The Black Hills State University men's basketball team returns home for the holidays for a pair of critical clashes at the Young Center in their first conference matchups on their own hardwood this weekend. The Yellow Jackets host 16/18 nationally ranked Metropolitan State University of Denver on Friday, December 8^th at 7:00 PM, followed by an NCAA Tournament rematch against the Colorado School of Mines, who are receiving votes in the national polls, on Saturday, December 9^th at 6:00 PM.

The Yellow Jackets came away with a split in their opening weekend of RMAC play, falling to Regis on Friday, 66-54, before defeating the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, 67-56 on Saturday. With the split, BHSU improved to 3-5 on the season, 1-1 in conference competition.

The final Yellow Jacket Athletic events of the year in Spearfish will have a festive vibe as fans are encouraged to wear their ugliest Christmas sweaters on Friday night for Ugly Christmas Sweater Night against MSUD before remaining in the season's spirit for Holiday/Christmas Character Night against Colorado Mines on Saturday.
 

Black Hills State  vs.  #16/18 MSU DENVER  FRIDAY, DEC. 8 // 7 P.M. // SPEARFISH, S.D. // DONALD E. YOUNG CENTER Live Stream / Live Stats / Radio / Game Notes / Tickets

FRIDAY vs. MSU DENVER
MSU Denver has been firing on all cylinders to open the season, standing with a 7-1 record to crack the national rankings as they are currently ranked 16^th in the D2SIDA polls, and #18 in the NABC rankings. They make their second trip to Spearfish already this season after they swept their two contests in the Yellow Jacket Conference Challenge to open the season, and also feature quality non-conference victories over #4/7 West Texas A&M and #16/RV Fort Hayes State. The Roadrunners opened conference play with a split last weekend, defeating Westminster in their conference opener before suffering their first defeat of the season to #18/RV Colorado Mesa on Saturday.

MSUD features a high-powered offense that ranks third in the RMAC and 56^th nationally scoring 82.8 points per game. This is thanks to their exceptional efficiency as they rank 14^th nationally with a 51.4% field goal percentage, including 43.7% from three-point range, the third-best mark in Division-II, leading the league in both categories. The Roadrunners do rank in the middle of the pack defensively allowing 71.4 points per game, eighth-most in the league and it is also worth noting that they are not particularly deep, getting just 13.62 points per game from their bench.

The Roadrunners boast possibly the best guard/forward tandem in the RMAC in Brayden Maldonado and Caleb McGill. McGill is already a two-time RMAC Offensive Player of the Week recipient (weeks one and three) averaging 17.6 points and 5.6 rebounds per game with a tremendous .554/.500/.837 shooting line, adding 1.5 blocks per contest defensively. Maldonado split McGill's RMAC Offensive Player of the Weeks with one of his own in week two, and averages 18.8 points per contest on .535/.489/.900 shooting while dishing a team-best 4.1 assists and also leading the team with 1.9 steals. Mario Lacy Jr. and KJ Garrett also average double-digits in scoring with Lacy Jr. also being the team's top rebounder securing 9.9 per game.

ROADRUNNERS' LAST TIME OUT
DENVER, Colo. – High level men's basketball returned to the Auraria Event Center on Saturday night, and though the outcome may not have been what the home crowd wanted, the game itself signaled that the MSU Denver men's basketball team should expect to be in contention for a Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference championship.

Colorado Mesa, the defending league co-champions and preseason choice to win the title, escaped the Auraria Event Center with an 85-82 victory in the first matchup of ranked men's teams in the building since 2015.

 "It was a great game that went back and forth, and they made one or two more plays than we did," MSU Denver coach Dan Ficke said. "I'm really proud of our guys' toughness, and the grit they had to stick with it through the run they made early in the second half.

"We were able to come back and take the lead, but we just couldn't finish. We've been on the right side of the bounces most of the time this year, but tonight we weren't."

MSU Denver, lost for the first time this season after opening 7-0 for the first time since 2012-13. Mesa improved to 5-1.

