DENVER – The MSU Denver men's basketball team, which hasn't gone on a multi-game road trip at full strength since early December, will look to make some noise this weekend with games at Adams State and Fort Lewis.
Adams State is a much-improved team under first-year coach Kenny Tripp, the former Roadrunners assistant, while Fort Lewis is ranked No. 4 nationally in the coaches' poll and No. 15 in the sports information directors' poll.
"We're continuing to develop towards playing our best basketball down the stretch and we're trending that way," MSU Denver coach
Dan Ficke said. "We haven't had a real RMAC road swing in a while, other than when we went to New Mexico Highlands and CSU Pueblo (Jan. 12-13) and that was unique because of what we faced from a personnel standpoint.
"We need our guys to step up and play the way they're capable of playing. We've told them that, 'Hey, you've done this before.'"
Ficke was referring to an early-season win at West Texas A&M, which was then ranked Nos. 7 and 4 in the national polls and is currently ranked Nos. 1 and 2. The Buffaloes' only loss was to MSU Denver, on
Brayden Maldonado's last-second 3-pointer, back on Nov. 16.
"We beat the No. 1 team in the country in their house, and we're a better team now than we were then," Ficke said. "Now, we were playing with house money a little bit in that game, but we still have a chance to go on the road and do that again."
Fort Lewis, Saturday's opponent, is 17-2 overall and tied for first in the RMAC at 12-1. The Skyhawks have retooled masterfully, with returning role players stepping into starring roles being supplemented by quality transfers.
"Coach (Bob) Pietrack is a great coach who has had that program rolling for a couple years, and he's figured out how to work the portal in a way that works for them," Ficke said. "We've done well there, too, taking the right guys and getting the right high school guys and developing them.
"Saturday should be a great college basketball game, on the road, with a great crowd. There's nothing better than that. As a competitor, you love going into an environment with just you and your 15 brothers to compete and doing something that only you 15 think you can do."
That 6 p.m. game would certainly lose a lot of its luster, though, if the Roadrunners stumble in Friday's 7:30 p.m. matchup at Adams State (6-12, 4-8).
The improved Grizzlies have already surpassed last season's marks of 5-23 overall and 3-19 in the league. The Grizzlies have won two straight, including an impressive 104-77 victory over Chadron State, which is still ahead of MSU Denver in the RMAC standings.
"They're playing well, and Kenny is doing a great job," Ficke said. "They've brought in a lot of pieces and seem to be playing the way he wants to play. They've gotten some good wins. You can't take any team in the RMAC lightly, and they have a good, hostile environment – they do a good job of getting the community and the other athletes on campus supporting them. We've got to be ready to go from the jump, take control early and hopefully take away their confidence."
