This Week's Matchup
UCCS Men's Basketball (17-7, 12-6 RMAC) closes out the road portion of their conference schedule this week by visiting Denver, Colo. to battle Colorado Christian University on Friday, Feb. 18 and Metropolitan State University of Denver on Saturday, Feb. 19. Friday's game against CCU is slated for a 7 p.m. tip-off with Saturday's game versus MSU Denver scheduled for 7 p.m.
 
Game Coverage
Live Stream: https://www.rmacnetwork.com/gomountainlions/
Live Stats at CCU: https://ccucougars.com/sidearmstats/mbball/summary
Live Stats at MSU Denver: https://roadrunnersathletics.com/sidearmstats/mbball/summary
 
Last Time Out

• The Mountain Lions came off a big conference weekend where they claimed wins against Black Hills State University and Chadron State College to slide up in the conference standings.
• The dominant weekend started with a 92-63 statement win over the Yellow Jackets on Friday night that had four Mountain Lions reach double-digit points along with five Mountain Lions who nabbed three steals to help combine for 17 total steals on the night. Jon'il Fugett was the leading scorer by dropping 19 points with Cameron Underwood pacing UCCS' bench unit with 14 points. As a team, UCCS shot a lights out 65.63 percent from the field in the second half to drive a 50.8 field-goal percentage for the game.
• UCCS followed up their 29-point victory of Black Hills State with a 19-point win against Chadron State with the Mountain Lions outscoring the Eagles 52-31 in the closing half after trailing by two heading into halftime. Another impressive second half shooting performance came UCCS' way as they shot 60.61 percent from the field with the Mountain Lions' uptick in double-digit scorers increasing to five. Both Mac Stodart and Wyatt Dolberry notched 10 points with Alijah Comithier going 9-of-12 from the field and 6-of-8 from the free throw line to post 24 points in the win.  

RMAC Records/Standings

• With the top four teams set to host an RMAC Quarterfinal game, the Mountain Lions put themselves back in conention of hosting a first-round game by sitting in fifth at a 12-6 RMAC record.
• BHSU have lost their last three games to move to a conference record of 14-4 as the Yellow Jackets remain atop the standings in first place. Colorado Mesa University (19-8, 13-5 RMAC) found themselves in a new position at No. 2 by riding a four-game win streak past Regis University who slides back to fourth at a 17-6 overall record and 12-5 RMAC record. New in the top-4 is Fort Lewis College who grabs the third spot at a 15-7 overall record and 11-5 RMAC record.

The Series

• Since Head Coach Jeff Culver's first season at UCCS in 2012-13, the Mountain Lions own a winning of 7-6 against CCU as UCCS won the previous meeting earlier in the season at a score of 84-77 on Jan. 22 inside Gallogly Events Center.
• Against MSU Denver, the Mountain Lions have won the last three matchups with the most recent win happening earlier this season with a 67-64 win at home on Jan. 21. Overall, UCCS and Culver trail in the all-time series 10-12.

Scouting Colorado Christian

• CCU (7-17, 4-14 RMAC) are 11^th in the RMAC Standings and have lost their last four games, including losses to Fort Lewis College and South Dakota Mines last weekend.  
• Offensively, the Cougars are holding onto a -4.3 scoring margin where they are being outscored on average 75.1 to 70.8. CCU is last in the leaguefor field-goal percentage at 42.9 percent but flip that by recording the best team three-point percentage in the conference at 38.4 percent with an RMAC high 9.9 treys made per game.
• The Cougars are also making up for their shooting percentage from the field by recording the RMAC's second highest free throw percentage at 76.2 percent.
• Senior guard Ross Williams has been the key centerpiece for the Cougars by averaging 19.2 points per game which ranks as the fifth-best scoring average in the RMAC. His RMAC leading 3.0 three-pointers per game and top-10 three-point percentage of 41.4 percent (seventh in RMAC) has helped bring in three double-doubles on the year. Williams is the only Cougar to play and start all 24 games as he also holds the team lead in total steals (23).
• Senior DJ McDonald represents the second Cougar to hold a long-range shooting percentage north of 40 percent (41.0) as he's averaging 14.1 points per game while shooting 41.6 percent from the field and owning the team lead in assists (57).
• CCU's Isaiah Alonzo has helped the Cougars in rebounding by averaging 6.7 per game for the fifth highest average in the league as he adds a scoring average of 9.7 and 11 blocks for the team high.