It should be a wild ride, and this was only the first weekend of conference play.

Brayden Maldonado and KJ Garrett each scored 15 points, Caleb McGill added 14 and Marzouq Ibn Abdur-Razaaq had 12. Mario Lacy, Jr., had six points and 11 rebounds.

MSU Denver led by four points with five minutes to play, but then Colorado Mesa scored seven straight points to turn the four-point deficit into a 76-73 lead with just over three minutes to go.

MSU Denver tied the game 78-78 on a second clutch 3 Ibn Abdur-Razaaq.

"Marzouq just keeps getting better every game," Ficke said. "There are some things he needs to learn defensively because he's just a freshman, but he made two huge 3s and he had some big finishes going to the hoop. He's going to be a special player the next four years."

But the Mavericks went back ahead 80-78 with 1:52 left after getting two offensive rebounds on scoring on their third shot of the possession.

The Roadrunners were unable to score on their next two possessions, and Mesa pushed the lead to 82-78 on a layup with 33 seconds left.

Maldonado's fast-break layup got MSU Denver within 82-80 with 22 seconds to go, and then the teams exchanged free throws – Mesa made one, the McGill made two – to make it 83-82 Mesa with 11 seconds to go.

Mesa then made two more free throws for a three-point lead, and Maldonado was unable to get off a tying 3-point attempt before the buzzer.

"We could've gotten Brayden better look at the end," Ficke said. "And we had some good looks on previous possessions that didn't fall for us."

Leading 42-41 at halftime, Mesa pushed out to a nine-point lead at 57-48 with 15:21 to play and was still up by eight, 67-59, with 8:41 left.

But 3-pointers by Maldonado, McGill and Jaden Kennis helped make it a one-point game, and McGill's jumper capped an 11-2 burst that put the Roadrunners in front 70-69, and then a 3 by Marzouq Ibn Abdur-Razaaq made it 73-69.

Down the stretch, though, Mesa made a couple more plays.

"This loss won't define us," Ficke said. "It was a great lesson for us. Mesa is a very good team, and we don't feel like we gave them our best shot tonight. We can use this as motivation going forward."

LAST MATCHUP: BHSU vs. MSU DENVER (Feb. 4, 2023)
SPEARFISH, SD – Black Hills State men's basketball sunk Metro State with a big second half to win 89-57 Saturday night.

The Yellow Jackets (20-1, 14-1 RMAC) outscored MSUD 61-25 in the second half and finished the night with 15 threes while having 10 different players score.

Joel Scott recorded a double-double on the night with 25 points and 10 rebounds to go with two blocks and a steal.

Matthew Ragsdale went 6-of-7 from deep to finish with 18 points while Hoku Fisher and PJ Hayes each tallied nine points and four rebounds.

Adam Moussa was all over the floor, finishing with eight points, six rebounds, five assists, four blocks and a steal.

Caelin Hearne and John Shanklin each scored six.

Ragsdale opened the game with a corner triple to put BHSU on the board first. Two more treys from Scott and Ragsdale gave the men a 9-4 lead until MSUD buried a couple of layups to bring themselves within one of the Yellow Jackets.

The Roadrunners caught up with BHSU using a 7-0 spurt, however, to tie the game at 15-all as the first half ticked under ten minutes to go. From there, both teams went back and forth with another tie at 3:53 before MSUD took their first lead of the game, 25-24 off a Caleb McGill layup.

MSUD raked in a 9-4 scoring run to expand their lead to 32-28 as time expired, sending BHSU to the locker room with a four-point deficit.

Out of the break, Scott roared into the second half with a three-point play and a layup to give BHSU the lead back, 33-32. BHSU continued to pour it on following Scott's points with an Adam Moussa jumper and another bucket in the pain from Scott to bring the scoring run to 9-1 by the 17:35 mark.

