DU men’s basketball (6-5) traveled to Provo, Utah to face #17/18 Brigham Young University (9-1). The game was Denver’s second nationally-ranked opponent in a row after last week’s tilt against Colorado State University. The new Big XII BYU Cougars had a block party (7 in all) and DU was ice-cold from three-point range (5 of 23), trailing early and then, falling 90-74.
BYU raced out to a 20-point lead at halftime, 45-25. Touko Tainamo led the Pioneers with 8 points while the nation’s third-leading scorer, Tommy Bruner, was held to 4 points in the half. DU only shot 33% from the field while the red-hot Cougars canned 48% of their shots from the field. Denver went 1 of 9 from beyond the arc while BYU collected 8 treys and 6 blocks in the first 20 minutes. Those stats alone accounted for the 20-point halftime gap.
Denver settled down in the second half. The Cougars held the lead throughout the final 20 minutes but the Pioneers battled even-up to hold the BYU advantage at 20. Denver was able to finally cut the margin to 16 points as time ran out, 90-74 final. Denver outscored BYU in the second half 49-45 – a positive sign that Denver competed until the final buzzer. Denver shot over 50% from the field in the second half, despite going 4-14 from downtown in the half and giving up one more block. Denver has generally shot well from three-point range this season but was betrayed from beyond the arc in Provo.
Veteran Jaxson Brenchley was rock solid in his home state, especially in the second half, with 21 points on 8 of 13 shooting from the field. Tommy Bruner scored 15 points but had 5 turnovers and went 0-6 from three in a tough game where the Cougars were determined to shut him down. Touko Tainamo and Pedro Lopez-Sanvicente chipped in with 8 points each in the road loss.
Coach Jeff Wulbrun talked about limiting the Cougars three point shooting as a key before tipoff but DU ‘failed miserably” in the first half when the venue seemed too big for his squad. However, Wulbrun cited better shot selection (18 of 35) and improved ball movement in the second half. This marks the end of Denver’s most difficult non-conference stretch. Next up is Adams State at 7:00 pm MT Monday and Northern New Mexico on Wednesday at 7:00 pm MT, all at Hamilton Gym.
Nobody left on the schedule we can’t beat
If you would have told me that DU would go on the road and play two nationally-ranked top 20 teams in a row and lose by 10 and 16 points, I would call it major progress.
It wasn’t all that long ago that DU would get embarrassed by 40-60 points against those kinds of teams. DU has moved from the bottom-ranked team (#335) in D-I into the middle of the pack (top 200s) among DI schools, which given DU’s league, facilities and budget, is probably about where they should be at this point.
Of course, should DU wish to become a top 100 team, they would likely need a greater institutional commitment, which is a hope. Perhaps a good run this year in the Summit will change some attitudes among those in power this program can be even better, if it is better-supported.
The Pios do have a team this that could be a Summit contender, as they have an efficient offense that can get to the basket and stretch opponents on those nights when the threes are falling. Job 1 right now is continue to develop the a better defense that can make stops, prevent runs and defend the arc and the post.