Denver men’s basketball (7-8) traveled to Tulsa (12-1) on Monday afternoon to play the once-defeated Tulsa Golden Hurricanes. The non-conference finale was the final dress rehearsal before DU’s Summit League opener on New Year’s Eve. Tulsa pulled away in the final five minutes of the game but not before Denver threw a scare into the Golden Hurricanes, responding time and again, in a display of resilience. DU played one of its most complete games of the pre-season, despite going 6-23 from three-point range.
At the end of the first five minutes of the first half, a Gabe Oldham layup pulled the Pioneers within one point of Tulsa, 10-9. A Logan Kinsey driving layup maintained the narrow deficit at the midway mark, 22-21. With 5:30 remaining, Miles Barnstable gave the Golden Hirricanes their biggest lead following a three-point make, 36-27. While Denver trailed by 9 points, they kept charging back against Tulsa. Logan Kinsey and Jeremiah Burke scored for Denver down the stretch to narrow the Golden Hurricanes advantage at halftime, 42-38. DU outrebounded Tulsa in the half but went 1-7 from three-point range.
Five minutes into the second half, a Tulsa layup pulled the Golden Hurricane lead to 51-46. A pair of Logan Kinsey free throws at the midway mark pulled the teams even, 57-57. With 8:34 remaining, Carson Johnson buried two free throws to pull even, again, 61-61. Following a Tulsa scoring run, Denver trailed 72-66 with five minutes remaining. A Johnson floater closed the gap, 72-68, with four minutes to go. Tulsa started to pull away again, but several strikes from the Pioneers and a three-point make from Johnson brought the game back to four points, 85-89. Steals by DU and Tulsa turnovers and fouls in the final minute gave DU hope. A three-point miss by Johnson with under 10 seconds missed the mark and pesky Denver fell 90-85.
This was by far the Pioneers best effort of the pre-season – on both ends of the floor. Tulsa has an excellent team and DU battled them ‘even-up’ on the road for most of the game. Denver matched Tulsa’s 41 rebounds, and while DU had 15 turnovers, they took much better care of the ball. Carson Johnson had 20 points and Gabe Oldham pulled down 11 boards. Tulsa collected 54 points in the paint, a continued area of vulnerability for Denver. Overall, DU delivered a very good performance against Tulsa to complete a challenging non-conference schedule.
Next up is the Summit League opener at Hamilton Gym on Wednesday, December 31st at 2:00 pm MT.
Broken-record alert- DU cannot give up 90 points and expect to win against anyone.
That said, DU knows exactly what it needs to do be ready for league play. The potential is clearly there for upset wins here and there with a strong and deep offense, but honestly, this DU defense has not yet shown the ability to shut down D-I level opponents, and until they can fix that, an upper-echelon Summit finish is unlikely this year.
Clearly, they have been working on things and are getting better with each other. Defense, far more than offense, is about connection and communication. Some that weren’t giving full effort on that end earlier are doing better now or not playing as much. Tulsa hit some tough shots yesterday and their size definitely hurt inside at times. But no just easy spot up 3s, shooters were forced into tough shots, drivers were contested at the basket. Tulsa is a good team, currently in the top 40 in NET rankings. We had our chances all the way to the end and gave them a way better game than they probably imagined.
I can’t wait to watch this team continue to get better and better and prove so many people wrong.
Dunker to Puck: I can’t disagree with what you said above. However, we will play numerous games against teams in the Summit who won’t be all that athletic. DU isn’t that athletic. Opponents totals will comedown. We will or should win a decent number of those games. DU has shown the ability to shoot well, but we won’t do that in every game. The question remains, can our defense play just well enough to win some games when our shooting is off? Big if.
Overall I’m pretty happy with what I see. The new players have exceeded my expectations. We’ve won some D1 road games.
The old adage is still true. Offense comes and goes. Defense travels. If DU can’t at least finish in the middle of the pack, I’ll be disappointed. Summit hoops will be down this season.
Being the Summit’s lame duck school, expect shit ref calls. Summit refs will never see us again. They get graded by coaches after each game and they’ll want to keep their Summit gigs.
Yesterday proved they are able to stay with teams when the shots are off. Didn’t shoot it as well as normal from 3 for sure. But their defense kept them in the game
I do disagree with the headline, it says “finishes strong.” They did finish strong, but they played really good for about 36 minutes in a tough road environment against a good team. This team is tough.
I also think this team is much more athletic that people may give them credit for. We don’t have an overly athletic big, we we have some good athleticism with the guards and wings.
But agree 100% that defense and effort always travel!
Curious. Besides Dunker, Puck, and 5bwest, how many of you anonymous posters watch almost every game? Dunker has no life, so he watches every game.
I watch every single game. I sometimes forget to type my name on here and it posts an anonymous because the other message board I am on, it stays logged in and I don’t have to type my username all the time.