Denver men’s basketball (2-2) had a slow start, trailing 11-3, to the visiting Colorado Christian University Cougars who feasted early in the paint. Denver was also ice cold from the field as CCU stretched the lead to 17-6 eight minutes into the half. Denver switched to a five-guard lineup to shake things up and the Pioneers started to control the game. DU clawed back against the Cougars and drew even at 3:38, 29-29. Denver took the lead and owned a five-point edge at the break, 38-33.
Denver owned the second half. Midway through the half, Denver built a 13-point lead and continued to control the pace of play. Over the next five minutes, Denver pushed the lead to 20 points and coasted to victory, 86-63.
Denver only committed three turnovers in the final 20 minutes, limiting CCU’s opportunities to mount a comeback. Transfer Nicholas Shogbonyo led Denver with 16 points and 6 rebounds. Freshman Josh Picket delivered 15 points and 6 rebounds and graduate student Isaiah Addo Ankrah scored 14 points with two rebounds. Despite the slow start, Denver had a solid shooting night with 47.4% (27-57) shooting from the field, 42.9% from three (9-21) and 25-29 from the charity stripe.
The next game for DU men’s basketball is scheduled for Sunday, November 17th at Hamilton Gym against Montana State at 2:00 pm MT.
Yuck. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again for those in the back.
I hate these kind of games. I hold my breath every time DU must face a D-II, DIII or NAIA opponent in these non-exhibition, regular season games. Little good can come of these games, but these annual cheap-to-schedule eyesores are a unfortunate reality of where the DU program exists in the mid-major RPI universe, our location (many potential visiting teams don’t want to play in Denver), the difficulty of scheduling these days (where everyone wants more home games for revenue) and our internal basketball financial commitment, which I still believe needs more investment from above.
I hate that these games even count in DU stats or overall record – it’s pretty misleading, as they don’t count in the RPI.
I look forward to a future where these types of games are no longer played in the regular season and/or at least played only as exhibition games at the beginning of the year.
End of soapbox rant.