MSUD began to stir up their offense following the Yellow Jacket run, eventually using a three-pointer to pull within two, 44-42. A Scott dunk, however, kicked off seven unanswered for the Yellow Jackets, eventually giving them their largest lead of the night with a nine-point lead over MSUD.

BHSU continued to expand their lead after the U-12 media timeout as a Ragsdale jumper and multiple buckets from Scott gave the Yellow Jackets another seven points in comparison to a single layup from the Roadrunners.

The rest of the game was all BHSU, who ran up MSUD 31-13 in the final ten minutes of the game to seal a final score of 89-57 against the Roadrunners. 

Notes
With Joel Scott's 53 points this weekend, he currently sits at 2,119 career points, 61 points away from BHSU's all-time scoring record of 2,180 held by Kim Templeton.
 

Black Hills State  vs.  rv Colorado School of mines   SATURDAY, DEC. 9 // 6 P.M. // SPEARFISH, S.D. // DONALD E. YOUNG CENTER Live Stream / Live Stats / Radio / Game Notes / Tickets

SATURDAY vs. COLORADO SCHOOL OF MINES
Colorado Mines is presently receiving votes in the NABC Coaches poll thanks to their 5-3 start to the season. They split their opening weekend against a pair of ranked foes, losing to #16 Bentley on opening night 69-51, before defeating #25 Mercyhurst, 65-62. Like MSUD, they split their opening weekend of games, falling to #18/RV Colorado Mesa on Friday, 86-79, before defeating Westminster, 75-54 on Saturday.

Always in the conversation as one of the best teams in the South Central region, the Orediggers are stingy defensively ranking second in the RMAC and 37^th nationally in scoring defense allowing 66.5 points per game, while opponents shoot just 41.3% from the field against them, the third-best mark in the conference. They are particularly tough at the rim as they lead the league with 3.8 blocks per game. Colorado Mines is still figuring a few things out offensively this year as they do average just 70.0 points per game. While they are efficient, with a 46.6% field goal percentage, fifth best in the RMAC, they have not shot well from distance (31.0 three-point percentage, 14^th in RMAC), and they do not get to or convert at the charity stripe very well, averaging 17.1 attempts (12^th in RMAC), 10.8 makes (14^th), and a 62.8 percentage (15^th).

Majok Deng is the team's leading scorer with 17.1 points per game shooting .457/.438/.789 while Cade Mankle also contributes 12.0 points per contest. Sam Beskind may be the best pure point guard in the RMAC, topping the conference in total assists (38), assists per game (4.8), and assist to turnover ratio (1.81). Riley Schroeder and Alex Romack are the two-headed monster in the middle as they each rank in the top-11 in the RMAC in blocks per game with Romack also being the team's top rebounder securing 8.8 per contest.

OREDIGGERS' LAST TIME OUT
GOLDEN, Colo. – Looking to rebound from a hard-fought loss in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference opener Friday night, the Colorado School of Mines men's basketball team was back at Lockridge Arena Saturday evening for their lone meeting of the season against Westminster. Led by Majok Deng the Orediggers (5-3, 1-1) never trailed from start to finish, rebounding to down the Griffins (4-4, 0-2) by a final of 75-54.

Riley Schroeder got the night off and running with first points followed by Deng as Mines took the early lead and pushed the pace early. Deng spearheaded a determined effort to score inside, getting to the free throw line early and often while also connecting from outside to make it 17-8 after six minutes of play.

Markus Pastorcic-Straun's layup pushed the lead into double-digits for the first time at 11 the next trip down the floor, but Westminster managed to claw their way back even on the strength of a 14-2 run from 11:38 to 7:32 as a Tyler Kurtz jumper tied things at 24. Following a steal by Sam Beskind, Juani Dassie swished a mid-range jumper with 6:30 to play to retake the lead for good. Back-to-back three-pointers from Cade Mankle and Deng were sandwiched around a jumper from Sterling Pierce as the lead moved back to eight at 34-26. Alex Romack's driving layup in the final two minutes made it a 10-point game as the Orediggers led 38-28 going to the break.

