DENVER, Colo. - Fresh off a hard-fought win over Regis, the Chaps close out the Conference Challenge event in Denver, facing an old foe in RV Colorado School of Mines.

No. 16/24 Lubbock Christian (1-0) vs RV Colorado School of Mines (1-0)
Saturday, Nov. 12 - 5 PM CT
Denver, Colo. - Regis Fieldhouse

NEED TO KNOW
- LCU is coming off a 66-59 win over Regis on Friday. LCU hauled in 40 rebounds and scored 12 second-chance points
- Junior guard Rowan Mackenzie was named an LSC Player to Watch after averaging 11.4 points per game and 4.6 rebounds last season
- The LCU roster features nine newcomers. Six of those are true freshman, two are Junior College transfers and one is a grad transfer from Louisiana Monroe
- The Chaps are ranked no. 16 and no. 24 in the national polls
- Colorado School of Mines is 1-0 after defeating St. Mary's 87-65.
- LCU was picked third in the Lone Star Conference coaches poll

AN HISTORIC SEASON
The Chaps are coming off another historic season, starting the year 20-0 and climbing to no. 1 in the national rankings on the way to claiming a second straight LSC Regular Season Championship. LCU earned the no. 1 seed in the South Central Region, hosting the first three rounds of the NCAA DII Tournament at the Rip Griffin Center before falling to Colorado Mesa in the second round. The Chaps had six members of the Lubbock Christian University men's basketball team were recognized with Lone Star Conference postseason awards, including Parker Hicks being named the league's Player of the Year for the second straight season.
Joining Hicks on the the All-LSC First Team was teammate Lloyd Daniels. Aamer Muhammad was an All-LSC Second Team selection, Rowan Mackenzie was an All-LSC Honorable Mention pick, and Aaron Gonzales was picked for the All-Freshman Team. Head coach Todd Duncan repeated as the league's Coach of the Year.

ROW ROW ROW YOUR BOAT
Rowan Mackenzie is the top scorer returning for the Chaps this season. Mackenzie built off a strong freshman campaign, starting in 28 games for the Chaps. He scored 20 points twice in the 2021-22 season, dropping 20 points and shooting 6-for-7 from three against Oklahoma City on Dec. 6, and scoring 20 points against UTPB on Jan. 29. Mackenzie scored a career high 21 points in the opening round of the NCAA South Central Regional against Texas A&M-Commerce, finishing one rebound shy of a double-double with nine and going 10-for-13 from the free throw line. Mackenzie averaged 11.4 points per game, 4.6 rebounds per game and dished out 72 assists for the Chaps while also shooting 51.7% from the field. For his play last season, Mackenzie was named a Player to Watch by the Lone Star Conference.

A SPRING IN HIS STEP
Also returning for the Chaps is All-Freshman Team member Aaron Gonzales. Gonzales played in 30 games for the Chaps last season, starting in two of them. He scored a career-high 11 points on Feb. 24 against Western New Mexico, going 3-for-5 from three. Pulled down a season-high seven rebounds on Jan. 20 against St. Edward's. Gonzalez averaged 3.5 points per game and shot 53.3% from the field in his first season in Lubbock

NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK
A total of nine new players will make their debut for the Chaps this season. Of those nine, three are transfers, led by Louisiana-Monroe transfer Russell Harrison. The Monterrey High product averaged 13.1 points per game and 5.5 rebounds per game with the Warhawks last season, including a game on 1/6/2022 when Harrison scored 28 points and pulled down 13 boards against Arkansas State. 
Two junior college transfers join the Chaps, with Najeeb Muhammad coming over from Arizona Western College, while Kurt Wegscheider comes over from Utah State East College.
Muhammad played in 28 games for Arizona Western College, averaging 11.1 points, 5.0 assists and 3.1 rebounds a night. He shot 37.6% from the floor, including 35.7% from beyond the arc. Muhammad recorded a season-high 21 points on Nov. 10 against the College of Southern Nevada. He recorded double-digit assists twice this season, dishing out 10 assists against Gateway C.C. on Feb. 9 and recording a double-double with 11 points and 11 assists on Nov. 20 against Eastern Arizona College. Muhammad's 139 total assists ranked third in the Arizona Community College Athletic Conference.
Wegscheider played in 28 games for Utah State Eastern College, averaging 14.2 points and 4.2 rebounds a game. He recorded a double-double on Nov. 19 against Central Wyoming College, scoring a season-high 24 points and a season-high 12 rebounds. Wegscheider also tallied 41 steals and 44 assists this season.
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THE DEFENSE DOESN'T REST
The Chaparrals finished the 2021--22 season with one of the nation's best defenses. LCU held opponents to an average of 62.5 points per game, which is the seventh-bestt mark in D-II. Opponents shot 39.5 percent from the field against them (seventh-best nationally), including 30.6 percent from behind the arc (23rd-best in D-II). Thirteen times last season, the Chaps held teams below 60 points, winning all thirteen of those matchups.

