GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — Plenty of good food, quality family time and some much-needed rest highlighted the Thanksgiving menu for the Colorado Mesa men's basketball team.
With no Thanksgiving Tipoff tournament at Brownson Arena, CMU men's basketball coach Mike DeGeorge gave the Mavericks a few days off for the holiday before turning their attention to the start of Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play.
The Mavericks, who won the 2022-23 regular-season title despite starting out 0-2, are looking for both a repeat and a reversal this season. There's always the goal of winning another regular-season championship, but also, CMU doesn't want to start out the conference race looking up from the bottom after facing two formidable opponents, Colorado School of Mines at MSU Denver, this season opening on the Front Range instead of Brownson Arena.
With the Mavs still finding their way in new up-tempo offense, it's all about the defense, which has had stretches of stellar play. By making their opponents take contested shots and then controlling the defensive boards, the Mavericks can get into their transition game and beat the other team down the floor for high-percentage shots. That's been the emphasis since returning to campus after the holiday as CMU gets more comfortable in the new style of play.
LAST TIME OUT
The Mavericks picked up two quality in-region wins to close out the pre-conference schedule, defeating Texas A&M-Kingsville 91-75 and Texas A&M International 77-73 at Brownson Arena.
Against International, Mac Riniker scored a career-high 30 points, including going a perfect 14-of-14 at the free-throw line. That effort was two off the program record and the most since Ryan Stephan made 14 in one game in 2006.
Against Kingsville, the Mavericks broke a 32-32 halftime tie by outscoring the Javelinas 59-43 in the second half, the third straight game in which they scored 50 or more points in the second half.
IN THE POLLS
Mesa moved up one spot to No. 18 in the NABC coaches poll this week, with 104 points, but fell out of the D2CSC (Conference Sports Communicators) rankings. After being No. 25 the previous week, the Mavericks received 40 points in the D2CSC poll, three points and one spot out of the top 25.
They're No. 4 in the D2CSC South Central Regional rankings, behind Dallas Baptist, MSU Denver and West Texas A&M. Colorado School of Mines is No. 9 in the region.
MSU Denver is No. 8 in the NABC rankings and No. 11 in the D2CSC poll. Mines is receiving votes in the coaches poll.
THE STANDINGS
The Roadrunners are the only undefeated team heading into conference play at 6-0. Fort Lewis is second at 4-1, followed by CMU (3-1) and a four-way logjam at 4-2 with Mines, CSU Pueblo, CU-Colorado Springs and Westminster. The Griffins are CMU's travel partner, facing Metro on Friday and Mines on Saturday.
MAV STAT PACK
The new up-tempo offense hasn't completely hit its stride yet, but the Mavericks are third in the conference in scoring at 85.3 points per game. They're allowing 77.5, a scoring margin of 7.8 points. As the players get more game-speed experience with the offensive plan and start dictating things on defense, CMU coach Mike DeGeorge expects the margin of victory to increase — and turnovers (17.5) to decrease.
Four players score in double figures in the offense, which eschews traditional positions — all five players on the floor can handle the basketball, can all shoot from the perimeter or attack the rim, and they can guard nearly any position. Trevor Baskin, a 6-9 junior, played point guard in high school, as did many of the Mavs.
Mac Riniker, who plays at top speed no matter the game plan, has immediately benefited from the new style, averaging 20.3 points a game, which is third in the conference. Known for his tenacious defense and rebounding, Riniker can get out and run in the new offense, and has knocked down a half-dozen 3-pointers in the first four games.
Trevor Baskin is eighth in the conference in scoring at 17.8 points a game, with Owen Koonce 18th (12.8) and Isaac Jessup 20th (12.3).
Baskin is No. 2 in the RMAC in rebounding, averaging 10 per game, and averages 3 assists a game, which is ninth in the conference. As a team the Mavericks average nearly 15 assists per game.
RMAC POLL
Conference coaches voted CMU No. 1 in the preseason poll, with the Mavs picking up eight first-place votes. Colorado School of Mines was picked third and MSU Denver sixth.