The Griffins scored seven of the first nine points in the second half and got back within five at 40-35 following a three ball from Pierce, but Schroeder and Deng helped stem the surge by the visitors as they scored the next nine points, seven coming from the big man including an exclamation point of a dunk with 14:42 to play to make it 49-40 and bring the crowd to their feet.

Pastorcic-Straun pushed the lead back to 11 at 53-42 with 12:06 to play, setting off a sequence of makes from both teams that ended with three-straight makes from Mines, including fall away floater from Grant Pressly, a driving layup from the freshman out of Ontario off a steal by Dassie and capped by another trey from Deng that made it a 16-point game with 8:44 left at 62-46.

The lead hit 18 when Pastorcic-Straun recorded a steal and score of his own and set off another back-and-forth sequence that was capped with a three from the top of the arc by Schroeder to make it a 19-point game with 4:22 left at 71-52. Beskind finally broke into the scoring column, charging into the paint with a full head a steam to lay one on and give Mines their biggest lead of the night at 75-52. Westminster closed the scoring with a layup in the final minute as it did little to affect the result as the Orediggers picked up the win.

NOTABLES
-Deng led all players with 26 points, going 7-15 from the floor including 3-5 from deep and was a perfect 9-9 from the stripe; he also pulled down a career-high eight rebounds
-Schroeder finished with 13 points on 6-8 shooting and added three rebounds
-Pastorcic-Straun delivered off the bench for the third time this season, going for 10 points on a perfect 5-5 shooting with rebound and a steal
-Romack hauled down 10 rebounds including four offensive boards for his fourth double-digit rebounding game of the season and also added 10 points and a steal, turning in his second double-double
-Beskind dished out a career-high 10 assists in the game and added two steals, a block and four rebounds
-Mankle had eight points including a pair of treys and logged four assists
-Adam Krasovec also set a new career high with four assists in 12 minutes off the bench
-Nine different players scored for Mines who shots .484 (30-62) for the game including .531 (17-32) in the second half
-Defensively the Orediggers forced 16 turnovers and collected eight steals

LAST MATCHUP: BHSU vs. COLORADO SCHOOL OF MINES (March 11, 2023)
CANYON, Texas - Black Hills State men's basketball used a huge second half to defeat No. 3 Colorado School of Mines, 68-48, in Saturday's South Central Region quarterfinal matchup.

The Yellow Jackets (26-5, 18-4 RMAC) outscored CSM, 39-17 in the second half and held them to 0-10 from beyond the arc.

Joel Scott was one of four in double-digit scoring with 13 points along with nine rebounds.

PJ Hayes and Matthew Ragsdale each finished with 12 points while Hayes totaled eight rebounds and Ragsdale grabbed four.

Sindou Cisse went 5-of-13 from the floor, scoring 10, and also dished a team-high four assists.

Jaeton Hackley totaled eight points and five rebounds, Caelin Hearne scored seven and Ryker Cisarik scored six.

After a 5-5 start, CSM moved out front 11-5 before the Yellow Jackets began inching back. A hook from Hackley and a pair of second-chance buckets from Cisarik pulled BHSU to within 20-16 midway through the first.

Both teams went cold until an Oredigger three extended their lead to 23-16 with 6:32 before halftime. A Hayes triple snapped the Yellow Jackets' scoring drought at 5:37 to make it 25-19 before a Cisse step-back and a Hearne 3-pointer made it a one-possession game, 27-24 in the final minutes of the first.

After the final media break of the opening half, back-to-back layups from Scott and Cisarik gave the Yellow Jackets their first lead, 28-27, since the opening shot of the game. CSM would use a 4-1 spurt from there to hold a 31-29 lead into halftime.

Out of the locker room, BHSU put up eight unanswered behind a Ragsdale trey put BHSU up 37-31 with under 16 minutes remaining. The Yellow Jackets extended their lead to 44-36 using big steals from Hackley, Cisarik and Hayes while the offense saw a Hearne layup and Hackley 3-pointer fall through.

