GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – The opening weekend of the season couldn't have gone much better for the Colorado Mesa men's basketball program. Now, the Mavericks will look to take their momentum on the road for a pair of Lone Star clashes with big postseason implications.

The Mavs, who are receiving votes in the NABC Coaches' Poll and ranked No. 15 in the D2CCA Media Poll, will face Texas A&M-Kingsville on Friday at 6 p.m. (MT) and Texas A&M International on Saturday, also at 6 p.m. The games will be on a pay-per-view stream on the Lone Star Conference Network or can be followed for free via live stats.

The pair of games against in-region opponents will be significant for a potential NCAA Tournament resume. Of course, the Mavericks are already 2-0 in in-region contests thanks to the work they did last weekend, finishing 2-0 in the D2 Conference Challenge for the first time in the eight-year history of the tournament with Dallas Baptist and St. Edward's. The Mavericks defeated St. Edward's 81-64 last Friday thanks to a dominant second half, then recorded a key Saturday win over Dallas Baptist, a team receiving votes in the national poll, by a 68-56 margin.

RECAPS: St. Edward's | Dallas Baptist

Return of the Mac
After recording 64 steals a season ago, Mac Riniker was back like he never left during the first week of play in 2022-23. The redshirt sophomore from Steamboat Springs, Colo. won this season's first RMAC Defensive Player of the Week award after averaging four steals, four rebounds and a block per game.  

Riniker's most well-rounded performance came against St. Edward's on Friday, when he recorded nine points, six rebounds, five steals and two blocks before registering 12 points, three steals and two rebounds in Colorado Mesa's Saturday win over DBU.

Riniker is the runaway leader in the RMAC with eight steals and ranks in the top 20 nationally. Teammate Christopher Speller is second in the RMAC with five steals.

Strong Stats
One week into the season, CMU has the top defense in the RMAC. The Mavericks are allowing a conference-low 60 points per game, which puts them in the top 25 nationally.

The Maverick defense has held opponents to a .373 shooting percentage, second-lowest in the RMAC so far, and has allowed only 54 opposing rebounds, the fewest in the conference. They rank second in the RMAC with 18 steals.

Offensively, the Mavericks are scoring 74.5 points per game. Their +14.5 scoring margin is the second-highest in the conference behind Black Hills State. The Mavs also rank second in the RMAC in field-goal percentage, shooting 51 percent as a team.

Baskin Buckets
Fresh off a first-team All-RMAC selection last season, redshirt sophomore Trevor Baskin is off to a hot start again this year.

Baskin ranks fifth in the RMAC in scoring by averaging 20 points per game. He was dominant against St. Edwards, scoring 26 points on 9 of 13 shooting from the field and 7 of 8 from the line. Baskin also grabbed nine rebounds to just barely miss out on a double-double.

He followed that up with a 14-point performance against DBU in which he pulled down four rebounds and blocked three shots. Baskin is 10^th in the RMAC in rebounding and tied for second in blocks per game (2.0).

Blaise of Glory
Colorado Mesa's leading scorer and rebounder last season as primarily the sixth man, redshirt sophomore guard Blaise Threatt has a solid place in the starting lineup this year. He scored 16 points against St. Edward's on 5 of 10 shooting, then excelled in all phases against Dallas Baptist.

Threatt scored 15 points, pulled down 14 rebounds and dished out five assists, a game-high in all three categories. The 14 rebounds ties a career-high for Threatt, who also had 14 boards against Fort Lewis on February 26.

Threatt currently ranks fifth in the RMAC with his 8.5 rebounds per game and ranks 12^th in scoring with 15.5 points per game. He is one of four players currently in the top 12 in both categories, joining Baskin, Westminster's Trey Farrer and Black Hills State's Joel Scott, the reigning conference Player of the Year.

About Texas A&M-Kingsville
The Javelinas of Texas A&M-Kingsville were picked to finish sixth in the Lone Star Conference preseason poll. They finished 12^th in the conference last year with a 6-7 conference record, going 18-11 overall.

Texas A&M-Kingsville is off to a 2-0 start this season, having faced a pair of RMAC teams. The Javelinas defeated South Dakota Mines 75-42 and then topped Chadron State 82-76 in overtime.

The Javelinas will likely move the offense through guard C.J. Smith, who led the team in scoring last year at 12 points per game and is averaging 14 points per game so far this season. Junior shooting guard Isaiah Payne is averaging 15 points per game to lead the Javelinas, buoyed by a 22-point performance against Chadron State.

Guard Creighton Avery was the team's second-leading scorer at 8.3 points per game last year and returns averaging 13 points per game so far. Avery also was named the Lone Star Conference Defensive Player of the Week after tallying 11 rebounds and three steals across the first two games, creating a high-octane backcourt match-up with RMAC honoree Mac Riniker. Avery is not afraid to take shots, shooting 5 of 12 from the field against South Dakota Mines and 5 of 16 against Chadron State.

Johnny Estelle is in his ninth season as the head coach at Texas A&M-Kingsville, his alma mater. Like the Mavericks, the Javelinas were on fire during the COVID-interrupted season in early 2021, finishing 15-3 and rising to No. 10 nationally. The year prior in 2019-20, he led the team to a program-record 16 conference wins. He has made the NCAA Tournament in 2017 and 2020. Aside from Texas A&M-Kingsville, Estelle was the head coach at Navarro College and spent one year as an assistant at Division I Houston.

About Texas A&M International
Texas A&M International was picked 12^th in the same Lone Star poll. The Dustdevils finished 13^th last season, going 5-11 in conference and 13-14 overall.

As travel partners with Texas A&M-Kingsville, the Dustdevils played the same opponents last weekend. Like Kingsville, Texas A&M International had a comfortable win over South Dakota Mines, defeating the Hardrockers 81-57, and a narrow win over Chadron State, defeating the Eagles 71-66.

The Dustdevils have a balanced attack, as they are averaging 76 points per game despite no player scoring more than 14 points in a single game. TAMIU had three players score in double figures in each game and had 12 different players score a basket against South Dakota Mines.

Grad student guard Greg Bowie II leads the team with 26 field goal attempts and 11 points per game. Bowie II has gone 9-for-10 from the line over the first two games, a bright spot for a team shooting 63 percent from the charity stripe overall. John Achebe is the Dustdevils' leading rebounder, averaging 6.5 per game with a season high of eight against Chadron State. Shea Rax has come off the bench for a scoring punch in both games, hitting four three-pointers in a season-high 14-point performance against South Dakota Mines.

Head Coach Rodney "Mac" McConnell is in his third season with the Dustdevils. McConnell was previously an assistant coach at former Lone Star school Tarleton State, which has since moved to Division I. In 2021-22, McConnell led his team to a program-record six wins to open the season and the program's best-ever start at 10-2. Last year's team ended with 13 wins, the most for the program since 2016.

In the Polls
Colorado Mesa is ranked No. 15 in the D2CCA Media Poll. They are the second-ranked team in the South Central region, trailing national No. 5 Black Hills State. Colorado School of Mines comes in at No. 21 to give the RMAC three ranked teams.

The Mavericks are receiving votes in the NABC Coaches' Poll, which has not updated since its preseason poll. They are joined in the "receiving votes" category by fellow RMAC programs Colorado School of Mines and Fort Lewis.

Northwest Missouri State, who has won the past three contested national championships, is the consensus No. 1. Black Hills State is the only RMAC school ranked in both polls, ranking at No. 5 in the media poll and No. 10 in the coaches' poll.

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.