CHADRON, Neb. – After a 1-1 week against a pair of rivals, Chadron State men's basketball continues its quest for an RMAC tournament berth with two home games this weekend at the Chicoine Center that will be rematches against teams CSC played on the road. 

The Eagles (10-10, 6-6 RMAC) will start by hosting Colorado Christian (8-12, 4-8 RMAC) on Thursday at 7 p.m. before taking on CSU Pueblo (10-10, 5-7 RMAC) on Saturday at 1 p.m.

Previously this season, the Eagles lost to Colorado Christian 76-60 in a nonconference game on November 26 and then beat CSU Pueblo 66-62 in an RMAC matchup on December 12. At the time of CSC's win earlier this season, the ThunderWolves were a top-10 regionally ranked team according to the D2CSC.  

Both games will be streamed by CSC Live on the RMAC Network. Double Q Country and doubleqcountry.com will carry both games on 97.5 FM, with Dave Collins on the call. Tickets remain available for both games and can be purchased online and at the door. 

Looking Back
The Eagles played two midweek games against their South Dakota travel partners, losing 53-47 to South Dakota Mines on Tuesday before winning over Black Hills State by a 90-77 margin on Saturday.

RECAPS: South Dakota Mines | Black Hills State

While Chadron State was held to its lowest point total of the season on Tuesday, the Eagles recovered to post their fourth-highest total on Thursday with a 90-point game. The win over Black Hills State was the third consecutive triumph for the Eagles over the Yellow Jackets inside the Chicoine Center. 

Promo Plugs
Wednesday, February 5 marks National Girls and Women in Sports Day, and Chadron State will be putting on multiple activities in commemoration of the occasion this week. 

During both Thursday and Saturday's basketball games, the 50^th Anniversary Title IX Committee will have a table set up in the lobby of the Chicoine Center to allow kids up to 8^th grade the opportunity to participate in a Mock Signing Day, with a backdrop setup and mock certificates to sign. 

National Girls and Woman in Sports Day will also be the focus of CSC's weekly All Sport Camp this Friday. This week's camp will be hosted by the Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) and will be $10 rather than the normal weekly cost of $20.

Eagles All Sport Camp – Click To Register

All after-school camp attendees this Friday will receive free admission for themselves and their family to Saturday's men's and women's basketball games. 

Trey Day
A big catalyst for the Black Hills State win was a career day for guard Trey Ballard, who has thrived in an expanded role this season. 

Limited to just five games last season, Ballard averages 21.4 minutes per game in the 18 CSC games he has played. He has finished in double figures 10 total times this season, including in six of the past seven games. 

Against Black Hills, Ballard put up 20 points for the first time in his career, scoring 22 points on 8 of 10 shooting from the field and 5 of 5 from the line while adding three rebounds, two assists and a steal. The 22 points topped Ballard's previous career high of 18 set earlier this year against Colorado Christian, who the Eagles play on Thursday.

Five On It
After last weekend's games, the Eagles have five players averaging in double figures this season. 

Zy Wright leads the way with 13.3 points per game. Wright scored 34 points in an overtime loss to New Mexico Highlands on January 18 and has three separate games scoring 24 points. Last Tuesday against South Dakota Mines, he tallied his first double-double of the season with 10 points and 11 rebounds. 

Jalen Thomas ranks second on the team with 11.8 points per game. Thomas is the only player to start all 20 games for Chris Francis so far this season and has four 20-point games, including three straight against Regis, Adams State and New Mexico Highlands from January 11-18. 

The other three double-figure scorers are Trey Ballard (10.8 points per game), Darrius Miles (10.1) and Julio Phipps (10.1).

No Easy Buckets
While Chadron State's scoring defense (72.6 points per game) is middle of the pack in the RMAC, a significant portion of CSC's points against have come from other teams getting to the line. The Eagles rank among the best teams in the league at limiting the opposition's field goal percentages. 

Chadron State is holding opponents to a cumulative .419 field-goal percentage, the second-best mark in the RMAC. The Eagles are even better in three-point field goal defense, as opponents shoot just 29.7 percent from deep against CSC, which is the lowest percentage in the RMAC and ranks 12^th in all of Division II.

The Eagles have held opponents to under 40 percent shooting from the field on eight different occasions so far this season, while opponents have shot better than 50 percent from the field against the Eagles only three times in 2024-25. 

Historic Wins
Chadron State has snapped a couple of long program losing streaks this season.

Against Colorado Mesa on January 25, the Eagles' 69-67 win broke a streak of CMU having won 13 straight games against the Eagles prior to Chadron State's breakthrough. The win is the first by Chadron State over Colorado Mesa since December 5, 2014. 

On January 16, CSC beat Adams State on the road 91-86, making history as the first win for the Eagles in Alamosa since 2009. 

Lights Out
Chadron State had historical offensive output on December 16 in their 107-50 win over Central Christian.  

The Eagles made 43 of 64 field goal attempts (.672) and were even better, percentage-wise, from three-point land, sinking 16 of 23 attempts for a .696 percentage, which is the best single-game percentage by an RMAC team this season. 

