Denver men’s basketball opened their season Monday night at the Kohl Center against the University of Wisconsin in Madison, Wisconsin. Denver opened with 2 returning players and 12 newcomers and the Badgers opened with 7 returning players and 8 new faces. The Pioneers pregame goal was to slow down 7’0″ senior forward Nolan Winter, the Badgers top scorer and Big 10 all-conference preseason team. Denver held Winter to 6 points and Carson Johnson posted 27 points in keeping the Pioneers in contact with the Badgers. Denver collapsed the Badgers lead to 4 points with under nine minutes to go but could get no closer in the closing minutes,
Wisconsin jumped out to a 12-7 lead at the first commercial break. Carson Johnson led DU with 5 points early. Not surprisingly, Wisconsin was attacking Denver in the paint with the Badgers superior size. Denver drew even, 12-12, at 13:40 as Denver’s Kam Martin started heating up. DU trailed at the midway mark by four points. A quick 5 points from Denver’s Jordan Rogers pulled Denver within 2 points, 22-20. A CJ Hyland tray pulled DU within one point with 8 minutes remaining in the half. Carson Johnson hit 14 points and half of DU’s 28 points and DU trailed by 3 at the 5:30 mark. A 13-0 run by the Badgers over the next five minutes, scoring in every way possible, blew open the first period as DU went ice cold from the field. Oskar Stumer stopped the siege with two free throws to cement the final halftime score at 44-30. Wisconsin outrebounded Denver 22-11 in the paint and shot a sizzling 52.8% from the floor while DU cooled down with 34.6% field goal shooting.
Shaun Wysocki opened the second half with a baseline jam. A Johnson jumper pulled the deficit to 10 points early. A Cam Martin free throw stopped a 7-point run by the Badgers, 51-35. Carson Johnson collected his 19th point five minutes into the second half. as the Pioneers trailed 53-40. A Carson Johnson jumper shrunk the Badgers lead to 9 points with 11 minutes to go. Wysocki capped an 8 point run, 55-48. Logan Threatt collapsed the Wisconsin lead to 6, 56-50. At under the 9 minute mark, Johnson sliced the lead to 4 points. The Badgers then went on a 7-point run to build an 11-point lead, 65-54. With 5 minutes remaining, two free throws from Kam Martin held the margin to 9 points. Johnson and Dimmock cut the lead to 7 points with 2:14 remaining. A Carson Johnson layup and two Logan Threatt free throws scored the last points of the game and a 75-68 final.
Denver had a solid second half and came within 4 rebounds of the bigger Badgers for the game. Carson Johnson led Denver with 27 points while Kam Martin and Jordan Rogers chipped in with 9 points each.
Next up for Denver is a game Saturday against UC Riverside in Riverside, California (ESPN+/5:30 pm MT).
I don’t believe in ‘Moral Victories’, but holding a solid Big 10 team to a 7-point win on the road is about as solid a start as DU could possibly hope for. The Badgers were a 24-point favorite, and the Pios made them sweat. If they play this well in WCC play, the Pios will be pretty competitive in the league.
Let’s enjoy Carson Johnson this year – a lot of basketball powers have already been waving big money at him to leave DU, and it is a minor miracle that he stayed here this season out of loyalty to DU and its coaches. Popping off for 27 against UW is only going to make the offers bigger at the end of the season.
Excellent effort by DU! Thanks for the fine article.
An extremely promising start to the season for the Pios! Just like last year, they battled hard to the very end. With 12 new guys, you can only expect things to get better. This team already showed more effort and connection on the defensive end.
We have something very special in CJ20! Going to need some guys to step up and knock down shots to help take some of the defensive attention off of him. But dang, he is fun to watch!!
Competitive performance against a legit P5 basketball team on the road. If they can win a handful of conference matchups and otherwise be competitive in the rest I think that would be considered a success. Being middle of the pack in WCC is a solid, obtainable long term goal for this program.
Ugh should have taken the points