GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – Colorado Mesa men's basketball is set to tip off the 2022-2023 season with a pair of key home games in the D2 Conference Challenge presented by Holiday Inn – Airport and Grand Junction Sports Commission.

For the eighth time in nine seasons, CMU will open the year against St. Edward's and Dallas Baptist. But rather than heading on the road like the previous three occasions, the Mavs will welcome the two Texas schools and Colorado Christian to Brownson Arena this Friday and Saturday.

The Mavericks open the year on Friday at 7 p.m. against St. Edwards before facing DBU on Saturday at 7 p.m. Both Colorado Mesa and DBU are receiving votes in the season-opening NABC Coaches' Poll.

Colorado Christian will be the opening act on both nights, facing DBU on Friday and St. Edwards on Saturday, with both games at 5 p.m. in Brownson.

Running It Back
Colorado Mesa is threading the needle between youth and veteran experience in a fascinating way. CMU does not have a single senior or junior on the roster, but to call the Mavericks an inexperienced team would be a mistake.

Thanks to the COVID-19 exception giving everyone an extra year of eligibility, the Mavs have seven players considered sophomores that have two seasons under their belt seeing the floor for CMU. The Mavericks return five of their top six scorers and their top three leading rebounders from a season ago.

Leading the way is Trevor Baskin, whose breakout season last year earned him first-team All-RMAC honors. Baskin averaged 13.6 points and 5.2 rebounds per game. He led the RMAC with 42 blocks and ranked seventh with a .562 field goal percentage.

Blaise Threatt also returns after leading the Mavericks in scoring and rebounding. Threatt averaged 13.8 points and 6.3 rebounds per game in a sixth-man role. Last season, Threatt averaged the third-most minutes per game on the team despite only starting 13 of 33 games. With the graduation of point guard Georgie Dancer, Threatt is in line for a starting role in 2022-23.

Mac Riniker will bring his high-energy brand of basketball back to CMU after starting 35 of 36 games last year. Riniker averaged 10.2 points and 5.2 rebounds per game, ranked second in the RMAC with 64 steals and ranked fifth in the RMAC with 31 blocks. Both Threatt and Riniker were named second-team All-RMAC last season.

Reece Johnson, who started 28 games in 2021-22 and averaged 8.6 points per game, will likely also be a part of the starting lineup this year.

Stepping It Up
With the Mavericks having to replace two starters from last season, several players will have an opportunity to seize a bigger role on this year's squad.

Christopher Speller, the 2020-21 RMAC Freshman of the Year, only started eight games last season but could step into the starting point guard role for CMU. Spiller averaged 3.9 points and 1.4 assists per game, down from 8.7 points and 2.5 assists per game during his debut season.

Christopher's brother Christian will join the Mavericks' rotation after sitting out last season following his transfer from RMAC rival MSU Denver. Christian Speller played 17 games for the Roadrunners, starting four, and averaged 3.3 points per game while shooting 49 percent from the field.

Isaac Jessup was a key reserve for the Mavs, appearing in 34 games and leading the team with an .857 free-throw percentage. Owen Koonce played in 13 games last season but was CMU's most accurate shooter from behind the arc, making 14 of 32 attempts for a .438 clip.

Elijah Knudsen is another lights-out shooter that may factor into the Mavs' rotation. A true freshman from Mead High School, Knudsen averaged 18 points per game or more during the past two high school seasons, including multiple games with 10 made three-pointers.

Conference Crossover History
This is the eighth year of a non-conference scheduling agreement between Colorado Mesa, Colorado Christian, Dallas Baptist and St. Edward's. After this season, the teams will have completed two full cycles with each school hosting the crossover twice. The cycle was paused during the 2020-21 season interrupted by COVID-19.

These annual games have traditionally been very challenging for the Mavericks. CMU is only 1-6 against St. Edward's, beating the Hilltoppers for the first time last season in an 84-77 win in Dallas. In that game, Blaise Threatt went off for 26 points while now-graduated forward Jared Small had a 15-point, 10-rebound double-double.

The Mavs are 3-4 vs. Dallas Baptist. The Mavs won the first two meetings, dropped the next two, then upset the then-No. 21 Patriots 91-80 in 2018 for Coach Mike DeGeorge's first CMU win.