BHSU added on from there with another Hayes three and free throws from Hayes and Scott, stretching the lead to 55-43 with under seven to play.

That turned into a 15-1 run using a pair of Ragsdale jumpers and a Scott dunk, giving the Yellow Jackets their first 20-point lead, 64-44 with 3:51 remaining.

That margin held the rest of the way with a pair of Scott layups as BHSU went on to win 68-48.

Notes
-As a program, the Yellow Jackets are 5-1 all time in NCAA Tournament play.
-With nine rebounds, Joel Scott now sits at 945 for his career, 55 shy of 1,000.
-Scott and Ragsdale have combined for 1,123 points so far this season, giving them the most combined points by a pair of NCAA teammates who were also high school teammates, surpassing 1,047 scored by Dick and Tom Van Arsdale at Indiana in the 1963-64 season.

YELLOW JACKETS' LAST TIME OUT
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – John Shanklin and Ronnail Tape each posted career-high scoring nights as two of the four players for the Black Hills State men's basketball team to score double figures on their way to a 67-56 victory over the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs on Saturday evening at the Gallogly Events Center. Joining the duo in double-digits was Matthew Ragsdale and Hoku Fisher as the Yellow Jackets grabbed their first conference win of the season.

With the win BHSU improves to 3-5 and come away with a split in their opening weekend of conference competition. The Mountain Lions fell to 4-4 after getting swept in their opening weekend of RMAC play.

Ragsdale did a little bit of everything for the Yellow Jacket in this one. He shook off a quiet first half to lead the team in scoring with 16 points in addition to four assists, also a team high.

Tape recorded a new career-best 13 points on five-of seven shooting, three-for-five from long range. He also corralled four rebounds.

Fisher contributed a baker's dozen as well with 11 of those points coming in the second half. He went 4-10 from the field, but did make all four of his attempts at the charity stripe.

Shanklin posted a career-best 12 points on six-of-eight shooting. He was also one of four Yellow Jackets to grab five rebounds to lead the team alongside Fisher, Caelin Hearne, and Deegan Williams.

Xavier Martinez led all players with 17 points on the night shooting 7-13. He also added three assists and three rebounds.

Jesse Iweze had a career-high 16 points on six-for-nine shooting, but he also turned the ball over six times for the Mountain Lions.

Mac Stodart rounded out players in double-figures posting a double-double with 13 points and ten boards.

Black Hills State posted a .481/.438/.800 shooting line to out-pace the Mountain Lions' slash of .385/.381/.500. They also finished with a 21-9 edge in points off turnovers, 32-10 in the paint, 13-2 on the fast break, and 25-7 in points off the bench.

UCCS exploded out of the gates as Iweze hit a three on each of their first two possessions then split a pair of free throws. Iweze then set up Stodart for a straight-away three and Stodart made a layup and the hosts led by a dozen before people had settled into their seats. Tape halted the run with a triple at the 16:25 mark and it seemed to be a steadying play for the Yellow Jackets. BHSU's defense found some traction forcing a trio of turnovers as their offense got going. Tape hit another three before Shanklin and Jackson Edman each got short jump-hooks to fall in a 10-0 run to get back in the game. Five-straight points by the Mountain Lions brought the game to the under-12 media timeout with the score 17-10.

The two squads would split first ten points out of the timeout before Black Hills State made a run once more. An 11-0 stretch thrust the Yellow Jackets into the lead with Shanklin contributing the tying and go-ahead scores. Stodart hit a long ball to get UCCS within one point with 5:14 remaining in the frame. Tape would record the only two tallies by either team from that point on in the half, and the score was 28-25 at the break.

After the Mountain Lions made each of their first four attempts from the field and began three-of-three from deep on their game-opening run, they managed to just shoot 5-20 the rest of the half, including two-for-six from distance. They also left a lot of points on the court by only making two of their seven free throw attempts.

