#8 Mines (1-1) at UT Tyler (0-2) – Friday, 5 p.m. CT– Tyler, Texas. [Live Stats] [LSC Network PPV]
#8 Mines (1-1) at UT Dallas (1-1) – Saturday, 3 p.m. CT– Dallas, Texas [Live Stats] [Live Video]

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ROAD TRIPPING
Following a weekend split at home against a pair of Texas teams, the #8 Colorado School of Mines men's basketball team will hit the road for the first time this season with two more Lone Star State teams on deck as they'll play UT Tyler Friday evening before taking on Division II newcomer UT Dallas Saturday afternoon to continue non-conference action.
 
LIVE COVERAGE
Friday's game against the Patriots will be available to stream on a pay-per-view basis through the LSC's partnership with FloSports. Saturday's game with the Comets will be available to steam for free on UTD's streaming page for free. Free live stats will be available for both games. Links for video and stats for both matches can be found on minesathletics.com.
 
AT THE HELM
The 2023-24 season will be the 24th for the Orediggers under the guidance of head coach Pryor Orser. The winningest coach in the history of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, Orser's record stands at 446-228 overall and a mark of 317-155 in league play. Under Orser, Mines has won five RMAC regular-season championships and two RMAC Tournament titles and qualified for 13 NCAA Tournaments including two Elite Eight trips. 
 
IN THE POLLS
The Orediggers were tabbed the preseason favorites to win the RMAC this season, earning 11 of 14 first place ballots and compiling 191 points. MSU Denver was picked to finish second followed by Regis, Black Hills State and Colorado Mesa.
 
Nationally, Mines slotted in at #8 in the NABC Division II Coaches Poll to begin the season. Defending national champions Minnesota State and runners-up Nova Southeastern went 1-2 in the rankings followed by West Texas A&M, Minnesota State Moorhead and Dallas Baptist.

WEEK 1 RECAP
It was a mixed bag for the Orediggers opening weekend as they hosted #RV Lubbock Christian and St. Mary's (TX) in regional crossover action at Lockridge Arena. Friday's game with the Chaps was moved up three hours in order to counter the first blast of winter weather that impacted the metro area and while Mines started strong and led for most of the first half, LCU surged in the final five minutes and carried that momentum into the second, riding a .458 night from three-point range to an 89-78 win. Mines, who went just 8-31 from three in the game, was led by Majok Deng's 14 points while Markus Pastorcic-Straun and Juani Dassie both went for 13 points.
 
Saturday's the Orediggers rebounded against the Rattlers and shot .574 from the field and .450 from long range on their way to an 83-63 win. Dassie led the way with 20 points off the bench on 7-11 shooting including 5-8 from deep with two steals while Deng dropped 19 on 6-9 shooting and 3-5 from downtown with seven boards, three steals, two assists and a block as he finished with a stat line reminiscent of Sam Beskind. Adam Krasovec went for 11 off the bench on 5-6 shooting with five boards and two blocks while Alex Romack chipped in 10 with three rebounds on 4-5 shooting. Cade Mankle, despite scoring only two points, added five boards and five dimes in the winning effort.
 
FOR ALL TIME
Currently in his 23rd season leading the Orediggers, head coach Pryor Orser has seen a thing or two and is subsequently no stranger to milestone moments and record-setting success. Back on January 20 against UCCS, the legendary coach added another to his list of accomplishments, becoming the winningest coach in terms of conference wins in the history of the RMAC with 310 and counting. On Saturday, Orser broke another conference record, this time for the most overall wins by a head coach in league history with a 74-56 win over Chadron State, giving him 442 for his career to again pass the great Bob Hofman who made a mark on RMAC history at Fort Lewis and Western Colorado over his 24 seasons between the two institutions. With seemingly no plans to hang it up anytime soon and enjoying another successful season this year, Orser has the potential to set a record that could stand for just as long, if not longer, than the previous mark as another point on an already remarkable resume in a coaching career matched by only a few.
 
