DENVER – MSU Denver squares off against one of the best players in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference on Friday when it travels for Fort Lewis.
Riley Farris, a 6-foot-9 junior and former RMAC Freshman of the Year, has scored at least 20 points in every game this season and ranks third in the league in scoring (23.8 points per game) while making an RMAC-best 60.8 percent of his field goals.
The big problem, though, is that the rest of the Skyhawks are pretty good, too.
"They have a really good offensive team," Metropolitan State University of Denver coach
Michael Bahl said. "Any time you have a big like Farris, you sort of have to pick your poison. Because he's got good players around him."
Fort Lewis is 9-2 overall and 3-2 in RMAC play heading into the 7:30 p.m. game, while MSU Denver is 6-5 and 2-3. The Roadrunners wrap up the weekend road trip Saturday with a 7:30 p.m. game at Adams State (3-8, 1-4).
Fort Lewis is second in the RMAC with an average of 88.3 points per game and with a team field goal percentage of 50.5. They are third in 3-point percentage (40.5), in made 3s per game (9.5) and in free throw percentage (75.5.).
And it all starts with Farris.
"He's a big body who can do a little bit of everything," Bahl said. "He's really skilled on the block and has really good touch. He can step out and shoot a 3. He's a versatile player, and he's one of the best players in the league. He does a lot for them."
But spend too much time concentrating on Farris, and the rest of his supporting cast is more than capable of causing major problems.
Freshman Akuel Kot, a 6-1 guard, averages 15.5 points per game while Danny Garrick, a 6-7 senior wing who averaged 8.3 points last year at Division I Nicholls State, adds another 12.3 per game.
"They are more versatile than last year," Bahl said. "They have more players who can do more things. And they're at home, which is always tough."
While Fort Lewis sports strong offensive numbers, MSU Denver counters with defensive statistics that rank second in the RMAC in scoring defense (68.2 points per game), third in field-goal percentage defense (41.3) and second in blocked shots (4.0 per game). In league play, MSU Denver leads all teams in field goal percentage defense (40.6) and 3-point percentage defense (32.5).
"We feel good about our defense going down there and all those things," Bahl said. "And on the flip side, they have to guard us. I think we figured some things out offensively and we can hopefully put some pressure on them to get stops."
Druce Asah is the reigning RMAC Offensive Player of the Week after hitting 5 of 6 from 3 and scoring 19 points in a win over Chadron State on Dec. 21.
Kendall McIntosh leads the RMAC in blocked shots at 1.5 per game.
On Saturday against Adams State, the Roadrunners will be playing a team that has only one win against a Division II team. But that win was a big one, an upset of a strong New Mexico Highlands team.
"They're super dangerous," Bahl said. "Especially at home. They just keep playing. They want to go in transition, and they have the freedom to just play. They're a little undersized, but that can make it a tough matchup defensively. We'll have to play well."
Despite a disappointing start to the league season with three losses by a total of four points, MSU Denver is still in solid position heading into the final two months of the regular season.
"We've got eight weeks left," Bahl said. "Seventeen games, eight at home, nine on the road. Everyone still has a chance. All of our goals, everything we want to accomplish, are still attainable. That's what we're focused on."
