STEPHENVILLE, Texas – The No. 10 University of Colorado Colorado Springs will be in the side of the bracket with three nationally-ranked teams and face No. 13 Colorado School of Mines in the First Round of the 2015 NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Tournament. The Mountain Lions (26-5) and Orediggers (23-4) will tip at 7:30 p.m., MDT, at Wisdom Gymnasium on the campus of Tarleton State University.
UCCS is in the national tournament for the second straight year and qualified as the RMAC Tournament champions. The Mountain Lions have won a program-record 26 games and are the No. 4 seed in the South Central Region. It's an improvement of four positions from last year's seed.
Colorado Mines is coming in after a long layoff from its RMAC Quarterfinal loss on March 3 against Adams State. The Orediggers were the conference co-champions with MSU Denver, who earned the No. 2 seed this weekend and will play on the opposite side of the bracket.
Derrick White was named the Tournament Most Valuable Player and averaged 31.2 points, 8.3 rebounds and 7 assists in the three victories against Colorado Mesa, Adams State and MSU Denver. He is leading Division II with 782 points and 256 free throws, and is third with 25.2 points per game. White is 50 points away from tying the RMAC single season scoring record of 832 points set by Colorado Mesa's Jon Baskin in the 1990-91 season.
The Mountain Lions have set season records in scoring with 2,518 points and is ninth in the nation with 86.9 points per game. UCCS is seventh in the nation with 50.6 percent from the field, but Colorado Mines leads the nation with 53.2 percent this season. The Orediggers haven't shot less than 50 percent from the field in more than a month and has shot better than 60 percent in five games.
The winner between the Mountain Lions and Orediggers will face the winner between No. 7 Tarleton State and Saint Mary's. Those two teams will tip off in the 6 p.m., MDT, game, before the UCCS and Colorado Mines game.
Fans will be able to follow tonight's game for free with live stats, live audio and live video. The game will also be shown live at Clyde's, located on the lower level of the University Center on the UCCS campus.
