GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – Colorado Mesa men's basketball will take a five-game winning streak into its opening home RMAC matches this weekend after tipping off the conference season with two statement wins on the Front Range.

The Mavs beat Colorado School of Mines and then-No. 8 MSU Denver on the road to open up RMAC play, a complete inverse of the 2022-23 season when both of those programs beat the Mavericks at home during the conference season's first weekend. 

The No. 15/17-ranked Mavericks (5-1, 2-0 RMAC) will face UCCS (4-4, 0-2 RMAC) on Friday and Regis (4-3, 1-1 RMAC) on Saturday, with both games set to tip off at 7:30 p.m. after the conclusion of the women's game.

Ranked Run
Colorado Mesa's road win over then-No. 8 MSU Denver continued a remarkable pattern for the Mavericks under current head coach Mike DeGeorge. Dating back to January of 2020, the Mavericks have now won seven straight road games against nationally ranked RMAC teams.
 

Date	Opponent	Result
12/2/2023	@ No. 8 MSU Denver	W, 85-82
2/10/2023	@ No. 13 Colorado School of Mines	W, 87-66
1/20/2023	@ No. 12 Fort Lewis	W, 75-68
1/13/2023	@ No. 3 Black Hills State	W, 80-69
1/22/2022	@ No. 12 Regis	W, 86-80
2/20/2021	@ No. 1 Colorado School of Mines	W, 64-58
3/6/2020	@ No. 23 Dixie State	W, 86-79

Colorado Mesa hasn't lost on the road to a nationally ranked RMAC opponent since January 24, 2020, when the Mavs fell 74-68 to then-No. 23 Dixie State (now known as Utah Tech). The Mavericks went 3-0 on the road vs. top-15 teams last season by defeating Black Hills State, Fort Lewis and Colorado School of Mines away from home and already have a top-10 road win this season after knocking off the Roadrunners.

Big Mac
Mac Riniker captured another RMAC Defensive Player of the Week award last Monday, giving the redshirt junior two of the season's first four defensive awards from the conference office.  

Player of the Week Release

The reigning RMAC Defensive Player of the Year has blossomed into a key two-way player for the Mavericks this season. Riniker leads the conference with 3.2 steals per game but is also the conference's second-leading scorer with 19.2 points per game and ranks second in the RMAC with a 64.9 percent field-goal percentage.

Riniker has scored 14 or more points in every game this season, including 20 points against MSU Denver and a career-high 30 points against Texas A&M International. Riniker also has grabbed six or more rebounds in four of CMU's first five games and has collected four or more steals in half of CMU's six contests in 2023-24.

A 64 percent free-throw shooter a season ago, Riniker is currently hitting at 80.5 percent from the stripe and is 24-for-25 from the line over the past three games. That includes a 14-for-14 performance during his 30-point game against TAMIU, two of the program record of 16 free throws in a single game.

Riniker will also face the opponent this weekend against which he had his best offensive game last season. In last year's road game against UCCS, Riniker scored a season-high 21 points while going a perfect 8-for-8 from the field, 3-for-3 from three and 2-for-2 from the free-throw line.

The Rotation
The Mavericks have had four players start all six games – Trevor Baskin, Mac Riniker, Owen Koonce and Isaac Jessup. Christopher Speller has started five games, with Reece Johnson filling in when Speller missed the game against Colorado School of Mines.

Baskin (30.3), Riniker (28.0), Jessup (26.7) and Koonce (26.0) are all averaging well over 25 minutes per game while Johnson averages in the mid-20s as a sixth man off the bench (23.7). The Speller twins are both role players this season for CMU, as Christopher Speller averages 19.8 minutes per game as a ball-handling guard while Christian Speller averages 12.7 minutes off the bench and is averaging 4.2 points per game.

Michael McCurry and Elijah Knudsen have also appeared in every game as a reserve. McCurry (62.5 percent) and Ty Allred (61.5 percent in four games) are both shooting over 60 percent from the floor. Sophomore transfer guard Aidan Kuhl is the only roster newcomer to play so far, totaling 35 minutes in five matches off the bench. Kuhl had CMU career highs in minutes (11) and points (five) in the season-opener against DBU.

Track Meets
Colorado Mesa's new-look offense features a much higher tempo and has resulted in several high-scoring games throughout the early part of the season.

The Mavs currently have the RMAC's top-scoring offense, averaging 85.3 points per game. Colorado Mesa has gone over 85 points in four of its five wins, putting up 85 against MSU Denver, 86 against Colorado School of Mines, 89 against St. Edward's and 91 against Texas A&M-Kingsville.

