DENVER – Playing at home for the first time this season, the MSU Denver men's basketball team will try to find its comfort zone.
The Roadrunners (2-2), play host to Sioux Falls (S.D.) on Friday and to Cal Poly Humboldt on Saturday at the Auraria Event Center, with tipoff scheduled for 4 p.m. each day. As part of the Season of Gratitude, admission to this weekend's games is free, as the MSU Denver Department of Athletics thanks fans for their support during the fall season.
MSU Denver's only previously scheduled men's basketball home game this season was moved to a neutral site due to the top-ranked MSU Denver volleyball team hosting the Division II South Central Regional Tournament last weekend. That followed the previous week, when Roadrunners volleyball took over the gym with another three-day eight-team event – the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament. With all that volleyball – matches plus practice times for most of the teams – the MSU Denver men's hoops team has moved around to other venues seeking gym time for several practices.
"The good thing about the schedule is that we got to be comfortable being uncomfortable," first-year MSU Denver coach Dan Ficke said. "You have to be good on the road anyway. But it will be nice to have some home cooking and have some familiar faces – families, friends and fans – to play in front of. It will be nice to get into the normal rhythm of playing on Fridays and Saturdays as opposed to what we've encountered the first few weeks of the season."
MSU Denver is coming off an impressive road performance, despite losing 68-66 Sunday at Fort Hays State (Kan.). The Tigers are a quality team that spent much of last season in the national top 25 and are picked to finish third in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association, which is home to perennial national champion Northwest Missouri State.
"This is a chance to build on the momentum after playing a big game on the road," Ficke said. "If we can clean up the things that caused us to lose, that's what we've focused on. We nearly won despite having 19 turnovers and giving up 16 offensive rebounds."
Both Sioux Falls and Cal Poly Humboldt are quality opponents.
Sioux Falls is 3-2 and opened the season with a win over nationally-ranked Great American Conference favorite Southern Nazarene (Okla.). The Cougars are picked to finish ninth in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference after going 11-14 overall and 7-12 in league play last season. Matt Cartwright, a 6-5 guard, leads the team in scoring at 21.0 points per game and also adds 6.4 rebounds.
Cal Poly Humboldt is 2-2 and was picked to finish seventh in the California Collegiate Athletic Association after going 11-15 overall and 5-5 in league play last season. Marlon Ruffin is a 6-5 wing averaging 18.3 points – two seasons ago he averaged 13.3 points for Division I Nebraska-Omaha and was the Summit League's Sixth Man of the Year. Jaden Edwards, a 6-4 guard, was All-CCAA second team last season and averages 18.0 this year. Guard Ian Krishnan scored more than 1,000 points at Division I Central Connecticut State.
MSU Denver has been led by 6-6 wing Tyrei Randall, who is averaging 20.8 points per game, and 6-8 forward Caleb McGill, averaging 15.0 points and 2.0 blocked shots.
"It will be a great test for us," Ficke said. "We'll play two teams with different styles. Sioux Falls has great size at the guard position and Humboldt plays up-tempo the way we want to play.
"Hopefully we'll have a lot of fans come out and take advantage of the free admission. We're really excited to play two good opponents."