HOMECOMING
Two Orediggers will be returning to their home state this weekend as Texans Cade Mankle and Grant Pressly will look to put on a show. For Pressly, a Plano native in his fifth and final season at Mines, this weekend will mark the sixth and seventh games of his career in Texas as he'll look to build off an opening weekend in which he registered seven assists and averaged three rebounds per game in 34 minutes over two games. Mankle, who missed last season's regular season games in Texas for personal reasons, will be playing just his second game in his home state after last season's NCAA Tournament game with DBU. The redshirt junior out of West Lake Hills from just west of Austin will likewise look to build off an opening weekend performance in which he dished out nine assists and pulled down six rebounds with two steals in 46 minutes against LCU and St. Mary's.
 
600 CLUB
After dropping 567 points in his debut season at Mines and 33 over opening weekend, Majok Deng now stands at an even 600 career points as an Orediggers with an average 17.1 PPG. Taking into account his time at Pepperdine, the Tucson native is up to 667 points in his collegiate career and is poised to hit 1,000 by season's end. Adam Krasovec is also now on the northside of 600 points now as he looks to finish his career out strong as well.
 
MILESTONE WATCH     
Several other Orediggers on the cusp of hitting a few milestones across several statistical categories. Juani Dassie is point shy of 200 in his Mines career while Reagan Koch is seven rebounds away from 150 while recording his 50th steal Saturday night. Adam Krasovec is up to 329 rebounds and 43 blocks in his four seasons at Mines, while Cade Mankle is up to 143 rebounds, 140 assists and 419 points in his three seasons. Riley Schroeder awaits his return to play and is eight points away from 700 in his career while also boasting 329 rebounds and 48 steals. Fellow big man Alex Romack also rolled through the 300-point mark over the weekend and is now 18 rebounds shy of 250 and 32 blocks from 50 in his young career.
 
HELLO THERE
Four newcomers join the Orediggers for the 2024-25 campaign comprised of three freshmen and a junior college transfer. Will Cordonnier, Braydon Jacob and Matija Jordovic are joined by Ben Hammond a those four will look to try and compete for playing time in their first seasons in Golden. Read more about the newest members of the program here.
 
GETTING THAT SILVER
Grant Pressly and Reagan Koch each completed their undergraduate degrees in May and collected their silver-plated diplomas as they walked across the stage and are back for more as both have begun graduate programs. Pressly, a fifth-year man out of Plano, Texas earned a Bachelor's degree in Business Engineering and Management Science while Koch needed just three years to graduate with a degree in in Mechanical Engineering. Both men are currently pursuing graduate degrees in Engineering and Technology Management.
 
CHECKING THE STATS
It's no surprise Majok Deng leads the Orediggers in scoring after a weekend of play as while he has started slow from beyond the arc, he is still shooting .417 from the floor and .909 at the stripe to average 16.5 PPG and also currently sits atop the leaderboard in rebounding at 6.0 per night while adding three steals and two blocks. Juani Dassie also shook off a slow start from three-point land opening night and is shooting .545 from the floor and .500 from downtown on his way to 16.5 PPG off the bench with four assists and two steals.
 
Markus Pastorcic-Straun has stepped into the starting lineup and is averaging 10.5 PPG on .471 shooting with five assists and two steals through two games. Alex Romack continues to do his thing and is averaging 9.5 points to start the year while hauling down 3.5 rebounds per night while shooting .700 form the floor. Adam Krasovec likewise is also averaging 9.5 per night in the early going, shooting .667 from the floor and .600 from three while adding two blocks of his own.
 
Jonathan Moore (4.0 PPG, 4.0 RPG) made his first two collegiate starts opening weekend and will look to build momentum as the season continues while Cade Mankle, who leads the team with nine assists entering the weekend, will look to get his scoring going after attempting just four shots the first two games. Grant Pressly has also factored into helping facilitate the offense as he has seven assists in the early going.
 
Through two games Mines is averaging 80.5 PPG and is +4.5 in scoring margin. They are shooting .500/.333/.788 while opponents are shooting .446/.410/.700. They are averaging 32.5 rebounds per game and are -30 in rebounding margin while averaging 18.5 assists per game. The Orediggers have done a good job taking care of the ball so far this season, averaging just 12.0 turnovers per game and finding themselves +1.5 in turnover margin as they've amassed 16 steals and six blocks entering play this weekend.
 
