Monday night, DU men’s basketball traveled to Tucson, Arizona to take on the 5-0 #2 Arizona Wildcats. This game followed a signature program win at undefeated Colorado State’s Moby Arena. Arizona proved to be a much tougher opponent at McKale Memorial Center. The Wildcats talent and athleticism were on full display in the 103-73 victory over Denver. Surprisingly, in a sign of toughness, resilience and fight, Denver only trailed the Wildcats’ scoring by two points in the second half.
In the first five minutes, Arizona opened with a 13-0 run before Carson Johnson canned two free throws. Arizona’s positional size advantage gave the Wildcats a five-rebound advantage while holding DU to 9% shooting in the early going. The Wildcats led 22-5 at the midway mark on nine Pioneer turnovers. A 21-2 Widcat scoring barrage buried the Pioneers, 35-7. With five minutes remaining, DU trailed 41-15. The first half ended 56-28 as Arizona doubled up the Pioneers. A long, athletic Arizona team forced 11 turnovers and got 8 extra boards in the half while shooting 52.5% from the field. Denver shot 25% for the half. Zane Nelson led the Denver scoring with 7 points in the first 20 minutes.
Denver seemed to find offense early in the second half, outscoring Arizona 15-12, but defense remained shaky as the Wilcats scored from the paint. A pair of three-point makes from downtown gave Arizona a 76-48 lead. A scoring spurt at the midway mark cut into the deficit, 78-53, as DU’s Carson Johnson heated up in the second half. Denver trailed 93-62 with five minutes remaining on a Jeremiah Burke three-point make. The Wilcats hit 100 on a Dwayne Aristode three-point make. Arizona began to empty the bench. A dunk by DU’s Corleone Dandridg ended the scoring on the night, 103-73.
We knew before tipoff DU was not talented enough to challenge #2 Arizona. The Pioneers played hard and the program earned a paycheck on their trip to the desert. They did score an impressive 73 points against a superior Power-Four team. Size and defense remain areas of weakness for the Pioneers. Games like this allow DU coaches to evaluate the current talent, identify future needs and witness the compete level necessary to play consistently against ranked opponents. The big question remains: Does taking a drubbing on ‘buy games’ break a team’s confidence or prepare a team when they play more comparable conference opponents? Time will tell.
Final score 103-73.
This team fought and battled to the end. The answer to your question was answered in the 2nd half. They don’t have quit in them. You can see it in the eyes and attitude of the DU players. Are they going to win every game, nope. Are they gonna quit? Nope.
Remember Bergy and the MSUM transfers list 5 games in a row around Christmas last year before turning it around and making it all the way to the Sweet 16. That is also why he wanted some of his guys to help set that culture, not just because he thought they could play at this level.
This group will be fun to watch as they continue to grow
DU hustled the entire game and played as well as possible in the second half. I trust coach will have us prepared down the road to perform at peak proficiency. Perhaps DU could have used some rest before the Wednesday Wyoming game, but he made the schedule, although he probably didn’t any flexibility. Go Pioneers
Don’t think he probably had a choice as it is a part of the same “tournament.”
A tale of two halves. The first half, I was like “stop the game, this is too brutal.” Arizona (one of the favorites to win the national title) only won the second half by 47-45. Sounds strange, but I found this to be an encouraging game. Coach must have done some good work at halftime. I thought our main PG looked good, too. The first half should be deleted from memory, but the second half should be inspirational for the development of the program. Way to hang in there, Pioneers!
Arizona is a legitimate national championship contender this year with some absolute NBA caliber studs. I think overall this was encouraging and hopefully guys can learn and continue to get better. If they can be competitive in the Summit then that meets all my expectations.
Agreed with all the sentiment. Great to see a hard-fought second half that builds on the confidence from the CSU game. Excited for the rest of the season and hoping they maintain this momentum and caliber heading into summit league play.