GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – With eight days between their most recent game last week and their weekend-opener this Friday, the Colorado Mesa Mavericks will be rested and ready for the regular season's stretch drive, with eight games remaining until the conference tournament.
The Mavs tallied wins in a pair of midweek games against Western Colorado and Westminster, improving their record to 13-1 in conference play and climbing back into the top 10 of the NABC Coaches Poll. CMU is on the road this upcoming weekend, facing Regis on Friday night and UCCS on Saturday, with both games scheduled to tip off at 7 p.m.
Fans can watch a live stream of the game (visiting broadcast) on the RMAC Network, follow along with live stats or tune in to The Team 1340 AM/101.1 FM with Ethan Jordan on the call for both games.
Looking Back
Last week saw the Mavericks on the rare Tuesday-Thursday schedule that is occasionally necessary to accommodate the RMAC's odd number of teams. The Mavs easily handled their two main geographical rivals, beating Western Colorado 67-45 on Tuesday and Westminster 82-61 on Thursday.
RECAPS:
Western Colorado |
Westminster
Colorado Mesa survived a defensive struggle of a first half at Western, as the Mavs only led the Mountaineers 26-16 at halftime before outscoring Western 41-29 in the second half.
Mac Riniker and
Aidan Kuhl each scored 14 points to lead the offensive effort while
Trevor Baskin had 13 points and seven rebounds.
The Mavericks tied a program single-game record with 18 threes against Westminster, continuing to fire from deep despite managing only a 29 percent clip (7-for-24) in the first half. Sophomore
Elijah Knudsen recorded all of his team-high 18 points in the second half, personally hitting six of CMU's 11 second-half threes. The 18 points tied a career high as well for Knudsen.
Perimeter Progress
The Westminster matchup saw the Mavericks reorder the program's record books in several areas, measuring both volume and efficiency.
The Mavericks shot 18-for-46 as a team from beyond the three-point line, a 39 percent clip. That tied the program's single game record for most made threes in a game, drawing even with a January 2020 game against Fort Lewis and a January 6 game earlier this season against New Mexico Highlands. It also set a new program record for most three-point attempts in a game, surpassing a 16-for-45 effort earlier this season at Simon Fraser on December 19.
Colorado Mesa's high usage of ball movement has led to the Mavs leading the RMAC in both assists per game (19) and committed turnovers per game (15.5). Against Westminster, CMU hit the unique combination of recording the most assists and fewest turnovers as a team in any game this season.
The Mavs racked up 29 assists against the Griffins, which moves into a four-way tie for the second-highest single-game total in program history, while only committing eight turnovers. Last Thursday was only the second time this season that CMU has committed single-digit turnovers in, and combined with CMU's 11 turnovers on Tuesday against Western, the Mavs have two of their three lowest turnover totals of the season in their last two games.
Round Two
With 14 RMAC games under their belt in the 2023-24 season, the Mavericks have now played one game against every opponent in the 15-team RMAC. Starting with this weekend's games at Regis and UCCS, the final eight games of the RMAC season will be against teams that the Mavericks have played (and beat) previously this season.
After Regis and UCCS this weekend, the Mavs return home to host No. 17 Colorado School of Mines on February 16 and MSU Denver on February 17. The Mavs are on the road for three of the final four matches of the season, traveling to New Mexico Highlands on February 23, CSU Pueblo on February 24 and Westminster on February 27 before ending the regular season at home vs. Western Colorado on Saturday, March 2.
Standings Check
With eight games remaining in the RMAC's 22-game schedule, Colorado Mesa sits at 13-1 in conference play, a half-game behind Fort Lewis for the RMAC lead. Crucially, Fort Lewis holds the head-to-head tiebreaker over Colorado Mesa with their win in Brownson Arena on January 26, meaning the Mavericks have to completely pass the Skyhawks in the standings to earn hosting rights for the RMAC Tournament.
Here is a look at the top of the RMAC standings through this weekend's games:
| School |
RMAC Record |
Overall |
| #3 Fort Lewis |
14-1 |
19-2 |
| #10 Colorado Mesa |
13-1 |
17-3 |
| #17 Colorado School of Mines |
13-2 |
19-4 |
| Regis |
9-6 |
12-9 |
| Black Hills State |
8-6 |
10-10 |
| Chadron State |
8-7 |
11-10 |
| MSU Denver |
7-7 |
13-7 |
| South Dakota Mines |
7-7 |
9-11 |
| UCCS |
6-9 |
10-11 |
Colorado School of Mines likely holds the key to the RMAC title. While Fort Lewis and Colorado Mesa have already played their one matchup this season, Mines plays both Fort Lewis and CMU twice over the course of the year, with one of those matchups still to come against each school. Mines is at Colorado Mesa on February 16 and hosts Fort Lewis on March 2 in the final game of the RMAC regular season.
