DU men’s hoops (2-1) traveled to Mobile, Alabama to play in the three-game Jaguar Classic this week. In game one Wednesday night, Denver faced a red-hot Nicholls State University (La.) team that days earlier had defeated Lousiana State University in Baton Rouge. The Colonels built an 18-point first-half lead and DU trailed at halftime 43-37. Denver outscored the Colonels by 12 points in the second half to snatch the come-from-behind win.
DU’s Touko Tainamo racked up another double-double in the victory while freshman DeAndre Craig came off the bench with 17 big points. Point guard Tommy Bruner shot 50% from the field while collecting 17 points. DU shot 45.9% from the field and 37.9% from beyond the arc to stage the comeback win. A host of other players contributed mightily on both ends of the floor for the win.
Said head coach Jeff Wulbrun following the game to Tyler Maun (Radio: 104.3 The Fan HD3), “We executed our game plan in the second half. A tremendous win against a really good team. A high-character team does that. We are starting to see an identity – good shooting and unselfish.”
Next up is SIU Edwardsville at 4:00 pm MT tomorrow (Thursday) in game two of the Jaguar Classic
I’d love to see a replay.
That’s a good, confidence-building comeback win for the Pios against a Nicholls State team that built a 24 point lead at one point over LSU in LSU’s home arena last week. Keep it going, boys!
Go Pioneers! Great way to start tournament!
Very impressive shooting and rebounding performance for Denver, against a solid, athletic and offensively oriented Nicholls State team with talented players, a couple with pro hoops futures. DU’s bench output was far better than Nicholls, which bodes well for the future, especially Craig’s 17 points as the sixth man.
Denver still can improve on turnovers/ball protection, to maximize its possessions.
With three games over three days in this tourney, DU will hopefully get to test its depth today against a 1-2 Southern Illinois University – Edwardsville team that got drilled by Dayton and Missouri in its two games against D-I opponents so far this season.