GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – Colorado Mesa men's basketball suffered a rare 0-2 week at home to open the conference season. Now, the Mavs hit the road with an opportunity to climb back even in the RMAC standings.

The Mavericks fell to No. 10 Colorado School of Mines 74-62 on Friday, shooting a season-low 30 percent. The Mavs followed that up by shooting a season-high 53 percent against Metro State, but turnovers and interior defense allowed the Roadrunners to mount a late rally for an 84-78 victory over CMU on Saturday.

RECAPS: Colorado School of Mines | MSU Denver

Coming up, the Mavs (5-3, 0-2 RMAC) have their first RMAC road trip of the season, taking on UCCS (7-2, 1-1 RMAC) at 7 p.m. on Friday and Regis (3-5, 0-2) at 5 p.m. on Saturday.

Tale of Two Games
Offensively, the Mavericks had two extreme outcomes this week, going from a season low to a season high in efficiency over their two games.

There seemed to be a lid on the basket in Friday's matchup against Mines. The Mavericks made only 17 of 56 attempts from the field and just 5 of 23 from three-point range. The Orediggers, on the other hand, shot over 55 percent from the field in both halves. What was a lopsided game reached its final 12-point margin of victory after CMU closed the game on a 15-1 run.

The Mavs had no issue making the net ripple the following night. CMU shot nearly 58 percent from the field in the first half and 53 percent for the game. They made a season-high 12 three-pointers, including making 6 of 8 in the second half. Unfortunately, CMU was on the wrong side of a late game run on Saturday, with the Roadrunners outscoring the Mavs 13-3 over the game's final four minutes to take the lead late.

Triple Threatt
Redshirt sophomore guard Blaise Threatt is making a case as one of the most well-rounded players in the RMAC.

Threatt is currently the only RMAC player to rank in the conference's top 10 in points, rebounds and assists per game. Threatt ranks 10^th in scoring at 16 points per game, tied for ninth with teammate Trevor Baskin in rebounding at seven boards per game and eighth in assists with 3.6 dimes per game. In addition, Threatt leads the RMAC with 2.3 steals per game.

Over the past week, Threatt averaged 17 points and 6.5 rebounds per game. Like most of the team, he struggled against Mines, shooting 3-for-10 from the field and finishing with 10 points, but he rebounded in a big way on Saturday, leading all scorers with 24 points while adding seven rebounds, a season-high seven assists and four steals, which tied a season-high.

Against MSU Denver, Threatt shot 8 of 12 from the field, 3 of 4 from three and 5 of 7 from the line. Among CMU players, Threatt ranks fifth with a .493 field-goal percentage, third with a .500 three-point percentage and second with an .800 free-throw percentage.

Doing Numbers
Owen Koonce set a season-high with 14 points against Colorado School of Mines and then matched it the next day. Koonce scored all 14 of his Friday points in the second half, shooting 3 of 5 from three-point range and 5 of 6 from the free-throw line. He did slightly better on Saturday, draining 4 of 5 from beyond the arc.

Koonce is now the Mavs' third-leading scorer, averaging 8.7 points per game, and the third-leading rebounder at 4.3 per game. He has excelled from three-point range, making 11 of 21 attempts for a .524 percentage that ranks second on the team. Koonce also has the highest free-throw percentage of anyone on the team with over five attempts, making 17 of 18 for a .944 clip.

Possible Payback
Colorado Mesa will be facing Regis for the first time since the sixth-seeded Rangers upset the second-seeded Mavericks in last season's RMAC Tournament, winning 79-76 in overtime in the tournament semifinals.

The Rangers got the postseason victory even though CMU won both regular-season meetings. Trevor Baskin shone in the tournament loss, shooting 9 of 11 from the field and leading the team with 21 points, while Blaise Threatt added 17 points and eight rebounds. Regis's top two leading scorers from that game and the season – Brian Dawson (29 points) and Will Cranston-Lown (19 points) – do not return in 2022-23.

Wreaking Havoc
The Mavericks rank tied for fifth in the RMAC in blocked shots (25, 3.13 per game) and third in steals (64, eight per game). They are one of two RMAC schools to be in the top six in the conference in both categories.

Colorado Mesa has even more of a presence on the individual leaderboards. Threatt has two more steals than anyone else in the RMAC while Baskin has the second-most blocks in the conference (12, 1.5 per game). Mac Riniker is the only RMAC player to rank in the top 10 in both blocks and steals, as the redshirt sophomore ranks seventh in blocks (eight) and tied for seventh in steals (12).

About UCCS
The Mountain Lions of the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs are off to a promising start in 2022-23. Picked fifth in the preseason RMAC Coaches' Poll, UCCS is 7-2, with both losses coming at the hands of top-10 teams in No. 6 Central Oklahoma and No. 5 Black Hills State. The loss to Black Hills State came last Saturday, a day after the Mountain Lions came back from double-digits down in the second half to defeat South Dakota Mines 74-71 for a RMAC season-opening win.