BHSU meanwhile, shot 37.9% as a team in the first frame, and 40.0% from deep.

The Yellow Jackets got a big boost from their second unit in the first half with Tape leading the team in scoring with eight points in the half on three-of-five shooting, two-of-three from three-point range. Shanklin added six off the pine for BHSU, giving them a 14-5 edge in bench points. Ragsdale served as a facilitator with four assists in the stanza.

Stodart paced the Mountain Lions with eight points and six rebounds. Iweze added seven with all of those points coming in the first two minutes of the contest.

Fisher got involved early in the second half as he opened the frame with a three off the left wing. UCCS got four-straight points before another Fisher score and a Shanklin layup brought the score to 35-29. The hosts countered with an 11-2 stretch that included a quartet of points from the charity stripe and suddenly, the Mountain Lions had the lead again at the under-12 break, 40-37.

Ragsdale scored five-straight out of the timeout to claim the lead and another Fisher hoop got the Yellow Jackets advantage to four. UCCS would hang around and a Stodart triple with 6:39 remaining gave the hosts a one-point advantage again. Ragsdale quickly answered with a jump hook on the other end, and they would never trail again. A Hearne basket and five-straight from Tape opened the lead to eight. They would maintain that edge until the 70-second mark when Shanklin corralled a loose ball and laid it in to extend the lead to double-digits. The Mountain Lions got within seven on a couple of occasions down the stretch, but BHSU made their free throws to ensure they did not make it a two-possession game and clinched the victory, 67-56.

Black Hills State was outstanding in the second half, shooting 60.0% from the field, making half of their six three-point attempts, and six-of-eight from the line to pull away. UCCS shot 39.3% in the stanza but went 3-12 on their attempts from distance.

Ragsdale and Fisher were both critical in the second half of play scoring 11 each to lead BHSU in the stanza. Ragsdale added four caroms in the frame to lead the team.

Martinez did his best to bring UCCS back, scoring a dozen, but it was not enough in the defeat.

Black Hills State will be back in action on Friday night when they have their first home RMAC contest of the season, hosting #8/11 Metropolitan State University of Denver on Friday night. Tipoff is set for 7:00 PM.

MATCHUP HISTORY
The Yellow Jackets are 8-15 all-time against MSUD but they are currently riding their longest winning streak in the history of the matchup as the victors in each of the past five showdowns. BHSU swept the season series last year, winning 84-62 in Denver in December, then 89-57 in Spearfish in February. The Yellow Jackets have also won seven of the last eight meetings against the Roadrunners, with the lone loss in that span being an 84-83 defeat on January 29, 2021.

Black Hills State is 7-14 all-time against the Colorado School of Mines, however BHSU has won the last four showdowns between them including all three clashes during the 2022-23 campaign. In the first matchup last season in December down in Golden, the Yellow Jackets erased a seven-point deficit with under two minutes to play before outlasting the Orediggers in overtime, 85-77. BHSU then handled Mines in the last two matchups, winning 85-66 in Spearfish, then 68-48 in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament in Canyon, Texas.

A BHSU WIN WOULD...
VS. MSUD: Improve BHSU to 7-6 against nationally-ranked opponents in the regular season in the Coach-Thompson Era, including 5-2 over the past two seasons.

Also, be BHSU's fifth-straight win in against MSUD, their longest ever head-to-head against the Roadrunners.

VS. MINES: Be BHSU's fifth-straight win against Mines, their longest ever head-to-head against the Orediggers.

Also, (if paired with MSUD win) get BHSU back to .500 for the first time since splitting their opening weekend in the Yellow Jacket Conference Challenge.

Also, make BHSU 3-1 on Saturdays this season.

A BHSU LOSS WOULD...
VS. MSUD: Be their first loss to the Roadrunners since falling to MSUD, 84-83 on January 29, 2021.

Also, be the team's first 3-6 start since 2016-17.

