This Week's Matchup
UCCS Men's Basketball is slated to host their regular season finales this week as the Mountain Lions get set to battle New Mexico Highlands University on Tuesday, Feb. 22 and South Dakota School of Mines and Technology on Thursday, Feb. 24 for Senior Night. Both games inside Gallogly Events Center are scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
 
Game Coverage
Live Stream: https://www.rmacnetwork.com/gomountainlions/
Live Stats: https://gomountainlions.com/sidearmstats/mbball/summary
 
Black Out Night
After nearly a two-year absence, Black Out Night returns to UCCS in an abbreviated fashion.  The Mountain Lions will hold two Black Out Nights on Feb. 22 against New Mexico Highlands and Feb. 24 against South Dakota Mines. The first 500 UCCS students each night will receive a free Black Out t-shirt.
 
Last Time Out

• The Mountain Lions extended their win streak to four games over the weekend after posting wins over Colorado Christian University and Metropolitan State University of Denver on the road.
• On Friday, UCCS trailed by 11 points coming out of halftime against CCU and mounted an impressive comeback that included a game-tying three-pointer at the buzzer from Alijah Comithier to send it into overtime. The Mountain Lions had all of the momentum in OT as they came out with the 95-90 win over the Cougars after shooting 46.9 percent as a team from the field, of which included a career high double-double performance from Comithier who shot 16-of-24 for 46 points and 15 rebounds to eclipse 1,000 career points.
• The next night, UCCS grabbed an early lead over the Roadrunners that the Mountain Lions would not relinquish for over 38 minutes of play as they came out on top, 79-70. UCCS was hard to stop in the contest as they shot a red-hot 50.8 percent from the field, 52.4 percent from three-point, and 80 percent from the free throw line. Four different Mountain Lions worked their way into double-digits with Comithier once again being an offensive force by scoring 29 points on 11-of-19 from the field.

 
RMAC Records/Standings

• After a 2-0 weekend, the Mountain Lions move into fourth place and currently place themselves in line to host an RMAC Quarterfinal game next week.
• BHSU (17-7, 15-4 RMAC) and Colorado Mesa University (21-8, 15-5 RMAC) remain in first and second place, respectively. Fort Lewis College (18-7, 14-5 RMAC) moves up to third place as Regis University (17-8, 12-7 RMAC) slides back to fifth place.
• The RMAC Tournament is slated to begin next week on Tuesday, Mar. 1 with the RMAC Quarterfinals as the top-8 teams in the standings make the tournament.  

 
The Series

• Since Head Coach Jeff Culver's first season at UCCS in 2012-13, the Mountain Lions own a winning record of 11-3 against NMHU with UCCS winning the last matchup at a score of 82-78 over the Cowboys on Jan. 25, 2022 in Las Vegas, N.M.
• In the 13-game series against the Hardrockers with Culver at the helm, the Mountain Lions hold the advantage at 8-5 having won the previous matchup on Jan. 29 of this year at a final score of 69-61 in Rapid City, S.D.

 
Scouting New Mexico Highlands

• The Cowboys (9-11, 14-12 RMAC) come off a 1-1 weekend on the road where they claimed a win against MSU Denver, 89-68, while falling to CCU, 64-76.
• NMHU still maintains one of the top offenses in the conference with an 81.5 scoring average as the Cowboys are allowing the fourth highest scoring average to opponents at 77.1 points per game for a scoring margin of +4.3 that is fifth in the RMAC.
• Defensively, the Cowboys are consistently causing turnovers with the third highest average in the league at 15.0 turnovers per game that's backed by 7.23 steals per game and 3.58 blocks per game which ties for the fourth most in the league in both categories.
• Individually, senior Sammy Barnes-Thompkins is top-5 in scoring average in the conference with 19.5 points per game. The native of Phoenix, Ariz. is shooting 42.1 percent from the field and a team high, and RMAC's seventh highest, free-throw percentage of 83.3.
• Fellow senior Desmond Carpenter has gotten the job done on both sides of the ball for NMHU as Carpenter posts 68 steals for a 2.6 per game average with both ranking as the best in the RMAC. Offensively, Carpenter is averaging 15.2 points per game while shooting 42.9 percent from the field and 32.4 percent from long range.
• Both Carpenter and senior Marcus Brown are the only two Cowboys to start all 26 games as they each are shooting above 40 percent from the field with Brown shooting 43.2 percent.
• In 24 games played and started, Andre Adams has been the leader in rebounds and field-goal percentage for the Cowboys by averaging 5.5 rebounds per game and shooting an RMAC best 69.0 percent from the field.