Chadron State's 16 made three-pointers are just two off the single-game school record of 18, set on November 21, 2021 against Haskell Indian Nations. That game also featured the single-game program record for assists (35). 

The 57-point margin of victory is the second highest in school history, trailing only a 103-45 CSC win over South Dakota Mines in November of 1998. Ironically, the Hardrockers had defeated Chadron State by 10 points just 11 days before that 58-point blowout. 

In the Polls
The RMAC has one "consensus" nationally ranked program, Colorado School of Mines. The Orediggers are ranked No. 10 nationally in the NABC Coaches Poll and No. 9 in the D2CSC Media Poll. MSU Denver is receiving votes in the NABC poll, but dropped out of the top 25 this week.

The D2CSC South Central regional rankings include five RMAC teams among the region's top 10. Colorado School of Mines is slotted as the No. 2 team in the region, while MSU Denver is No. 6. Fort Lewis and Regis are tied at No. 7 while UCCS is tied for No. 10.

Lone Star Conference teams make up the other six slots in the poll, led by regional No. 1 Dallas Baptist (No. 6/6 national). The others are No. 3 St. Mary's, No. 4 Lubbock Christian, No. 5 Midwestern State, No. 9 UTPB and Eastern New Mexico, who is tied for No. 10 with UCCS.

With a new coaching staff and predominantly new players, Chadron State men's basketball was picked 15^thin the preseason RMAC Coaches Poll for the 2024-25 campaign. 

Colorado School of Mines, who finished third in the league last season, were picked first for this year, receiving 11 of 15 first-place votes. MSU Denver received two first-place votes to come second, followed by Regis in third, which received one first-place vote. 

Black Hills State was fourth in the poll, while Colorado Mesa received the final first-place vote and finished fifth. The rest of the poll includes CSU Pueblo, UCCS and New Mexico Highlands in the final RMAC Tournament positions, followed by Fort Lewis, South Dakota Mines, Western Colorado, Westminster, Adams State, Colorado Christian, and the Eagles. 

Scouting the Cougars
Colorado Christian has a 8-12 record with a 4-8 mark in RMAC play. One of those wins came against Chadron State, with the Cougars prevailing on their home court in a nonconference game back on November 26. 

The Cougars recently snapped a five-game losing streak with a home win over Western Colorado last Saturday, although they did face two nationally-ranked opponents over that stretch in MSU Denver and Colorado School of Mines, along with Fort Lewis, Adams State and Westminster. 

Redshirt sophomore Bradley Land is the top talent for CCU, averaging 15.6 points per game (sixth in the RMAC) over 20 games played and still shooting 51.1 percent from the field (fifth in the RMAC). Land also leads the team with 5.5 rebounds per game while junior Promise Idiaru hauls in 4.5 boards per game and ranks fourth in the RMAC with 23 blocked shots. 

Colorado Christian is coached by Liam Simmons, who is in his fifth season. Simmons, a native of Australia, is the half-brother of NBA All-Star Ben Simmons. Colorado Christian is 25-15 all-time against Chadron State College. The two programs split a pair of matchups last season, with each team winning at home, which CSC will be hoping to replicate in this campaign after dropping a road matchup earlier this year.

Scouting the ThunderWolves
After being picked sixth in the RMAC Preseason Poll, the CSU Pueblo ThunderWolves match Chadron State with a 10-10 overall record but are one game behind the Eagles with a 5-7 record in the RMAC. Earlier this season, Chadron State beat CSU Pueblo 66-62 at Massari Arena behind 24 points from Zy Wright. 

The ThunderWolves started off strong and were regionally ranked in the early portion of the season, but endured a six-game losing streak at one point and after winning two games have lost two straight by narrow margins, falling to Colorado Mesa 64-61 and Westminster 72-66 last week. 

Armon Muldrew (12.0 points per game), De'Shaun Cooper (11.7) and former South Dakota Mines standout Brevin Walter (11.7) provide a three-headed monster in CSU Pueblo's attack. The ThunderWolves have hung their hat on defense, however, ranking sixth in the RMAC by allowing 70.7 points per game. 

While Chadron State has the best three-point defense in the RMAC at 29.7 percent, the ThunderWolves are just behind at 30.0 percent. CSU Pueblo is led by sixth-year coach Matt Hammer.

Coach's Corner
Chadron State Head Coach Chris Francis is in his first season leading the Eagle men's basketball program. Francis comes to Chadron after serving as the head coach at the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma (NAIA) since 2015. 

At USAO, Francis put together a career record of 176-94. Francis led the Drovers to five NAIA National Tourney appearances, a Sooner Athletic Conference Championship, and a Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament Championship, also taking USAO to an NAIA Elite Eight. Francis is a two-time Sooner Athletic Conference Coach of the Year, winning the award in 2017 and 2022. 

A former student-athlete, Francis was a starting guard and captain of the men's basketball team at Rogers State University. In 2011, he helped lead Rogers State to the NAIA Elite Eight and a 30-2 record. Following that season, Francis was named the Sooner Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year. He was recently inducted into the Rogers State Athletic Hall of Fame.