DENVER – After a November to remember, a December of (near) despair has put the MSU Denver men's basketball team in a surprising situation as the season enters its January rejuvenation.
Once ranked in the national top 10, MSU Denver is 8-3 overall but 2-3 and tied for ninth place in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. And the Roadrunners, hoping for a top-four league finish that would give them a first-round home game in the RMAC Tournament, are already 2 ½ games behind the league's top four (although they have 17 league games left).
One of those top-four teams, an 8-4 Chadron State unit that is tied for third in the league at 5-1, comes to the Auraria Event Center for a 3:30 p.m. game Saturday that will be televised locally on Channel 3.
"Chadron State plays extremely hard, rebounds well, and they make you play 1 on 1 offensively with their pressure and ability to guard the ball," MSU Denver coach
Dan Ficke said. "They aren't as big as they were last year, but they are tough and athletic.
"We've lost our last two home games, and we need come out with our hair on fire on Saturday and protect our home court for the rest of season, and then steal as many as we can on the road."
While MSU Denver's slow league start has already included three matchups (all losses) with teams in the RMAC's top five, Chadron State has had a slightly easier sojourn to its 5-1 start while playing none of the top five teams. Chadron State's league foes are 13-23 in RMAC play (12-18 when not playing the Eagles), while MSU Denver's RMAC opponents are 16-11 (13-9 when not playing the Roadrunners).
It will more than likely be a season-long struggle for MSU Denver to find easy league victories. Not only is the RMAC fiercely competitive, but also MSU Denver has more games against the RMAC's top teams in the unbalanced schedule (15 teams, 22 games).
"The one good thing about it is that we are playing most of the top teams twice, and the strength of schedule helps us prevail in the tiebreakers (for RMAC Tournament qualification and seeding), just like it did last year," Ficke said. "We've had to play Colorado Mesa, Black Hills State and (Colorado School of) Mines already, so we've started with the toughest schedule in the league. It does even up a little bit over time."
Saturday's matchup features two of the RMAC's best guards, with the Roadrunners'
Brayden Maldonado squaring off against Chadron State's Bryce Latimer.
Latimer leads the league in points (245) and is second in scoring average (20.4), while Maldonado is third in scoring (19.2), second in steals per game (2.2) and sixth in assists per game (3.3).
Maldonado is also one of two qualified players (minimum averages of 5.0 made field goals, 2.5 made free throws and 2.5 made 3-pointers) in Division II shooting at least 50.0 percent from the field, 40.0 percent from 3 and 90.0 from the free throw line, and is one of three Division II players averaging at least 19.2 points, 2.2 steals and 3.3 assists.
"Brayden has been special, both with those numbers and being the heart and soul of our team," Ficke said. "All he wants to do is help us win. He's still growing and maturing as a leader, but he leads by example every day with how hard he works during and after games and practices. He goes back out and shoots after games. The reason he's doing well is the work that he puts in."
The television exposure, which comes on Family Day – four hot dogs, four drinks and four bags of chips for $25 – and the first Stars of Honor youth game of the season, will give Maldonado the opportunity to showcase his skills before a larger audience.
"Any chance you have to get more exposure for our program and our league, in the region and across the state, is exciting," Ficke said. "To have our guys on TV is awesome, and you relish that as a player.
"And the Stars of Honor program always livens up the crowd with all the kids and their families here. It's a great way to kick off the new year."
