It was nice to finally get the winter athletics season started with a women’s hoops win against Air Force last week and Denver hockey about to start in the Omaha pod on December 2nd. Men’s hoops did their part with another step toward ‘normalcy’ in the era of COVID Saturday afternoon with a win against Regis University.
Denver, playing with only seven players, trailed at halftime at Hamilton Gym but used a 48-29 scoring outburst in the second half to down the Regis Rangers, 82-66.
Denver was led by last season starters Jase Townsend (24 points), Robert Jones (23 points) and Tristan Greene with 13 points. Freshman guard Drake Muller scored 6 points and gathered 8 rebounds in his Pioneer debut. Sophomore James Sanders IV scored 9 points with 2 rebounds.
Roscoe Eastmond, a starter from last season, was held out for the game along with CU transfer center Frank Ryder. Sam Hines, Jr., a highly recruited forward from Georgia, also missed the contest.
While the game was against a D2 opponent and DU looked rusty in the first half, the short-handed Pioneers stepped up in the second half to closeout the contests.
DU (1-0) will face a tougher test when they play host to UC Riverside on Dec. 6.
Photo: Courtesy of Denver Pioneers.
Go Pios!
I am not a fan of DU ever playing D-II teams, as the value of such a game is truly minimal and the risk of losing isn’t really worth it to DU’s struggling basketball reputation.
Seven DU players dressing against a mediocre-at-best DII opponent tells us very little about this year’s Pios, but at least the season is underway.
Cal-Riverside, a 17-win team last season before the Covid early stoppage, should be a much better yardstick to see if the Pios can be a competitive team at the D-I level this year,
Dunker enjoyed watching the game. Tristan will again have trouble guarding D-1 players and he won’t score much. Need someone to take major minutes away from him. I was disappointed that it looked like nobody hit the weight room.
Why only 7 guys?
Likely COVID-19. No announcement made.