SCOUTING UT TYLER
The Patriots are still seeking their first win of the season after going 0-2 on opening weekend in regional action hosted at Sul Ross State against Black Hills State and #RV MSU Denver, losing by scores of 82-59 and 62-59 respectively. UT Tyler is looking to improve off a 2023-24 season in which they went just 3-25 overall and 2-20 in Lone Star Conference play.
 
Dontrell Hewlett and Juan Pablo Camargo currently lead the team in scoring at 11.5 PPG with the former shooting .444 from the field along with two steals and the latter shooting .368 off the bench with 4.5 rebounds per game and a pair of assists. Both men have been frequent flyers to the free throw line, combining to shoot 15-20 on freebies through two games.
 
Sam Phipps and Nikolas Gustavson both average 7.5 PPG as Phipps is shooting .583 from the field with two blocks to lead the team while Gustavson has hit three three-pointers this season and leads the team in rebounding at 5.0 per night.
 
Mate Kapanadze is scoring 5.0 PPG but leads the Patriots in assists with seven, but her along with Akok Machar (6.5 PPG) have both been affected early by turnovers with 12 of the team's 29 falling on them.
 
After scoring 59 points in each of their first two games, that's what UT Tlyer is averaging while allowing 72.0 a night to opponents as they find themselves -13 in scoring average. They are shooting .368/.273/.781 as a team while opponents are shooting .405/.288/.787. They do average 38.0 rebounds per game and are +2 in that area while averaging 9.0 assists per game, but unfortunately are -6.0 in the turnover battle, coughing it up 14.5 times per game while opponents are doing so just 8.5 times. Additionally they have nine steals and five blocks defensively.
 
SCOUTING UT DALLAS
One of the newest additions to Division II, the Comets are in their first year of provisional status as they transition up from the Division III ranks and as such, have a wide-ranging and varied schedule comprised of new faces from DII and familiar ones from DIII. They dropped their season opener last Saturday to UNT Dallas 77-65 before picking up their first win against Arlington Baptist Tuesday on the road by a score of 82-73. UTD will play Regis Friday before hosting Mines Saturday.
 
Currently two players are averaging double figure scoring for the Comets led by Matthew Soto at 17.0 PPG as he's shooting .357 from the floor and .429 from long range and leads the team early with six three-pointers. Austin Page is scoring 15.5 per night while hauling in 7.5 rebounds and already has four blocks while shooting .524 from the floor. He and Soto are a combined 17-20 at the free throw line and have combined for seven assists.
 
Jordan Balderaz is off to a strong start as well averaging 8.5 points and 8.5 rebounds per game while shooting .462 while Peyton Dulin is also averaging 8.5 points and 80. Rebounds per game with three steals. Unfortunately for UTD, Page, Balderaz and Dulin are on the hook for 25 of the team's 35 turnovers in the early going.
 
Other to keep an eye on are Nick Donnelly (6.5 PPG, 3.0 RPG) who leads the way with seven assists and AJ Carter (6.0 PPG, .833 FG%).
 
So far UTD is averaging 73.5 PPG and is -1.5 in scoring margin. They are shooting .405/.310/.692 while opponents are shooting .415/.290/.647. They average 42.0 rebounds per game and still somehow find themselves in the negative in rebounding margin at -1.0 while averaging 18.0 assists per night. As mentioned, turnovers have been a big part of the storyline with 35 in two games while opponents have coughed it up just 26 times. To their credit, the Comets average 7.0 steals and 4.0 blocks defensively but opponents still have an edge with 11.0 steals while playing level on blocks.
 
SERIES HISTORY
Two first time opponents wait on deck this weekend as the Orediggers head to the Lone Star State. All-time Mines is 18-30 against opponents from the state of Texas but has gone 5-1 against first time opponents over the last two seasons.
 
LOOKING AHEAD
Mines will have one match before the week of Thanksgiving as they host RMAC foe UCCS in non-conference action from Lockridge Arena Tuesday night November 26 at 7 p.m.

Fans can keep up with Mines men's basketball on X and Instagram at @minesmbb. They can also keep up with Colorado School of Mines Athletics all year long on Facebook, X and Instagram using the handle @MinesAthletics.