By contrast, the Mavs only went over 85 points six times in 31 games all season in 2022-23 and averaged 76.1 points per game as a team last season, which still ranked sixth in the 15-team RMAC. The main difference with the higher-tempo offense is that it's giving opponents more chances to score, as well. The Mavericks are allowing 78.5 points per game, the fourth-highest total in the RMAC, just a year removed from having the league's best scoring defense when they held opponents to 65.7 points per game last season.

Colorado Mesa ranks second in the RMAC in team field-goal percentage, shooting 50.9 percent as a team. The Mavs rank fifth in the RMAC with their team 36.7 percentage from three-point range.

About UCCS
The UCCS Mountain Lions are 4-4 with an 0-2 RMAC record. UCCS went 1-1 to open the year against the Lone Star Conference, defeating Cameron by two points and losing to Midwestern State by 18. Since then, UCCS has racked up wins over NAIA school Northern New Mexico and SWS colleges Navajo Tech and Justice College while losing to Colorado School of Mines (non-conference), South Dakota Mines and Black Hills State.

The Mountain Lions suffered a tough loss on a buzzer beater in the RMAC opener with SD Mines guard Cameron Cohn hit a game-winning layup with 0.9 seconds left. UCCS fell by 11 points the following night to Black Hills State despite a 13-point, 10-rebound double-double by junior forward Mac Stodart.

Freshman point guard Xavier Martinez is the leading scorer for UCCS eight games into his collegiate career. Martinez is averaging 15 points a contest, including 21 points in the loss to Midwestern State. Veteran forward William Becker ranks third in the RMAC by averaging 9.5 rebounds per game and has two double-doubles, including a monster 17-point, 19-rebound performance in the season-opener against Cameron.

Jeff Culver is in his 12^th season as the head coach at UCCS. Under Culver, the Mountain Lions won the 2015 RMAC Tournament and reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament with a team led by Derrick White, an eventual first-round NBA draft pick who currently plays for the Boston Celtics. The Mountain Lions were 15-14 last season, which was their fifth consecutive full season with a winning record. However, UCCS only went 9-13 in the RMAC and missed out on the RMAC Tournament.

Colorado Mesa is 43-10 all-time against UCCS and has won each of the past seven contests. Last season, the Mavericks won 86-70 in Colorado Springs behind 24 points from Blaise Threatt and 21 points on perfect shooting from Mac Riniker. The Mavs won 83-63 at home last February, with Threatt scoring 18 points and Isaac Jessup adding 14.

About Regis
The Regis Rangers are 4-3 on the season. Regis went 0-2 against the Lone Star Conference, losing to St. Mary's and Lubbock Christian, but rebounded by blowing out Barclay College 109-74 before getting a pair of wins over GNAC opponents in Simon Fraser and Seattle Pacific. In the opening weekend of RMAC play, Regis beat Black Hills State 66-54 before losing to South Dakota Mines 82-64.

Sophomore guard Chase Mayo Harmon is off to a hot start in 2023-24, averaging 16.1 points per game after only averaging 3.9 points per game in 26 contests last season. Mayo Harmon has a pair of 20-point games this season and is shooting over 90 percent (30-33) from the free-throw line. Freshman guard Ty Cox is averaging in double figures with 12 points per game and leads the Rangers with 4.9 rebounds per game. Cox led all scorers with 23 points during Regis's most recent game against South Dakota Mines.

Brady Bergeson enters his ninth season as Regis head coach in 2023-24. Regis has qualified for the RMAC Tournament in six consecutive full-length seasons (excluding the 2020-21 COVID-shortened year). The Rangers won the RMAC Tournament in 2017-18 and advanced to the title game in 2021-22 from the No. 6 seed, upsetting Colorado Mesa along the way in the semifinals.

The Mavericks lead the all-time series against Regis 32-9, and the Rangers haven't won vs. CMU since beating the Mavs on a neutral court in the 2022 RMAC Tournament semifinals. Regis hasn't won in Grand Junction since February 2019, and the Mavericks won 88-64 in Brownson Arena last season.

Coach's Corner
In his five seasons in Grand Junction, Mike DeGeorge has transformed the Mavericks into a perennial national and conference contender, winning two RMAC Coach of the Year awards in the process.

From 2018-19 through 2022-23, DeGeorge has compiled a 112-38 record at the helm of the Mavericks, topping the 20-win plateau in four consecutive seasons. 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.

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's team won a program-record 26 games, advancing 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.

The Mavs won a co-RMAC regular season championship in 2022-23, going 19-3 in the RMAC and 25-6 overall while making their fourth consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance. The team stepped up in tough environments, going 3-0 on the road against top-15 opponents as DeGeorge nabbed his second RMAC Coach of the Year award.

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. He has over 300 career wins as a head coach.