DBU has won the past two meetings, however, including a 63-56 win last season on the Patriots' home floor. Threatt led the way with 12 points in that game while Trevor Baskin had eight points and 11 rebounds.

About St. Edward's
The St. Edward's Hilltoppers were picked to finish fifth in the Lone Star Conference Preseason Poll. The Hilltoppers compiled a 17-12 overall record with a 10-7 conference mark in 2021-22. They went 1-1 at the D2 Conference Crossover in Dallas, topping Colorado Christian and losing to CMU.

Guard Uche Dibiamaka was named to the LSC Preseason Players to Watch list after averaging 16.7 points per game while also accumulating four rebounds, a steal and a block per contest. Forward Mason Hix (9.2 points, 4.2 rebounds per game) and guard Bennett Mohn (8.5 points per game) also return.

Andre Cook has been the head coach of the Hilltoppers since the 2009-2010 season. Cook has an all-time record of 221-152 for a .592 winning percentage with St. Edward's. The Hilltoppers' best season was in 2018-19 when they won 30 games, reached a national ranking of No. 2, completed a conference regular season and tournament championship double and reached the Sweet 16.

About DBU
The Dallas Baptist Patriots were picked second in the same Lone Star Conference Preseason Poll. DBU finished 17-12 with a 10-5 mark in conference play last season and defeated both Colorado Mesa and CCU in the Conference Crossover, which was played in their home gym last year. They lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament to Black Hills State, who eventually reached the Final Four.

Guard Cameron Kahn was named to the LSC Preseason Players to watch list after averaging 12.4 points and 5.2 rebounds per game last season. Guard Ricky Lujan also returns after leading the Patriots with 12.8 points per game.

Dallas Baptist is already 0-2 in 2022-23, losing 64-57 to Hillsdale and 95-65 to No. 4 Nova Southeastern last weekend. Ta'Jay Dunlap, a transfer from Southern Wesleyan, is averaging 13.5 points, five rebounds and three steals per game so far in the young season.

Dr. Blake Flickner is in his 18^th season as the head coach at DBU. Under Flickner, the Patriots have advanced to the NCAA Tournament in five straight seasons and six of the past seven. The Patriots won Heartland Conference championships in 2016-17 and 2017-18 before that conference merged with the Lone Star.

In the Polls
Colorado Mesa is receiving votes in the initial NABC Coaches' Poll. They are joined in the "receiving votes" category by fellow RMAC programs Colorado School of Mines and Fort Lewis, as well as Saturday's opponent Dallas Baptist.

Northwest Missouri State, who has won the past three contested national championships, is the preseason No. 1. Black Hills State is the only RMAC school to appear in the top 25. The Yellow Jackets are ranked No. 10 after reaching the Final Four last year.

Colorado Mesa finished second in the RMAC Preseason Coaches' Poll, trailing only Black Hills State, who received 14 of 15 first-place votes. Colorado School of Mines got the final first-place vote and came third, followed by Fort Lewis and UCCS.

Coach's Corner
Mike DeGeorge has taken the Colorado Mesa program to unprecedented heights since arriving ahead of the 2018-19 season.

He improved the Mavericks from 11 to 19 wins in his first season and crossed the 20-win barrier in 2019-20, leading CMU to an RMAC Tournament Championship from the No. 4 seed. That clinched what would have been the Mavs' first NCAA Tournament Appearance since 2011, but the NCAA Tournament was canceled in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 2020-21 campaign saw the Mavericks start the season with 14 consecutive wins on way to the RMAC Regular Season and Tournament Championships and finishing the regular season ranked No. 1 in the nation.  DeGeorge was named RMAC and NCAA West Region Coach of the Year.

In 2021-22, DeGeorge led the Mavericks to within half a game of a regular-season conference championship before leading the team to the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 for the first time in program history, a run that included a win over regional No. 1 seed Lubbock Christian.

Prior to CMU, DeGeorge was the head coach at Eureka College in Eureka, Ill. from 2000-04, Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa from 2004-09 and Rhodes College in Memphis, Tenn. for eight seasons from 2010-2018.