Laramie, Wy – Denver men’s basketball (3-6) traveled two hours north to face the undefeated Wyoming Cowboys (7-0) Thursday night at the Arena-Auditorium. The Pioneers faced a familiar foe, head coach Jeff Linder, who guided Northern Colorado in his three seasons in Greeley.
Denver led 41-38 at the half, stunning the Cowboys on 56% shooting.
The Pokes used their size and inside scoring to pull away in the second half.
Wyoming (very) big man Graham Ike took over the game with 35 points, mostly in the low block. Hunter Maldonado ended with 15. Mikey Henn led the Pioneers with 19 points. Denver was out-rebounded by 11 boards but committed only 11 turnovers.
After the game, DU head coach Jeff Wulbrun said, “We had a great first half. We got impatient in the second half…we don’t have the experience and we don’t have savvy (to win games late). Inexperience set in. We took over a program that was at a historic low. It takes a little time to put it all together.”
Denver has now lost three in a row with three remaining non-conference road games before returning to Hamilton Gym.
Dunker watched. Wyoming just too talented and big. We played them tough. KJ can’t hit every night.
Undefeated Wyoming was a 20-point favorite in the game for a reason – two NBA prospects in Maldonado and Ike, both playing at home. DU lost by 11, so Vegas would say they played well.
The Pios did well to punch the Cowboys in the mouth in the first half with 56% shooting with seven 3 pointers, but Wyoming had too much talent for the Pioneers in the second half, when the Pios shooting went cold, shooting 31%. Wyoming shut down DU’s three pointers in the second half, with DU going 0-8 in the second half.
DU did a good job defensively on Maldonado, but they did not have an answer for Ike down low (many teams won’t – he is a special player).
The Pioneers needed a big game from KJ Hunt to have a shot at an upset, but KJ had a poor game shooting the ball. Henn played really well and Coban Porter clearly has talent shooting, and needs to get more opportunities to shoot. Not sure why Moore didn’t play much, but DU did not have enough depth…
In all, DU has been playing some very good teams of late, all on the road- AFA (6-1), Utah Valley (7-1) and Wyoming (7-0). DU pushed all three of them, but they don’t just have enough depth or experience in this first year under Wulbrun to pull off the upset.
But I do like the fight I am seeing in this team…