Scouting MSU Denver

• MSU Denver (16-8, 10-8 RMAC) currently sits in seventh place and heads into this weekend on a three-game winning streak after notching a win over CCU and South Dakota mines last week.
• As a defense, the Roadrunners are allowing the fourth lowest scoring average of 70.5 while holding opponents to the fourth lowest field-goal percentage in the league at 43.2 percent.
• MSU Denver is fifth in the RMAC in rebounding with an average of 35.7 rebounds per game as they post the third most offensive rebounds per game (11.9) and seventh most defensive rebounds per game (26.3).
• From an offensive standpoint, the Roadrunners are scoring 75.3 points per game behind a 45.9 percent field-goal percentage, 35.3 percent three-point percentage, and 70.8 percent free throw percentage.
• Individually, MSU Denver scoring is paced by senior guard Ra'Shawn Langston who is averaging 15.1 per game with a 50.0 field-goal percentage and team leading 82.5 percent from the charity line.
• Sophomore forward Laolu Oke has been the difference maker for the Roadrunners this season as the eight-time RMAC Defensive Player of the week is amongst the top in the nation in rebounding (fourth, 11.3 per game) and doubles-doubles (sixth, 14). With the second-best field-goal percentage in the RMAC and sixth best in the nation at 66.4 percent, Oke is averaging 14.6 points along with his 11.3 rebounds per game to average a double-double per game.
• From three-point, junior guard Tyrei Randall has been the Roadrunner's long-range threat by shooting 42.3 percent for the sixth best three-point percentage in the conference as he's averaging 2.4 three-pointers and 12.9 points per game.

Hot Takes

• At an assist turnover ratio of 1.34, UCCS leads the RMAC as the Mountain Lions have gone to dish out a league high 16.8 assists per game.
• The Mountain Lions' season high 17 steals against Black Hills State was the most in a single since Nov. 26, 2018 when they recorded 23 against Colorado College. UCCS has now registered four or more steals in seven straight contests.
• UCCS' bench unit stepped up big last weekend as they were responsible for 65 total points with Cameron Underwood, Mac Stodart, and Wyatt Dolberry all reaching double-digit points for a combined 16 times this season.
• An RMAC best scoring margin of +13.0 belongs to the Mountain Lions who are scoring the league's second most points per game (82.4) while also holding the opposition to the conference's third lowest scoring average (69.4)
• Shutting down the three-point ball has been a strength for the Mountain Lions as they have limited the opposition to the RMAC's second lowest three-point percentage (31.6).
• Jon'il Fugett took over the team lead in assists after claiming 10 over the weekend as he now has 79 on the year for the seventh most in the RMAC. Fugett has also bumped up his scoring average to 13.8 points per game as he's shooting a team high 40.5 percent from beyond the arc.
• Freshman guard Jezza McKenzie has turned it on down the stretch with five consecutive double-digit games including a pair of 17-point games last weekend after shooting an impressive 13-of-21 from the field.
• Alijah Comithier is now fourth in the RMAC in scoring at 19.5 points per game as the sophomore posts a percentage of 53.9 from the field for the sixth best percentage in the conference.
• With an average of 8.7 three-pointers per game, UCCS is tied for the third highest average in the conference as they've knocked down nine or more three-pointers in eight of the last nine games. When the Mountain Lions have managed to make 10 or more threes this season, they boast a perfect 9-0 record.
• Rebounding is a category that UCCS has dominated in all season long by registering a rebound margin of +9.5 off an average of 40.9 rebounds per game and 31.4 rebounds allowed per game. The margin ranks third in Division II with UCCS' defensive rebounds per game (29.04) and total rebounds (982) ranking ninth in the country.

UCCS Under Head Coach Jeff Culver

• Jeff Culver, who led UCCS to its first RMAC championship in program history, is in his 10th season as the Head Coach of the University of Colorado Colorado Springs men's basketball program in 2021-22. He's coached the only NBA Draft pick and the only All-Americans in program history in the past eight years.
• In 10 seasons as head coach, Culver holds a .562 winning percentage with a 155-118 overall record that includes, seven RMAC Tournament appearances, one RMAC Tournament Championship, a 5-6 RMAC Tournament record, two NCAA Tournament appearances, and a 1-2 NCAA Tournament record.

Award Winners

• The RMAC announced the 2021-22 RMAC All-Academic Teams on Jan. 31.  Three total Mountains were named to the conference all-academic team:
  • Geoff Kelly (4.00 GPA, MBA), RMAC All-Academic First Team
  • Noah Baca (3.486 GPA, Exercise Science), RMAC All-Academic Honor Roll
  • Bobby Martin (3.526 GPA, Sociology), RMAC All-Academic Honor Roll

Upcoming Games

• UCCS Men's Basketball will wrap-up the regular season next week by hosting a couple of mid-week games. The Mountain Lions start with New Mexico Highlands University on Tuesday, Feb. 22 and finish with South Dakota School of Mines on Thursday, Feb. 24 for Senior Night.

 
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As a member of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs competes in 16 varsity sports in NCAA Division II intercollegiate athletics.