BULLSEYE
On the other end of the floor, Lubbock Christian did not face the shooting woes that they themselves caused their opponents. The Chaps ranked fifth in the nation in overall field goal percentage (.514) and 10th in three-point field goal percentage (.394). LCU shot better than 50 percent from the field in 20 of their 29 games last season and went 17-2 in those contests. The LSC Tournament loss against Texas A&M-Kingsville was the only time last season that the Chaps outshot an opposing team and lost (25-1). 

NATIONALLY KNOWN
The Chaps enter the season ranked no. 16 in the NABC National Polls after finishing the 2021-22 season ranked seventh. LCU will play four games against teams that were ranked in the NABC preseason poll, facing no. 12 Southern Nazarene on Nov. 19, no. 8 West Liberty on Dec. 17 at the Holiday Hoops Classic in Las Vegas, Nev., and back-to-back contests against no. 5 West Texas A&M to close out the regular season on Feb. 23 and 25. LCU also has matchups against three teams that were recieving votes in the preseason poll, taking on Colorado School of Mines on Nov. 12 and Dallas Baptist and Angelo State later in the year in conference action. The Chaps had four wins over ranked foes last season

SCOUTING THE OREDIGGERS
- The Orediggers went 16-11 last season, falling to UC-Colorado Springs in the RMAC Quarterfinals.
- Mines was picked to finish third in the RMAC Preseason poll
- The Orediggers return four starters, including First-Team All-RMAC selection Brendan Sullivan. Sullivan averaged 15 points and 4.9 rebounds for Mines last season and was NABC All-District Second Team. He was Also the RMAC Academic Player of the Year.
- A pair of Division-I transfers make their way to Golden, Colo. to suit up for the Orediggers. PAC-12 Scholar Athlete of the Year Sam Beskind scored 11 points with 17 rebounds, dished out eight assists and had eight steals with the Cardinal last season. Adam Thistlewood moves over from Colorado State, where he averaged 2.4 points, 1.8 rebounds, 0.6 assists and 12.4 minutes a game last season. Thistlewood averaged 9.1 points, 3.6 rebounds and 29.4 minutes per game while shooting 43.3 percent from the field, 36.4 percent on threes and 85.7 percent at the free throw line during the 2020-21 season and was named Honorable Mention All-Mountain West
- Head coach Pryor Orser will enter his 22nd season in Golden with a 395-212 career record. Orser's teams have dominated the RMAC over the past decade winning five RMAC regular-season championships and two RMAC Tournament titles and earning 11 NCAA Tournament berths, including eight in a row between 2014 and 2021. He has led Mines to the NCAA Elite Eight twice, in 2017 and 2021, and Mines has appeared in three NCAA regional finals in the last decade, winning twice.

THE SERIES WITH THE OREDIGGERS
Colorado School of Mines leads the overall series 4-3, but LCU knocked off the Orediggers 79-63 in Lubbock at last season's RMAC-LSC Challenge. The Diggers held a 36-25 lead at halftime, but the Chaps outscored the no. 5 team in the country 44-27 in the second half on the way to a 79-63 win, closing the game on a 14-3 run. LCU is 0-3 in Colorado against CSM, falling 75-47 in Golden, Colo. in 2019. The Chaps have won three of the last four meetings after Mines won the first three contests. LCU won the only postseason meeting between the two teams in the first round of the 2019 NCAA South Central Regional in Austin, Texas, an 82-73 win for the Chaps.

LAST TIME OUT
DENVER, Colo. - Led by Rowan Mackenzie with 16 points, no. 16/24 Lubbock Christian held off a second half come back from Regis to pick up a 66-59 road victory.
 
LCU had at least three players finish the night in double-figures in points for the 10th straight game. Mackenzie led the way with 16 points, seven rebounds and three assists. It's the fourth straight game Mackenzie has scored in double digits.

In his first game as a Chap, Wegscheider was one board short of a double-double, scoring 11 points while hauling in nine rebounds and distributed the rock at will with four assists. Muhammad also had a solid opening game in the blue & white, scoring 12 points with three rebounds and three assists. 

As a team, the Chaps hauled in 40 rebounds, the first time they've done so since pulling down 42 against Western New Mexico on Feb. 24, 2022. LCU's 12 offensive boards are the most since grabbing 12 offensive rebounds at Eastern New Mexico on Feb. 17, 2022. Lubbock Christian turned those rebounds into points, scoring 12 second chance points in the contest.

A WIN WOULD
- Be the 19th straight nonconference regular season win for LCU (last loss - Nov. 9, 2019 - 47-75 at no. 14 Colorado School of Mines)
- Give the Chaps their third-straight 2-0 start

UP NEXT
LCU will take a week off before heading to Bethany, Okla. for a top-25 showdown against no. 12/25 Southern Nazarene on Saturday, Nov. 19. Tip-off is set for 3 PM.