 
Scouting South Dakota Mines

• South Dakota School of Mines (9-7, 7-13 RMAC) heads into this week also having split their conference games from the weekend after defeating Chadron State College, 79-67, and dropping a 65-79 result to Black Hills State University.
• The Hardrockers are currently scoring the least number of points per game with an average of 67.0 points per game while they hold the opposition to the sixth least amount of points in the conference at 73.0 for a scoring margin of -6.0.
• From the field, the Hardrockers are shooting 43.3 percent but they bounce back with the second highest three-pointers made average in the RMAC of 9.0 as the Hardrockers hold a long range percentage of 36.7 percent for fourth best in the conference.  
• South Dakota Mines has three student-athletes that are currently averaging double-digit points with Brevin Walter, Alejandro Rama, and Kolten Mortensen all posting scoring averages of 16.5, 15.2, and 14.5, respectively.
• Mortensen carries his 14.5 scoring average off a field-goal percentage of 53.6 that ranks eighth in the RMAC as the junior is also registering the league's fourth best rebounding average of 7.7 per game.
• At a three-point shooting average of 44.0 percent, Rama paces the Hardrockers and the RMAC as he also averages 2.7 threes per game for the fourth most in the RMAC

 
Hot Takes

• In the last 11 games, UCCS is an astounding 10-1 with an impressive home record of 8-3. In that span, the Mountain Lions have shot over 45 percent nine times and over 50 percent five different times.
• UCCS maintains the highest assist turnover ratio in the conference at 1.34 as their RMAC best assist per game average of 16.7 ranks 24^th in Division II. Four different Mountain Lions have registered over 50 assists on the season including, Jon'il Fugett (87), Parker Gaddis (77), Jezza McKenzie (55), and Geoff Kelly (52).
• The Mountain Lions were out-rebounded for just the second time this season in the win over MSU Denver (30-38), but UCCS still holds onto the conference's rebounding crown with the 10^th highest defensive rebound average in the nation (29.04), RMAC's top offensive rebounds per game average (11.50), the 19^th best rebounding margin in DII (+12.5), and the 11^th most rebounds in the nation (1,054).
• As one of the best rebounding teams in the country, UCCS has four Mountain Lions in the triple digits for rebounds including Alijah Comithier (162, 6.5 RPG), William Becker (113, 5.9 RPG), McKenzie (125, 4.8 RPG), and Wyatt Dolberry (107, 4.1 RPG).
• The Mountain Lions have managed to shoot 48.2 percent from the field this season to rank top-5 in the RMAC (fifth) with Comithier recording a team leading 55.0 percent while averaging 21.0 points per game for the third highest scoring average in the conference.
• Opponents have turned the ball over 51 times against UCCS in the past four games with Fugett leading that charge with a team high 40 steals. Fugett is also second on the team in scoring with 13.1 points per game as he posts a field-goal percentage of 45.1 and a team best 41.0 from beyond the arc.
• Comithier's 46-point game on Friday ties for the second most points scored in a single game in program history (Jack Bain, Feb. 17, 2004).

 
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 157-118 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

• Alijah Comithier registered his second and third conference player of the week honor this season after being tabbed RMAC Offensive and Defensive Player of the Week.
  • Comithier did it all this weekend as UCCS' newest 1,000 point member was an offensive force by averaging a stellar 37.5 points per game and 11.5 rebounds per game on 62.8 shooting from the field and 62.5 percent from beyond the arc. The sophomore started out by registering a career high 46 points and 15 rebounds for a double-double that included a game-tying three at the buzzer against Colorado Christian University to force overtime. Comithier shot an impressive 66.7 percent from the field as he netted 36 points in the second half and overtime combined while recording two blocks and a steal to help seal the win. The next night, Comithier continued to dominate the floor with eight rebounds and 29 points as he added another block and steal to the stat sheet to help lift the Mountain Lions past MSU Denver for a 2-0 weekend.

 
Admission at UCCS Home Games

• General admission tickets will be available one hour before game time (cash only).
• Ticket Prices:
  • Adults: $10
  • Non-UCCS students (with student ID), children ages 13-17: $5
  • Military members, seniors (age 55+): $3
  • UCCS faculty, staff, students (with ID), children ages 0-12, UCCS Alumni Association members: Free
• Masks are required at all times indoors.

 
Face Coverings

• Per campus policy, all students, faculty, staff and visitors on the UCCS campus are REQUIRED to wear a face covering while indoors, regardless of vaccination status.

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.