Denver finished their two-game West Coast swing Tuesday night with a painful overtime loss against the Cal Poly Mustangs. Two days earlier, Denver fell to Cal State Fullerton 74-59. Cal State exploited Denver’s lack of size in the paint. On Tuesday night, the Mustangs used deadly three-point shooting to down Denver in overtime, 95-94.
On Sunday, the Cal State Fullerton Titans worked the ball inside, scoring 40 of their 74 points in the paint against DU’s depleted front line. The Titans worked the ball into the paint for easy buckets, landing 58% scoring from the field compared to 38% for the Pioneers. The Cal State Fullerton bench outscored a weary DU team by twenty points, 34-14. The fatigue showed up at the free throw line as the Pioneers went 11-18 (61%) from the charity stripe. DU had four players with over 30 minutes (freshman Sebastian Akins almost joined the club with 29 minutes) on the floor and the Titans finished with one player over 30 minutes. Denver had a season-low six turnovers.
On Tuesday night against the Cal Poly Mustangs, the Pioneers played their best first half of the season, leading 39-28 at the break. Denver caused 13 turnovers and only lost the ball 5 times while shooting 55% from the field. DU built a commanding 23-point lead in the second half but the Mustangs went on a 21-2 run and closed DU’s lead to three, 63-60, with six and a half minutes remaining. Cal Poly tied the game with a three-point make, 74-74, with a minute to go. The teams traded buckets to go into overtime, 76-76.
Cal Poly opened with two 3-point makes and hit enough free throws down the stretch to pull out the 95-94 win. Cal Poly’s Jarred Hyder killed DU going 8-13 from downtown and scoring 29 points during the game. DeAndre Craig, Sebastian Akins and Nicholas Shogbonyo all finished with 20+ points as Denver guards continue to shine. Ultimately, it was fifteen 3-point shots made by the Mustangs that sealed Denver’s fate. The game was a painful loss for a team in need of a confidence boost.
DU fans are left to hope for front-line reinforcements. Can 7’0″ freshman Abdulai Fanta Kabba in his first time ever playing DI basketball solidify the Pioneers front line? He is expected to return from injury for conference play in early January. 7’0″ Isaiah Carr could return at the end of the season for the Summit League Tournament but there is no guarantee.
DU’s defense, a primary focus for this year’s team in practices, has been giving up gobs of points in the paint against big, physical teams. Denver is giving up 77.5 points per game, 308th in the NCAA. Forward Pedro Sanvicente, DU’s only big man standing, is assigned to cover the post but he is a true forward – not a post defender. DU guards are often forced to over-play passing lanes and foul to protect interior scoring. DU is 351/355 teams in fouls committed.
Denver returns to Hamilton Gym on Saturday at 3:00 pm MT to play Northern Colorado.