Denver men’s basketball (15-16, 8-8) completed their regular season Thursday night against ORU in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It was an opportunity to finish the regular season with a winning record and finish +2 in Summit League play and a 7-1 record in their final 8 games to conclude the regular season. Instead, Denver had one of their poorest outings of the season, falling behind by 21 points in the first half and never threatened the Golden Eagles in the humiliating loss.

Denver trailed by as many as 21 points in the first half as ORU’s Ty Harper lit up DU for 23 points in the first twenty minutes. Denver trailed after the first five minutes following a Gabe Oldham layup, 13-9. By the midway point, ORU doubled up Denver, 26-13, with a tray from ORU’s Cal Furnish. With five minutes remaining, ORU grew the margin to 16 off a pair of chaities from Connor Dow. The Golden Eagles built the lead to 21 points before DU’s Josh Lee splashed a tray, 51-33, as the half ended.

Over the first twenty minutes, ORU beat Denver’s defense repeatedly and dominated on the boards. Denver shot 28% from distance while the Golden Eagles shot 50% from beyond the arc and 53.3% from the field. Denver could only muster 11 of 30 from the field in a brutal first half. ORU cleaned the boards 25 times to Denver’s 11 rebounds as the game was all but out of hand in the first half. Zane Nelson led DU scorers with 8 and Gabe Oldham pulled down 4 rebounds. Ultimately, it was shoddy defense that gave ORU 51 points to a meager 33 tally for Denver.

ORU opened the second half with consecutive threes to build a 24-point lead. Carson Johnson caught fire but the Golden Eagles kept matching DU’s scoring effort. Layups by Jeremiah Burke and Sean Wysocki nibbled at the lead, 67-46. Denver was unable to cut into the ORU advantage with ten minutes remaining. ORU’s was glad to trade points with the listless Pioneers and ride their big lead. With 6:09 remaining, Tim Bergstrasser was tossed from the game for arguing officials’ calls. Perhaps the Bergstrasser departure was a calculated move to motivate his team heading into the Tournament and, for tonight, not to witness his struggling team in one of their worst efforts. It was an uneven foul-fest down the stretch as ORU fed Harper in hopes of 50 points on the night. In a pileup of players, Logan Kinsey limped off the court, yet another sour note on the night. ORU’s Ty Harper finished with 47 points and departed the floor in the waning minutes. The Golden Eagles beat the century mark, 102-78, and finished off the Pioneers as the buzzer sounded.

Denver has a week to shake off this performance before the Summit League Tournament in Sioux Falls, SD. DU’s likely opponent in the #4/#5 seed matchup is likely Omaha pending several other games still in action.