Ice cold shooting and a leaky defense led to a runaway rout by Wyoming at Hamilton Gym. It didn’t help that DU’s Carson Johnson struggled all game long and Wyoming was deadly in the paint, performed rim rattling dunks and hammered home threes from distance. It-was-not-pretty.
It was a sluggish first five minutes, capped by a Cam Martin tray and an 8-5 Denver lead. Denver maintained the advantage at the 10 minute mark following a Logan Threatt layup, 13-12. Things began to unravel following an Oskar Stumer free throw, 18-18, at 7:01. The Cowboys outscored Denver 18-6 down the stretch to build a commanding 36-24 edge at halftime. Denver shot a tepid 8-27 from the field (29.6%) and 3-13 from beyond the arc.
Denver’s poor shooting and rebounding disadvantage carried over to the second half. Two minutes in, Shaun Wysocki whittled the margin to 8 on a jumper but that was as close as the Pioneers could get to Wyoming. A tray by the Cowboys Parker Gerrits extended the lead to 13 points, 45-32. Over the next five minutes, Wyoming added 11 additional points to 3 for the home team to build a 21 point lead following a three-point make by Uriyah Rojas, 56-35. The Cowboys were off to the races. The bulge grew to 34 points at the five minute mark as the teams emptied their benches. Wyoming put the final accent on the game when Rojas buried a three-point jumper with 8 seconds left. Final score, 76-53.
Probably no one stat line reflected the game better than Carson Johnson’s numbers as he went 1-9 from the field, 1-7 from beyond the arc. Johnson is the heartbeat of this team and if he is having a bad game, Denver is having a bad game. Denver struggled on both ends of the court. Denver was 5-27 from beyond the arc for 18.52% while the Cowboys landed 10 of 33 (30.3%). Field goal shooting by Denver was only 17-53 (32%) compared to 46% shooting from the field by Wyoming. Wyoming hauled in 48 caroms to only 28 for Denver, a difference of 20 possessions. This was no way to start a season home opener but it was an off night all-around for the Denver Pioneers.
Denver should have an easier time of it Monday when they play University of Colorado-Colorado Springs at 8 pm MT at Hamilton Gym.