The Colorado Christian men's basketball team is prepped and ready to hit the road for their upcoming pair of games this weekend. First they will set their sights on taking on Westminster College on Friday night, followed by a matchup against Colorado Mesa on Saturday night. The Cougars are entering the weekend with a 6-7 record overall, and are 2-5 within conference play.
 
On Friday night January 6^th, the Cougars will be traveling to Salt Lake City, UT, where the Griffins will be waiting to take CCU on tipping off at 7PM MST. Westminster has struggled this year as they have a record of 3-11 overall and are 2-5 in conference play. They have lost two straight, and CCU will be looking to make it three straight after their game on Friday.  
Despite their record, Westminster has some talented players on the offensive side of the ball, which the Cougars will need to keep in check in order to come away with the victory. The Griffins are led by junior Trey Farrer who averages 17.4 PPG and leads the team in rebounding as well averaging 7.6 RPG. They also have a pair of talented guards who anchor the offense. Taylor Miller and Donaval Avila facilitate the Griffins offense as Miller averages 11.6 PPG and Avila averages 11.3 PPG.
 
One angle that the Cougars may be looking at exploiting is the Griffins weakness of guarding against the three point shot. Westminster is one of the worst teams in guarding the three point line as they allow the fourth best opponent three point field goal percentage in the RMAC, so if CCU can take advantage of that aspect they can make it difficult for the Griffins to keep up with their scoring pace. The Cougars have talented shooters from downtown led by DJ McDonald and Jason Gallant. Look for a big game from those two should they catch fire from long range.
 
After their game in Utah on Friday night, the Cougs then travel to Grand Junction on Saturday night January 7th to take on Colorado Mesa University tipping off at 7:30PM MST. This will be a tough test for the Cougars as the Mavericks record currently sits at 10-3 overall and 5-2 in conference play. The Mavs are riding a five game winning streak into the weekend as they will be taking on Chadron State on Friday night before the Cougars come into town. CMU currently sits in a tie for 4^th place overall in the RMAC, which can be argued is one of the toughest conferences in all of Division II.  
The Mavericks are being led this year by a talented duo of redshirt sophomores Blaise Threatt and Trevor Baskin. Threatt leads the team in scoring as he is averaging 16.5 PPG and 7.0 RPG. Baskin puts up similar numbers as he averages 15.2 PPG and leads the team in rebounding averaging 7.2 RPG. As a team, they have a stingy defense which is currently ranked third in the conference allowing just over 66 points per game.
 
Colorado Christian is being led on the year by a talented quartet of players averaging in double figures for the season so far. Jason Gallant leads the team in scoring as he averages 13.8 PPG and he also leads the team in assists so he knows how to facilitate and find the open man in order to get points on the board. DJ McDonald is right behind him as he averages 13.2 PPG and does a great job anchoring the offense as the point guard. Noah Kon averages 11.8 PPG this season, and has been on fire recently as he has tallied double figure point totals in six of the last seven games including a season high for him 21 points against UCCS on December 16^th. Isaiah Alonzo has made his presence felt in his return to the team this year. He has played in five games this year and averages 10.2 PPG and also leads the team in rebounding with 5.8 RPG.
 
CCU will be looking to begin the New Year in style and secure a couple of big conference victories to move up the standings. Stay tuned to CCUCougars.com for all of the latest information and updates about your Cougars basketball team.