DENVER – It's 5:30 in the morning and college kids everywhere are sound asleep.
 
Not Mavrick Gildyard.
 
Lessons learned from his mother, Yulanda, have him awake, making his bed, and ready to approach the day.
 
"I dictate what goes on in my environment," Gildyard said. "Growing up in a rough neighborhood, you can't control things outside your own household. I make sure everything in my household is taken care of the right way. I can control that, and it makes me feel like I can dictate the positive things in my life."
 
A junior wing on the MSU Denver men's basketball team, Gildyard leads the team in scoring at 13.4 points per game heading into weekend matchups Friday at 7:30 p.m. against undefeated and Nos. 9 and 16 Colorado Mesa, and Saturday at 6 p.m. against Westminster.
 
A Detroit native who spent two seasons at Barton (Kan.) Community College, things are working out well for him at MSU Denver. And that's by design.
 
"My mom taught me that I had to have discipline with myself, and then things will fall into place the way they should fall into place," Gildyard said. "If you don't have order, things could go anywhere. So I've got a strict routine. I pray a lot. I'm a very strong believer in God. I'm strong in my faith, and that's how I was raised."
 
At 6-foot-6, Gildyard isn't your prototypical NCAA Division II wing player. Most with his skill set at this level are 6-4 and smaller.
 
With his leaping ability – he says he has no clue what his vertical jump is – he can easily rise up above smaller defenders to shoot jump shots with a feathery touch, or he can also easily rise up and throw down thunderous dunks.
 
"From a physical standpoint and what he can do with a basketball, he's just a really, really good player," MSU Denver coach Michael Bahl said. "Like a lot of our guys, he could easily play at a low-major or mid-major (Division I) level. We were just fortunate enough that we worked our tails off in recruiting him and showing a need that we had here.
 
"We were recruiting a guard from Barton and we saw that Mavrick was a guy we wanted to keep our eye on. And he was just under-recruited. We were very fortunate to pick him up."
 
At Barton, Gildyard played in arguably the best junior college basketball league in the country, the rugged Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference.


"It was very good," Gildyard said. "We played against a lot of comp, and I loved it. It pushed me every day and that's what made me the player I am today. I played against guys who went to Alabama, New Mexico – high levels – and I guarded them. I hadn't played that kind of competition in high school, so going to Barton really helped my game develop and turned me into a better basketball player."
 
On his own, though, Gildyard turned himself into a better student. He owns one of the highest grade point averages on the Roadrunners' roster.
 
That helped turn a kid who really wasn't planning on playing college basketball into a young man with multiple options, both professionally and after his playing days are over.
 
"Basketball wasn't the plan," Gildyard said. "Well, it was and it wasn't. After high school, I thought I was probably done. My grades were bad. But I started playing in a summer league with my AAU team and I picked up some juco offers.
 
"I wanted to play basketball, and I also looked at the future for myself. Education. I wanted to be better than what I had set myself up to be. So I pushed myself, and I do that every day to be a good player and most importantly to be a good student. Education lasts a long time."
 
Give his dad, Edward, an assist on that.
 
"My dad got his degree, and he told me how important it was," Gildyard said. "He's gone a long way."
 
Edward is a corrections officer, and Gildyard has a similar interest as a criminal justice major who is also pursuing a minor in sociology.
 
"I'd like to be a P.O. (probation officer), maybe in an urban neighborhood where I can help those guys up," Gildyard said. "I don't want to do anything easy. I want to help."
 
Gildyard drew some late Division I recruiting interest out of high school, and again after junior college. But by then, he had already signed with MSU Denver.
 
And he's glad he did.
 
"I like it a lot," Gildyard said. "Our juco was very similar, and that's why the transition has been pretty easy. Tough, hard-nosed coach. Play good defense. It's been pretty easy to adjust to. And Denver's very nice too, but I'm kind of a homebody so I don't get too caught up in it."
 
What led him to the Roadrunners?
 
"I liked it because they have a long history of having guys go overseas to play (professionally), and I think I can be one of those guys," Gildyard said. "They have a winning system, and I felt like I could be a part of it. They help you grow here. I felt like I fit in very well with what they wanted to do."
 
Gildyard's discipline, his adherence to routine, has helped him fit seamlessly into the Roadrunners' rotation.
 
"The kicker with him is that he's just such a good kid," Bahl said. "He's a very rigid, strict kid who has routines. He takes pride in his game and he's incredibly hard on himself. He's just a joy to be around. And he's only going to get better."
 
About the only negative heard about Gildyard is that, in the first couple of games of the season, he was trying too hard to win.
 
After a rough start to the season, he's averaged 15.8 points over his last five games.
 
"He's a hard matchup," Bahl said. "I think he's still learning his role, learning the difference between a good shot and a bad shot. He's had some ups and down, but his trajectory is in the right direction."
 
With Gildyard's ability, he is able to get a shot just about whenever he wants. But he also takes pride in all aspects of his game.

"I just use my strengths," Gildyard said. "I know I'm very athletic. I'm about 6-6 and I'm a wing. I'm not slow. I try to take advantage of that. I try to get into the paint and not settle for jump shots. Even though I can make them, I try not to settle. It's pretty easy to shoot over guys, and that doesn't affect my jump shot. I try to crash the glass, play good defense and guard (positions) 1 through 5. I just try to be who I am and it just naturally happens."
 
MSU Denver will need multiple players at high levels this weekend. Mesa won 83-68 in the teams' first meeting in Grand Junction, Colo., on Dec. 5. That was one night after the Roadrunners dropped a tough 56-55 decision at Westminster.
 
The Roadrunners are 3-4 overall and 3-3 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, while Mesa is 7-0 – both overall and in the RMAC – and Westminster takes 4-2 records (overall and RMAC) into a Friday night game.
 
"We're a different team than when we played them the first time," Bahl said. "Those were our first road games of the year and we were just trying to figure out our rotations. We definitely feel more comfortable right now, but we're facing one of the top teams in the country coming in Friday. It's going to be a good challenge and I think our guys are looking forward to the opportunity."