streak after a successful SFU Showdown in British Columbia.

Four players are averaging double-digits, at the top is Julian Roche with 14.6 points. The 7'0 forward, also leads the team averaging 8.4 rebounds and has scored 11-over more points in the last four games including a season high 23 against Cal State LA.

Jasdeep Singh and Jordan Lyons follow up averaging over 13-points each, Lyons adding to the rebounding efforts with 6.2 per game with 31 on the season, 11 of which are offensive.

NABC Preseason Poll
Reaching the pinnacle of the program, claiming a No. 1 ranking in the final National Association of Basketball Coaches poll last season, the Mavericks continue to garner national recognition heading into this season, coming in at No. 4 in the preseason poll, and picking up a first-place vote.

Reigning national champions Northwest Missouri State garnered 15 out of the possible 16 first-place votes to take the top-spot. Flagler came in at No. 2, followed by West Texas A&M, Colorado Mesa, and fellow RMAC member Colorado School of Mines at No.5.

RMAC Favorites
The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference released their preseason poll, Wednesday as the Mavericks were favored to repeat.

CMU snagged 12 of the 15 first-place votes for 192-points. Colorado School of Mines, Black Hills and

Fort Lewis each picked up one of the other three votes, projected to finish 2^nd, 3^rd and 5^th respectively. UCCS garnered 134-points to take the No. 4 spot, completing the top-5.

The Mavericks finished the condensed 2020-21 season with a 21-2 mark, 18-1 in conference play.

The team went on an 11-game win streak from the get-go, going on another 10-game streak following their only loss in the loop, which included claiming back-to-back RMAC Tournament titles in a 75-74 overtime thriller over Colorado School of Mines, completing the season with a perfect 6-0 record when pushed into extra time.

With the automatic bid, the team returned to the NCAA Tournament for the second consecutive year, this time as the No. 1 seed in the West Regional.