GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – Firmly in the race for another RMAC regular season title, Colorado Mesa men's basketball has a pivotal weekend ahead, hosting the conference's third and fourth place teams on back-to-back nights in Brownson Arena.

After a 10-point win over Regis and a 20-point win over UCCS last week, the Mavericks are 15-1 in RMAC play, a half-game behind Fort Lewis for the conference lead. Fort Lewis does own the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Mavericks, which would give the Skyhawks the edge for conference tournament hosting or seeding purposes if the two squads remain tied. Fort Lewis and CMU, along with Colorado School of Mines, have officially clinched berths in the eight-team conference tournament.

The Mavs are ranked No. 9 in the nation in the NABC Coaches Poll with their 19-3 overall record, having only lost to Top-5 opponents (No. 1 West Texas A&M, No. 3 Fort Lewis and No. 4 DBU).

Brownson Arena will welcome a ranked opponent for the second time this season and the first time since that Fort Lewis clash when No. 21 Colorado School of Mines comes to town on Friday night. On Saturday, Colorado Mesa will welcome a talented MSU Denver team that is currently the only school in the country to beat top-ranked West Texas A&M this season.

Tip-off for both contests is scheduled for 7:30 p.m., after the conclusion of the women's game. The game can be live streamed on the RMAC Network, followed along via live stats, or listened to on The Team 1340 AM/101.1 FM radio, with Tyler Franzen on the call for both games.

Looking Back
Colorado Mesa ran its current win streak to four games with double-digit road wins over Regis and UCCS, defeating Regis 88-78 and UCCS 92-72.

RECAPS: Regis | UCCS

The Mavericks got a pair of 20-point scorers in the win over Regis, as Owen Koonce finished with 21 points and eight rebounds while Isaac Jessup finished with 20 points and hit four three-pointers. On Saturday, Trevor Baskin led the charge with 17 points while CMU got a career-high 14 points from Michael McCurry.

Lights Out
The Mavericks had their best shooting weekend of the season in their previous two victories.

Colorado Mesa shot 57.1 percent (32-56) from the field in the win over Regis, which included a 63 percent second-half performance. The 57 percent mark from the field was CMU's best single-game total of the season for all of 24 hours before the Mavs topped it the following day. CMU did even better against UCCS, finishing the game having made 61 percent of their shots.

The UCCS game saw the Mavs make 36 of 59 field goal attempts, the second-most field goal makes in a game for CMU this year. The Mavericks shot 48.3 percent from three-point range against the Mountain Lions, the third-highest percentage from deep this season.

After putting up 92 against UCCS, the Mavericks have now scored over 90 points eight times this season. They have yet to allow 90-plus points in a regulation game this year, with Chadron State scoring 95 in an overtime game but just 85 in regulation.

Standings Check
Three weekends remain in the RMAC regular season, and three teams have separated themselves from an increasingly dense chasing pack in the RMAC standings. Fort Lewis, Colorado Mesa and Colorado School of Mines have all clinched spots in the eight-team RMAC Tournament.

Here is a look at the full RMAC standings entering this weekend's games:
 

School	RMAC Record	Overall
#3 Fort Lewis	16-1	21-2
#9 Colorado Mesa	15-1	19-3
#21 Colorado School of Mines	14-3	20-5
MSU Denver	9-7	15-7
Black Hills State	9-7	11-11
Regis	9-8	12-11
Chadron State	8-8	11-11
South Dakota Mines	7-9	9-13
UCCS	7-10	11-12
Adams State	6-11	8-15
CSU Pueblo	5-11	9-13
Colorado Christian	5-11	8-13
New Mexico Highlands	5-11	8-13
Western Colorado	5-11	8-14
Westminster	3-14	7-16

Colorado School of Mines has lost two of its past four games, losing to Fort Lewis on February 2 and falling to Black Hills State last Friday night on a sensational buzzer-beater three from Yellow Jackets standout Matthew Ragsdale. After defeating Adams State in the RMAC's midweek game this Tuesday, Fort Lewis has climbed a half game ahead of Colorado Mesa atop the league. The Skyhawks, who have won nine games in a row, face Western Colorado this Saturday.

Stat Packs
Trevor Baskin, a 2022-23 First Team All-RMAC selection, has continued to ball out in 2023-24. The redshirt junior ranks 10^th in the RMAC with 15.7 points per game, third in the RMAC with 7.8 rebounds per game and fifth with 3.6 assists per game. Baskin leads the team in all three categories and is the only RMAC player to be ranked in the conference's top 10 in all three.

Mac Riniker ranks second on the team with 14.2 points and 5.2 rebounds per game. Riniker leads the RMAC in field goal percentage, making 111 of his 174 shot attempts for a .638 percentage from the field. Owen Koonce is CMU's third double-digit scorer, averaging 13.1 points per game, while Isaac Jessup averages 9.5 points per game while shooting 37 percent from three-point range.

