On paper, the Denver (9-18, 5-9) – South Dakota State (22-4, 13-0) basketball game Thursday night was a mismatch. The Jackrabbits were ranked #78 in the NET Rankings and DU was #294 and a double-digit underdog at home. Plus, Denver was missing two of their top players in KJ Hunt and Jordan Johnson due to the COVID-19 protocol. Denver battled SDSU straight up for the first 20 minutes but ran out of gas the second half against the hot-shooting Jackrabbits.
Denver got out to an 8-4 lead on two threes from Taelyr Gatlin and basket by Touko Tainamo. Five minutes into the half, Douglas Wilson hit two free throws to give SDSU the lead, 11-10. Coban Porter caught fire over the next five minutes and Mikey Henn tied the game, 22-22, at 10:21. Denver went up on the visitors, 31-29, behind two Taelyrn Gatlin three-point shots and a Coban Porter tray with 5:49 remaining and a media timeout. A three-point make by Matt Mimms with 55 seconds remaining gave SDSU the lead, 35-33, but Tevin Smith nailed a bucket at the buzzer to draw even, 35-35. Denver shot 46% to SDSU’s 50% from the field during an evenly played first half. Taelyr Gatlin had an excellent first half in place of Jordan Johnson directing the offense and scoring.
Opening the second half, the teams traded buckets until the four-minute media break, 46-45, DU. A Tristan Green block and two Taelyr Gatlin buckets highlighted the early going but fatigue was soon to set in for the outmanned Pioneers. The Jackrabbits went on a run over the next five minutes, leading 55-48 with 12 minutes remaining. Over the next three minutes, the Jackrabbit lead ballooned to 68-48, mostly on open three-point shots, with 8:50 remaining. A Pedro Lopez Sanvicente three-point make finally stopped the bleeding, 68-51, with 7:39 remaining. Over the next six minutes, Denver was outscored 16-5 as SDSU finished the run with three consecutive threes, to lead 84-56. At that point, SDSU coasted to the finish line for the win, 84-61.
SDSU’s inside-out game was too much for the shorthanded Pioneers. The Jackrabbits are the best shooting three-point team in the country and it showed on 16-28 makes for 57% shooting from beyond the arc. They had an exhausted Denver team chasing the ball the second half and the Jackrabbits took advantage of their open looks with precision strikes. The Jackrabbits got 27 points off their bench with Matt Mims 15 points, all from downtown, inflicting major damage to Denver’s chances. Big Douglas Wilson scored 18 points down low for SDSU. Coban Porter had 18 points for Denver but faced a stingy defense in the second half. Taelyr Gatlin had an excellent game in relief of Jordan Johnson with 11 points, 3 rebounds and a steal in 31 minutes. Gatlin’s senior experience showed that he could be a solid asset down the stretch for DU.
Watching the Jackrabbits empty their bench and celebrate on the DU court is an important reminder to this team that there is still work to be done. This one needs to be filed away, remembered and the favor returned at a future date. That day can’t come soon enough – but it won’t be easy against the best program in the Summit League.
No question it was a tale of two halves last night. 35-35 at halftime in a very competitive first half. Anyone who watched that first half could see the progress this team has made under Wulbrun. In the second half, DU’s lack of depth and overall talent reared its ugly head and the Pios were outscored 49-26. This Pioneer team just doesn’t have the horses right now to beat these upper-echelon Summit League teams. And not having Hunt and Johnson in the lineup last night certainly didn’t help, although even with those two, I’m not sure DU would have had enough to make this contest interesting in the second half.
Full credit to Gatlin–he played his ass off and showed a lot of grit and character, as usual. I think he’s a real leader for this team. And Porter was great as well. Unfortunately DU didn’t get much scoring from anyone else.
SDSU is a good team. There’s a reason they are undefeated in the Summit. They move the ball well, are athletic, can find openings and create a lot of open shots, and they can shoot. Put all those together and you have a very solid team. I hope the Pioneers will be at that level before too long.
Hopefully DU’s attack will be a bit more balanced tomorrow. Would love to see this team win its last home game of the regular season and get to double-digit wins.