Also, make BHSU 0-4 on Fridays this season.

VS. MINES: (Depending on MSUD result) Be the team's first 4-6 start since the 2016-17 season, or first 3-7 start since 2014-15, and drop BHSU four games below .500 since finishing 2016-17 ten games below .500.

CAUGHT A BIG FISH(ER)
With his 13 points against UCCS, Fisher has scored 10+ in three of the last five games and four of seven. He has scored 77 points so far this season, already eclipsing his total of 72 from his freshman season (20 games played).

He is averaging 11.2 PPG over his last five, adding 4.6 rebounds and settling in as the team's primary point guard averaging 2.0 assists with a 10/7 AST/TO ratio (4/8 over his first three games).

SHANKLIN'S SURGE
Playing as a reserve for the first time all season, John Shanklin thrived, scoring 20 points across the team's two games last weekend including a career-best 12 against UCCS. His highest scoring total in any two-game span prior to this season was 12 (twice) and his 42 total points this year matches his 2022-23 total.

THE NEW JOEL
In his four games as a starter this season, Joel Speckman is averaging 10.0 points and 5.5 rebounds (2.0 offensive) per game shooting .586 (17-29) in those games.

He averages just 3.25 points and 3.75 rebounds as a reserve.

SECOND UNIT STEPPING UP
An adjustment to the BHSU starting five last weekend resulted in a significant boost in production from the Yellow Jackets' bench as they contributed 26 and 25 points against Regis and UCCS respectively.

Black Hills State averaged just 13.3 points per game from their second unit prior to last weekend, with a season-high of 19 (vs. Augustana).

RECENT TRENDS
- Deployed as a reserve for the first time this season, Ronnail Tape averaged 11.5 PPG shooting .643 (9-14) from the field and .555 (5-9) from three across two games last weekend.

- Since missing two games with injury, John Shanklin has averaged 8.5 points and 6.0 rebounds across his last four games. He has shot .667 (14-21) from the field in that span and is 6-6 from the free throw line.

-Caelin Hearne is averaging 10.6 points and 4.0 rebounds per game over his last five games. (6.0 and 2.3 respectively prior). He also had a season-high three assists in both games last weekend. 

AGAINST MSUD
- Matthew Ragsdale averages 17.0 PPG in four career starts vs. MSUD. He scored 18 points on 6-7 from three (6-11 overall) in the second matchup last season.

- Hoku Fisher scored nine points and distributed four assists in the second matchup last season, both ended up being tied for his single-game high in those categories.

AGAINST MINES
- Matthew Ragsdale averages 19.25 points per game across eight career games against Colorado Mines, the most against any team he's played six-or-more times. He has shot .505 from the field in those games. His .491 three-point shooting percentage vs. Colorado Mines is his highest against any RMAC team besides BHSU (.556).

- In the second of the three matchups between BHSU and Colorado Mines, Hoku Fisher recorded nine points and six rebounds shooting 3-7 from three-point range.

COACHES
Head coach Ryan Thompson is entering his sixth season leading the Yellow Jackets, having taken the program to back-to-back NCAA DII Final Fours, and the RMAC tournament each of the last five years.

A Denver native, Dan Ficke is in his second season coaching the Roadrunners after spending three seasons as the bench boss for Division II Belmont Abbey (N.C.) compiling a 61-25 record appearing in the Conference Carolinas Championship game all three years, winning the last two. In his first season with MSUD, he led the Roadrunners to a 12-17 record (9-13 RMAC, 7th place).

Pryor Orser is in his 23rd season coaching Colorado Mines. A DII coaching legend, Orser owns a 421-218 career record entering this season and has led the Orediggers to a winning record in 19-straight seasons. He is the all-time winningest coach in program history, and his 300-152 record has him standing with the second-most RMAC wins in the history of the conference. Mines has accumulated five RMAC regular season championships, two tournament championships, 12 NCAA Tournament berths, and two Elite Eight appearances with Orser at the helm.