DURANGO, Colo. – The University of Colorado Colorado Springs men's basketball team (7-5, 4-1 RMAC) will take a four-game win streak to No. 20 Fort Lewis (9-1, 4-1 RMAC) for a Friday afternoon game and to Adams State (4-6, 3-2 RMAC) for a Saturday night game to open the 2016 calendar year. Friday's game will start at 2 p.m., and Saturday's will start at 7 p.m., and both games will be carried live for free with video and audio through the UCCS portal on Stretch Internet.
UCCS and Fort Lewis are tied with MSU Denver for second in the RMAC standings, and the three teams are one game behind New Mexico Highlands. The Skyhawks are 5-0 at home this season, including a 64-53 win against Colorado Mines on Dec. 11.
The Mountain Lions are leading the RMAC and are No. 33 in Division II with 49.5 percent from the field this season. The team is nearly three percentage points ahead of the conference's second-best shooting team in Colorado Mines. UCCS is also outrebounding opponents by an average of 7.2 per game, nearly double Black Hills State's mark of 3.8 per game for the RMAC's second-best performance.
Alex Welsh's 19.8 points per game is sixth in the conference, and he's one of three Mountain Lions averaging more than 10 points per game. Six Mountain Lions are shooting 50 percent or better from the field and
Dalton Patten leads the conference with 59.4 percent among those who met the minimum per-game requirements.
Blend Avdili is the only freshman in the RMAC in the top 15 of field goal shooting and is fourth overall with 56.9 percent.
The Skyhawks are No. 20 in the latest National Association of Basketball Coaches Poll, are receiving votes in the national media poll and are sixth in the regional media poll. Fort Lewis has won has won its last seven home games since the Mountain Lions won 90-75 on Feb. 14, 2015. UCCS has won the last there meetings overall against Fort Lewis since Feb. 15, 2014.
Fort Lewis is defeating opponents by more than 12 points per game and has the second-best scoring defense with 68.9 points per game. Rasmus Bach leads a balanced scoring effort with 16.1 points per game and Will More is averaging 13 points per game as the sixth man. Jared Smith averages six rebounds per game in a balanced rebounding performance by the Skyhawks this season.
Adams State is 2-1 at home in RMAC play this season with new Head Coach Russ Caton, who was the Head Coach at UCCS from the 2006-07 season through 2011-12 seasons. The Grizzlies are shooting nearly 40 percent from the three-point line and are fourth in the RMAC with 3.2 blocks per game. Shakir Smith is second in the conference with 22.1 points per game and third with 89.6 percent at the free throw line.