Colorado Mesa features the second-highest scoring offense in the RMAC, as the Mavericks' total of 85.1 points per game is just marginally behind Fort Lewis's 85.7 points per game. No other RMAC program averages more than 80 per contest. Colorado Mesa has the fourth-lowest scoring defense, holding opponents to 71.3 points per game, but that number is warped slightly by the Mavs' up-tempo style that affords both them and their opponents a higher number of possessions. The Mavericks have the best opponent field goal percentage in the conference, holding opponents to just 41.2 percent shooting from the field.

The Mavericks also lead the conference in total rebounds (39.9 per game), offensive rebounds (11.9 per game), rebounding margin (+8.6 rebounds per game), blocked shots (82 total, 3.73 per game) and assists (416 total, 18.91 per game). The Mavs are forcing the third-most turnovers per game in the RMAC at 14.5 but commit the highest number in the conference at 16.1 per game.

Strength vs. Strength
Friday's matchup with Colorado School of Mines will feature the high-octane offense of the Mavericks against the stingy defense of the Orediggers.

Colorado Mesa averages 85.1 points per game, the second-highest total in the RMAC and the 30^th-ranked scoring offense in Division II. The Mavericks use tempo, spacing, ball movement and perimeter shooting to light up the scoreboard, as the Mavs lead the conference and rank third in the nation in three-point makes (11.8) and attempts (33.0) per game. The Mavericks have the second-highest effective field goal percentage in Division II at .594 (effective field goal percentage is a metric that weighs made three pointers higher than made two pointers).

By contrast, Colorado School of Mines has the league's toughest scoring defense, holding opponents to 68.4 points per game, a total that ranks 42^nd in Division II. The Orediggers have held opponents to 60 points or fewer five times this season and rank third in the RMAC with a .424 opposing field goal percentage.

Colorado Mesa and Colorado School of Mines are also among the best teams on the glass in the nation, not just the RMAC. The Mavericks (39.9 rebounds per game) and Orediggers (38.2 rebounds per game) rank first and second, respectively, in the RMAC for combined team rebounds. Colorado Mesa's rebound margin of +8.6 ranks fifth in all of Division II, while Mines's margin of +8.5 is seventh nationally in Division II. No other RMAC school has a rebound margin of better than +5.0.

Defending Brownson
The Mavericks have had a strong home record in recent seasons, as CMU is currently 9-1 on its home floor in 2023-24 after going 14-3 at home in 2022-23. However, all three of CMU's home losses during the 22-23 season were handed to them by the two teams visiting Grand Junction this weekend.

Last season, the Mavericks entered conference play with a 5-1 overall record but were dealt back-to-back losses by then-No. 10 Colorado School of Mines and unranked MSU Denver to open the conference season. Despite the 0-2 start to RMAC play, the Mavericks finished the season winning 19 of their last 20 games to end the year at 19-3 in the RMAC, clinching a share of the regular season RMAC title with Fort Lewis and earning the rights to host the RMAC tournament.

After getting past MSU Denver in the tournament quarterfinals, the host Mavs saw their conference tournament run come to an end in the semifinals when the fourth-seeded Orediggers beat CMU 64-53 in Grand Junction. The Orediggers would go on to lose in the RMAC Tournament title game to Fort Lewis, and both Mines and CMU would lose in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

This year, Mines has identical 9-2 home and away records so far on the season. MSU Denver has struggled on the road, only going 4-4 away from home thus far compared to the Roadrunners' 9-3 home record.

In the Polls
Colorado Mesa moved up one spot to No. 9 in the NABC Coaches Poll. They are the second-highest ranked team in the RMAC and the fourth-highest ranked team in the South Central Region.  

The Mavericks are 19-3 with the most literal definition of three quality losses, as unanimous national No. 1 West Texas A&M, No. 3 Fort Lewis and No. 4 DBU are the only three teams to defeat CMU this year. The RMAC's third nationally ranked program, Colorado School of Mines, fell four spots to No. 21 in the polls after the Orediggers suffered a loss for the second week in a row, on a buzzer beater against Black Hills State. The D2CSC Media Poll has the Mavericks at No. 14, trailing No. 12 Fort Lewis and leading No. 20 Mines among ranked RMAC schools.

The D2CSC Regional Rankings, an unofficial precursor to the NCAA's regional rankings that will dictate tournament seeding, have the Mavericks as the No. 4 seed in the South Central Region. West Texas A&M leads, followed by Dallas Baptist and Fort Lewis in the No. 2 and No. 3 slots, respectively. Behind CMU, the rest of the regional rankings features Mines at No. 5 followed by Lubbock Christian, MSU Denver, Eastern New Mexico, Cameron and Angelo State. MSU Denver is the only team to defeat 22-1 West Texas A&M this year.

