Bears Roll Colorado College In Season Opener - University of Northern Colorado Athletics

Monday, November 2

Greeley, Colo.

7:30 p.m. MT

University of Northern Colorado

1-0,0-0Big Sky

117

Colorado College

0-0,0-0SCAC

Team	1	2	F
Colorado Col.	21	43	64
Northern Colo.	52	65	117

Final Game Book

Photo by: Ally McCutchen

11/2/2026 10:53:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Donate To Men's Basketball Final Game Book Buy Tickets

By: Aiden Tank, Director of Strategic Communications

GREELEY, Colo. – Northern Colorado opened its season with a 117-64 win over Colorado College Monday at Bank of Colorado Arena, the program's fourth straight season-opening victory and the most points the Bears have scored under head coach Steve Smiley.

The Bears are 1-0. Colorado College falls to 0-1.

A Record Night From Three
The 117 points are the most in the Smiley era and the fourth time the Bears have reached 100 under him. It is the most the program has scored since a 118-point outing in 2018, and the most in a season opener since the 2012-13 season, when the Bears scored 127. The last time Northern Colorado reached 100 was Nov. 23, 2025, when they put up 114.

Northern Colorado shot 56.9 percent from the floor and 53.3 percent from three, making 16 of 30 attempts from behind the arc. That shooting was no accident.

"We have the ability to do it," Smiley said. "At the end of the day, it doesn't matter if it's two or three. It's just, is it a good shot or a bad shot? And I don't think we take very many bad shots."

Hammond's Debut
Jeremiah Hammond led the Bears with 17 points in his first career game, hitting three three-pointers and adding two steals. He was one of four Bears making their college debuts, along with Campbell Blogg, Drew Paine and Will Gordon.

Smiley said Hammond's summer and fall pointed to a night like this one.

"He's had a great start to his career behind the scenes, all the way back to June," Smiley said. "The scoring is great, but what makes him really good is he's got a real motor. He plays hard on both ends. His ball goes in, he doesn't take bad shots, and he can help us when the shot clock gets low."

Reynolds Returns
Reynolds played his first game back in Greeley after a season at Minnesota and finished with 10 points, six assists and four rebounds. He was named Big Sky Preseason Most Valuable Player earlier this fall.

"It's a good group of guys, a lot of energy," Reynolds said. "It's fun to be around them. I feel like since even the first day we got here, we kind of gelled pretty quick."

Balanced Scoring
Seven Bears finished in double figures. Chiante Tramble scored 13 in his UNC debut, Hunter Caldwell added 12 on four three-pointers, and Manning Shareef finished with 10 points and six rebounds. Ariik Mawien scored 11, and Blogg and Andrew Crawford each added nine.

In all, eight Bears played their first game at Northern Colorado: Kaidon Rayfield, Crawford, Tramble, Hammond, Shareef, Blogg, Paine and Gordon.

Reynolds said the group came together fast.

"I think we really gelled really quick," Reynolds said. "Even from me and Blogg showing up kind of late, the guys opened me and him with open arms. Since then it's just been on an upward trend, picking at little things and just kind of gelling together really quickly."

Up Next
Northern Colorado travels to Arizona State on Friday, Nov. 6 for a 7 p.m. MT tipoff, the first road game of the season.

FOLLOW THE BEARS:
Fans can follow and stay up to date on all the Bear action at uncbears.com and on social media. Follow the Bears on X (@UNC_BearsMBB), Instagram (@UNC_BearsMBB), and Facebook (/UNCBearsMBB).