In the Polls
Colorado Mesa returned to the top 10 in the NABC Coaches Poll after a one-week absence, climbing three spots up to No. 10 in the latest national poll.
The Mavericks are 17-3 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 seven spots to No. 17 in the polls after the Orediggers saw their 13-game winning streak snapped with a loss to Fort Lewis last weekend. The D2CSC Media Poll has the Mavericks at No. 17, trailing No. 13 Fort Lewis and leading No. 23 Mines among ranked RMAC schools.
The D2CSC Regional Rankings, an unofficial precursor to the NCAA's regional rankings that will dictacte 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 Eastern New Mexico, Lubbock Christian, Angelo State, MSU Denver and Cameron. MSU Denver is the only team to defeat 20-1 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.
Strength in Numbers
Depth has been among Colorado Mesa's greatest strengths this season, as the Mavericks have had the luxury of sharing the wealth and relying on several different contributors throughout the campaign.
The Mavs have three players averaging in double figures –
Trevor Baskin (15.6 points per game),
Mac Riniker (15.1) and
Owen Koonce (12.9). Despite a high-powered offense that leads to abundant attempts (CMU ranks second in the RMAC with 1,325 field goal attempts as a team), the Mavs have only two players in the conference's top 20 of individual field goal tries and nobody ranked higher than Baskin in 12
th with 218.
While the Mavericks have attempted 236 three-pointers, the most in the RMAC by over 70 attempts, CMU only has one player (
Isaac Jessup) in the individual top 10. The Mavericks have had 12 different players attempt 24 or more threes throughout the season, but only have players attempt more than 50 triples.
By contrast, CMU has five of the league's top 21 players in assists per game while leading the conference with 19.15 per game as a team. Baskin ranks fourth in the league with 3.7 assists per game and is the only RMAC player to rank in the league's top 10 of points, rebounds and assists per game.
About Regis
Regis is at the front end of the large chasing pack behind the RMAC's top three teams. The Rangers are 12-9 overall and 9-6 in the RMAC, which is good enough for fourth place in the RMAC currently, but the Rangers are closer to being out of the RMAC Tournament places (two-and-a-half games) than they are to third place (four games).
Since a mid-January three-game skid that included losses to nationally ranked Fort Lewis and Colorado School of Mines, Regis has won four games in a row entering Friday's clash with CMU. Over the last two weekends, Regis has topped Colorado Christian (71-63), Chadron State (86-55), CSU Pueblo (81-67) and New Mexico Highlands (94-85) to climb up the RMAC standings.
Sophomore guard Chase Mayo Harmon leads Regis and ranks sixth in the RMAC with 16.9 points per game. Mayo Harmon was contained in the previous matchup with the Mavs, scoring just three points for his lowest total this season, but will enter this meeting having scored 26, 25 and 18 points across his last three games. Redshirt junior guard Eddy Egun (11.6 points per game) will ride a seven-game streak of scoring in double figures into Friday's contest, led by a 28-point outing against Colorado Christian.
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 33-9, and the Rangers haven't won vs. CMU since beating the Mavs on a neutral court in the 2022 RMAC Tournament semifinals. Regis did not fare well in its earlier visit to Grand Junction, losing to the Mavs by a 92-57 score in Brownson Arena. That game marks both the second-fewest points Regis has scored in a game this season and the second-most points the Rangers have allowed. The 35-point loss is Regis's worst scoring margin in a loss this season by 14 points.
About UCCS
UCCS is in the middle of the fight for RMAC Tournament qualification. The Mountain Lions enter the weekend on the outside looking in for the tournament, as their 6-9 RMAC record leaves them in ninth place in the conference standings. UCCS has a 10-11 overall record.
UCCS raised some eyebrows with a four-game winning streak in the early part of January which included a 79-70 upset win over Fort Lewis on January 12. UCCS remains the only RMAC team to defeat Fort Lewis so far in 2023-24. Since then, however, the Mountain Lions have lost three of their last four, including a split last weekend where they beat Colorado Christian 81-69 but lost to New Mexico Highlands, 98-87.
The Mountain Lions have been battling availability throughout the season, as only three players have appeared in every game this season and a total of nine different players have started six games or more for UCCS. Freshman point guard Xavier Martinez is one of the three to appear in every game and leads the Mountain Lions with 14.3 points and 4.3 assists per game. Junior Jesse Iweze averages 12.4 points and 6.8 rebounds per game and tallied a 12-point, 10-rebound double-double against Colorado Mesa earlier this year.
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 44-10 all-time against UCCS and has won each of the past eight contests. The Mavericks defeated UCCS earlier this season, 70-62, despite shooting just 20 percent (7-for-35) from the three-point line. Colorado Mesa trailed by seven points at halftime in that contest before outscoring UCCS 40-19 in the second half.
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.
