COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.—The 2020-21 regular season will officially commence for the Grizzlies on Saturday evening as the Grizzlies are set to travel up I-25 to take on the UCCS Mountain Lions. The game is the season-opener for both teams.

Game Information
Teams: Adams State (0-0, 0-0 RMAC) at UCCS (0-0, 0-0 RMAC)
Date: Saturday, December 5, 2020
Tip-Off: 7:30 p.m.
Location: Colorado Springs, Colo.
Site: Gallogy Events Center (1,250)
Series Record: ASU leads 30-19
 
Coaches
ASU: Russ Caton, 62-81 (6th Season, ASU); 114-164 (12th Overall)
UCCS: Jeff Culver, 131-102 (9th Season)
 
Media Coverage (Click Links)
Live Video: RMAC Network (https://portal.stretchinternet.com/uccs/)
ASU Radio: KSPK-FM, 104.1 FM (http://stream.kspk.com:8000/live.mp3)
Live Stats: UCCS Website (https://gomountainlions.com/sidearmstats/mbball/summary)
 
Tipping Off
Adams State will finally open up the regular season on Saturday when they travel to Colorado Springs to take on the UCCS Mountain Lions at the Gallogly Events Center.
 
Adams State returns just three letter winners from last year's squad that finished with an 8-20 record and an 13th place finish in the RMAC. Cole Arceneaux returns for his third season with the Grizzlies where he averages 2.2 points per game. Kaelin Crane return for his second year as a Grizzly. He averaged 13.9 points per game. Rylan O'Brien averaged 12.1 points per game in his first season last year and will be an impact for the Grizzlies this season.
 
Adams State played in two exhibitions during Thanksgiving Week. The Grizzlies took on NCAA Division I Weber State on Wednesday and fell 88-60. The Grizzlies had three players finish with double figures as Jackson led the way with 17 points as he was 17-10 from the field, and 3-of-5 from the free throw line. Destan Williams finished with 15 points as he was 6-of-15 from the field with a single trey while Kaelin Crane had 11 points as he was 5-of-13 from the field. As a team the Grizzlies shot 34.3 percent from the field (24-of-70) and 19 percent from beyond the arch (4-of-21).
 
On Thanksgiving, the Grizzlies played at NCAA Division I Utah Valley In the game that they lost 100-75, Trace Dimeff was the leading scorer with 17 points as she shot 6-of-10 from the field while Destan Williams scored 14 points. He was 4-of-10 from the field but 5-of-6 from the free throw line. As a team, Adams State shot 41 percent (26-of-63) from the field and hit nine (of-24; 39 percent) three-pointers in the game.
 
The Grizzlies were selected to finish 13th in the 2020 RMAC preseason Coaches' poll. ASU received 45 points while the second straight year, Colorado School of Mines has been tabbed as the RMAC Men's Coaches Poll preseason favorite. The Orediggers received 13 first-place votes and a total of 195 points.
 
Russ Caton returns for his sixth year at the helm and brings in assistant coach Trend Blackledge who capped off a nine-year professional basketball career in Japan and a stellar career at Division I Marquette University.
 
About UCCS
UCCS is coming off a 2019-20 season when they went 17-11 overall and finished in a tie for fifth place in the league standings with a 13-9 RMAC record. In the RMAC Coaches' Poll that was released in November, UCCS was picked to finish third as they garnered 163 points.
 
Parker Gaddis and Geoff Kelly return from last year's starting lineup, along with six reserve players: William Becker, DaRaun Clark, Alijah Comithier, Johnnie Jones III, Patrick Lanipekun, and Payton Kaiser.  The Mountain Lions reloaded with six players including Kyle Cabs, Bobby Martin, Jezza McKenzie, Devin Roland, Kyle Schaefer and Cameron Underwood, along with last season's redshirts, Noah Baca and Wyatt Dolberry.
 
Series History vs. UCCS
Adams State holds an overall 30-19 record over UCCS. The Grizzlies also hold a 14-10 record in Colorado Springs and a 16-8 record inside Plachy Hall.
 
The two teams have only meet once on a neutral court and that was in 2015 in Denver. The Mountain Lions won that contest and have won both games that have been played in postseason action.
 
Adams State holds the longest winning streak at ten games from 2003-2007 while UCCS has three four-game winning streaks including the current winning streak from 2017. The Mountain Lions have won the last four including sweeping last season's games.
 
Broadcast Information
Saturday's season-opener at UCCS will be broadcast live on the RMAC Network (https://gomountainlions.com/sidearmstats/mbball/summary) and will be produced by UCCS. Since spectators will not be allowed to attend the game in person, fans can tune in and follow along with live stats (https://gomountainlions.com/sidearmstats/mbball/summary).
 
In addition, KSPK-FM (http://stream.kspk.com:8000/live.mp3)  will once again serve as the official radio station of Adams State Athletics. Adam State Director of Sports Information Eric R. Flores will be calling the Saturday contest for KSPK. Flores, in his first year as the SID at ASU, has several years of radio experience after he was tabbed as the 'Voice of the Mean Moose," doing radio play-by-play for numerous Alamosa High School athletic contests for KGIW-AM and KSPK-FM/TV. In his first season behind the microphone, Flores called the Alamosa boys basketball team's run to the state championship final in 2016. Since 2016, Flores has called over 100 Grizzly events including basketball, football and softball. Flores served as a play-by-play commentator for UCCS for men's soccer and lacrosse for one season.
 
Fans can access the game online or on the radio dial KSPK can be heard on 100.3 in Colorado Springs, Alamosa and the San Luis Valley, 104.1 in South Fork and Trinidad, and 102.3 in Pueblo and Walsenburg.
 
Up Next
The home slate is set to commence on Wednesday, Dec. 9 at 5:00 p.m. with the Grizzlies hosting CSU-Pueblo. They will also close out the 2020 portion of the season on Saturday, Dec. 12 and Friday, Dec. 18 when they host South Dakota Mines and Colorado Mesa University, respectively.
 
Due to the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 in the San Luis Valley, all Adams State University home games in 2020 will be played without spectators. ASU Athletics will continuously re-evaluate the policy as local and state guidelines change.