UCCS features a strong post presence in forward William Becker. The redshirt junior ranks second in the RMAC with 9.2 rebounds per game and ranks ninth in Division II with 83 total boards. He also ranks fifth in the RMAC with 1.2 blocks per game, boosted by his four blocks against South Dakota Mines on Friday. Becker has double-digit rebounds in six of nine games so far this season and was named the RMAC Defensive Player of the Week back on November 28.

Senior and Denver native Jon'il Fugett leads the Mountain Lions offensively with 13.3 points per game. He exploded for 31 points against Black Hills State, shooting 11 of 21 from the field and 6 of 9 from three-point range. Fugett is also fourth in the RMAC with 1.8 steals per game. As a team, UCCS has the third-ranked scoring offense in the RMAC, averaging 80.8 points per game, and are averaging the second-most team rebounds in the conference at 39.7 per game.

Head Coach Jeff Culver is in his 11^th season at UCCS in 2022-23. After orchestrating a massive turnaround from 5-21 in his first season to 21-9 in his second season, Culver led UCCS to a 27-6 record, an RMAC Tournament Championship and up to a No. 2 ranking in the NABC Coaches' Poll in 2015. While at UCCS, Culver also coached Derrick White, who would go on to transfer to Colorado, be drafted by the San Antonio Spurs and play in the NBA Finals last year with the Boston Celtics.

Prior to UCCS, Culver was the head coach and athletic director at Denver NAIA school Johnson and Wales and was on coaching staffs at Northern Colorado and Colorado State.

About Regis
The Regis Rangers are 3-5 in 2022-23 and have started 0-2 in RMAC play after losing 75-65 to No. 5 Black Hills State and 83-82 to South Dakota Mines last week.

Senior forward Aaron Bokol is leading the RMAC and ranks seventh in Division II with 10.8 rebounds per game. Bokol had a run of four straight double-digit rebound games in nonconference play, led by a monster game against Cal Poly Humboldt in which Bokol had 16 points and 17 rebounds.

Graduate student guard David Simental is the only Ranger averaging double figures at 15.6 points per game, accumulating a season-high 24 points twice against St. Mary's in November and South Dakota Mines last Saturday. Sophomore forward Brayden Carter leads the team with seven blocks and scored in double figures in both RMAC games last week.

The Rangers are averaging 69.3 points per game, fewer than all but two teams in the RMAC, but they do take care of the ball. They commit the third-fewest turnovers in the RMAC at 11.6 per game and boast the fourth-best turnover margin at +1.38.

Regis also has a long-tenured head coach, with Brady Bergeson in his eighth season at the helm. Last season, Regis advanced to the RMAC Tournament Championship game, losing to Black Hills State. Under Bergeson, Regis advanced to the RMAC Tournament for four straight seasons from 2016-2020, breaking a nine-year streak of not qualifying. They won an RMAC Tournament Championship in the 2017-18 season.

Prior to Regis, Bergeson coached at GNAC institution Western Oregon from 2011-2015, leaving for Regis after leading the Wolves to their first-ever GNAC regular season title and NCAA National Tournament appearance in 2014-15. Bergeson also reached an NCAA Final Four as an assistant coach with RMAC rival Metro State in 2004 and served as an assistant at Division I Sacramento State.

Series History
Colorado Mesa leads 41-10 in the all-time series with UCCS, having won the past five match-ups. During the only meeting between the two schools last year, CMU won 78-71 behind 20 points apiece from since-graduated Jared Small and Georgie Dancer.

The Mavs' five-game win streak against UCCS coincides with head coach Mike DeGeorge's tenure. UCCS had won four of five prior to DeGeorge taking charge ahead of the 2018-2019 season.

The Mavericks have been similarly dominant against Regis, holding a 30-9 all-time record against the Rangers, which included a 15-game winning streak from 1999-2011. After splitting their two meetings in 2020, the Mavericks swept Regis during the springs of 2021 and 2022 before Regis won the most recent meeting in the 2022 RMAC Tournament semifinals.

In the Polls
The 0-2 week dropped CMU from both the NABC Coaches' Poll and the D2SIDA Media Poll as well as the D2SIDA regional rankings, where the Mavericks were tied for fourth last week but are now only receiving votes.

Three RMAC teams are nationally ranked, with two in the consensus top 10. Black Hills State is No. 5 in the Coaches poll, receiving one first-place vote, and is No. 4 in the media poll. Colorado School of Mines is No. 8 in the Coaches poll and No. 10 in the media poll. Fort Lewis is No. 12 in the Coaches' Poll and No. 25 in the media poll.

In the South Central regional rankings, Black Hills State is No. 1 with Mines second and Fort Lewis fourth. West Texas A&M, the national No. 22 team, is third in the region and the only Lone Star Conference team in the top four. UCCS, Friday's opponent, is ranked No. 6 in the regional rankings. Colorado Mesa has head-to-head wins over regional No. 8 St. Edward's and No. 10 DBU.

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 the 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.