Photo Courtesy of Jason Evans
This game was a carbon copy of the recent Denver-UC Irvine contest but in reverse. DU (5-8) raced out to a 10-0 lead to start the contest. Then, DU players rained 3-point shots, 15 in all, to coast to an easy victory over Montana State (3-7) Tuesday night at Magness Arena.
DU led 46-22 at intermission and coasted the second half to a 76-64 victory. DU played 11-deep and emptied the bench. Denver was paced by Ronnie Harrell, Jr. with 24 points and 5 rebounds. Tory Miller-Stewart chipped in with 11 points and 6 rebounds. All good signs for a team that needs senior leadership.
Tonight, DU erased their recent habit of slow starts and were rewarded with a coast-to-coast victory.
Denver needed a shot of confidence, especially with their difficult final non-conference matchup against national powerhouse and NCAA championship contender #8 Gonzaga in Spokane, WA this Friday night.
Didn’t get to see the game, due to travel commitments but certainly thrilled with the result. Ronnie Harrell had to have been motivated by Billups’ comments about relying on “younger guys” after the UCI blowout loss.
Montana State is not exactly Duke, but scoring 15 three-pointers and 50% shooting is much closer to the Pioneer offense that the fans and coaches expected to see this year.
Now it’s on to Gonzaga, the #8 team in the country and a very difficult place to play. DU hasn’t beat a top #10 team since January of 1967 when it upset #3-ranked New Mexico, back in the Dunker era. That’s a long time…
Personally, I just want to see DU play as well as they can, and try to gain some consistency as league play approaches.