SERIES HISTORY
Colorado Mesa and Colorado School of Mines have played one another since 1979, with the Mavericks owning a 42-27 advantage. They're 18-12 in Golden and 34-22 in conference games. The Orediggers, though, came into Brownson Arena last March and upset the regular-season RMAC champion Mavericks 64-53 in the conference tournament semifinals.
MSU Denver leads its series against Mesa, which started in 1984, 32-18, including a 19-7 advantage at home and 23-12 in conference games. However, the Mavericks have won three of the past four, including sweeping a pair of games last March, 71-64 in the regular season in Denver and 82-72 in the RMAC Tournament quarterfinals. In that game, Trevor Baskin became the 20th player in program history to join the 1,000-point club.
VEGAS, BABY
The Mavericks have played only four nonconference games, but have two more coming up just before the Christmas break. CMU will face West Texas A&M and Simon Fraser on Dec. 18-19 at Desert Oasis High School in Las Vegas, Nev.
MSU Denver is coming off an 88-59 win over Simon Fraser and also downed West Texas A&M 80-79 in Canyon, Texas when Brayden Maldonado hit a 3-pointer with two seconds remaining.
ABOUT THE OREDIGGERS
Mines dipped a toe into the transfer portal and came away with an immediate-impact player in Majok Deng, a 6-4 guard who was a role player for four years at Pepperdine.
Deng leads Mines in scoring at 16.3 points a game, shooting nearly 48% from the field and 41% from beyond the arc. Cade Mankle, a 6-5 redshirt sophomore guard who came off the bench last season, is scoring at a 12.3-point clip, shooting 54% from the field. He scored 21 points in a nonconference game against CU-Colorado Springs and 18 against Williams Baptist.
Alex Romack is a tenacious rebounder, pulling down nine a game, and the 6-6 forward scores 6.5 points a night.
The Orediggers are still getting adjusted to new roles on offense, scoring 67.7 points a game, but they're one of the best defensive teams in the conference, allowing only 65.3 points. Teams shoot only 39% from the field against Mines.
ABOUT THE ROADRUNNERS
Caleb McGill, this week's RMAC Offensive Player of the Week, is fourth in the RMAC in scoring, averaging 19.8 points a game, with Brayden Maldonado right behind him in fifth at 19.7.
The Roadrunners are the fourth-highest scoring team in the RMAC (82.5 points per game) and shoot a collective 51.4% from the field, which is No. 1. They're giving up 72 points a game.
Maldonado is a 6-foot sophomore guard from Aurora who was the RMAC co-freshman of the year last season.
McGill, a 6-8 junior forward, is also from Aurora, but transferred back home last year after two seasons at UC Davis. He was an honorable mention all-RMAC player in his first season in Denver, finishing the season fifth in the conference in field goal percentage and 51st in Division II at 54.8.
Three players transferred to MSU Denver this season from Belmont Abbey (N.C.), where they played for Roadrunners coach Dan Ficke — guard KJ Garrett, guard/forward Ryan Maslow and forward Mario Lacy Jr. All three are in the starting lineup alongside McGill and Maldonado.
THE COACHES
Mike DeGeorge is in his sixth season with CMU and has led the Mavs to four straight NCAA Tournament appearances, including reaching the Sweet 16 in 2021-22. He's won a pair of RMAC championships and two RMAC Tournament titles and enters the weekend with a 115-39 overall record. The Mavericks have won 20 or more games in four of his first five seasons and won 19 games his first year (2018-19).
Pryor Orser is in his 23rd season at Colorado School of Mines, winning his 400th game last season. The Orediggers have won five RMAC regular-season titles and two tournament championships, qualifying for the NCAA playoffs 12 times in his tenure.
Dan Ficke is in his second year at Metro, returning to Denver after three years as the head coach at Belmont Abbey (N.C.), where the Crusaders made the Division II playoffs all three years. He's a graduate of Regis Jesuit High School who played collegiately at Loyola (Md.). He was an assistant at the University of Denver before going to Belmont Abbey. The Roadrunners were 12-17 in his first season.