The Mavericks were picked to win the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference in a preseason poll of the conference's head coaches. The Mavericks received eight of a possible 15 first-place votes and finished with 186 points to top the poll. Fort Lewis, who shared the regular season title with CMU and won the RMAC Tournament last year, got four first-place votes and 177 points. Colorado School of Mines received three first-place votes and 169 points while Black Hills State and Chadron State rounded out the top five.

About Colorado School of Mines
Colorado School of Mines, ranked No. 21/20 nationally, are currently third in the RMAC standings with a 14-3 conference record and a 20-5 mark overall. After losing the first RMAC game of the season to Colorado Mesa back on December 1, Mines ripped off a 14-game win streak that included 12 RMAC wins.

The Orediggers have lost two of their last four games, however, falling 73-63 to Fort Lewis on February 2 and losing at the buzzer to Black Hills State by an 86-83 score last Friday. Mines rebounded with a 14-point win over South Dakota Mines in their most recent outing. The Orediggers play only once this week, with no game Saturday after Friday's clash with CMU.

Majok Deng, a redshirt senior transfer from Division I Pepperdine, has emerged as a key offensive contributor for the Orediggers. Deng leads Mines and ranks tied for 10^th in the RMAC (with CMU's Trevor Baskin) with 15.7 points per game, highlighted by 31 points against Mercyhurst back on November 5 and 29 points against Western Colorado on January 26.

Do-everything graduate guard Sam Beskind continues to be one of the RMAC's more complete players. Beskind averages 8.8 points per game but ranks eighth in the RMAC with 6.8 rebounds per game and second in the conference with 4.5 assists per game. Freshman forward Alex Romack has been a post presence for the Orediggers, ranking fifth in the RMAC with 7.1 rebounds per game and a 68.3 percent field goal percentage.

Pryor Orser is in his 23^rd season as the head coach at Colorado School of Mines. With 443 career wins, Orser is currently tied with former Fort Lewis and Western Colorado coach Bob Hofman for the all-time record for career wins as an RMAC coach and will break the record with the Orediggers' next victory. During Orser's tenure at Mines, the Orediggers have won five RMAC regular-season titles and two RMAC Tournament championships while qualifying for the NCAA Tournament 12 times.

Colorado Mesa holds a 43-27 edge in the all-time series over Colorado School of Mines, but interestingly, the road team has won the past four matchups. The Orediggers won in Brownson Arena twice last season, once in the regular season and once in the semifinals of the RMAC Tournament hosted by the Mavericks last March. However, the Mavs beat Mines in Golden by an 87-66 margin last season and by an 86-79 score back in December this season.

About MSU Denver
With a 15-7 overall record and a 9-7 mark in conference play, the Roadrunners of MSU Denver are currently tied with Black Hills State for fourth place in the RMAC standings, pulling even with the Yellow Jackets after defeating them head-to-head last Saturday.

It has been an up-and-down season for the Roadrunners, who stormed out to a 7-0 start that included a win over West Texas A&M. That remains the only loss of the season for the 22-1 Buffs, who are now the unanimous national No. 1 team in the nation. The Roadrunners were at a season high No. 8 in the national poll when they lost to Colorado Mesa back on December 2 in a tight 85-82 contest.

The loss to the Mavericks started a midseason skid for the Roadrunners, who lost six of their next 10 games, falling out of the national polls and the RMAC title race. Since then, however, MSU Denver has won four of its past five games, and thanks in large part to the win over WTA&M, are still on the fringes of NCAA Tournament contention as they currently hold the No. 7 spot in the South Central regional rankings.

Reigning RMAC Freshman of the Year Brayden Maldonado has continued to shine in his sophomore season, leading MSUD and ranking fourth in the RMAC with 17.5 points per game. Senior forward Mario Lacy Jr., who also played for Roadrunners head coach Dan Ficke at Belmont Abbey, leads the RMAC with 8.8 rebounds per game and scores 10.7 a game. Junior forward Caleb McGill averages 15.1 points per game (15^th in RMAC) and 5.5 rebounds per game (12^th in RMAC).

MSU Denver has a storied men's basketball history which includes nine RMAC regular season titles, six Final Four appearances and Division II national championships in 2000 and 2022. As such, Colorado Mesa trails MSU Denver 19-32 in the all-time series, but the Mavs have won seven of the past 10 matchups. MSU Denver shocked CMU at home last season during the first weekend of conference play, but the Mavericks rebounded to beat the Roadrunners in Denver in the regular season and in Brownson Arena during the quarterfinals of the RMAC Tournament before knocking out MSUD this past December in Denver during the 2023-24 season.

Head Coach Dan Ficke is in his second season at MSU Denver, going 12-17 in his first season with the Roadrunners. Prior to MSU Denver, Ficke spent three years as the head coach of Belmont Abbey, a Division II school in North Carolina, and was an assistant coach at the University of Denver.

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.