The DU men’s basketball team ended its season with a 13-17 overall record, following a narrow 53-49 loss to Florida International in the first round of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament in Hot Springs, Ark on Saturday March 5.
“I’m working hard to not allow the last six days [of our season] to overwhelm the season as a whole, because we did make progress,” said head coach Joe Scott, regarding the end of the season. “It was the first time in our program that we were in first place right from the get go, so we did make progress in that area, and it is something for us to build off of.”
Though the season didn’t initially begin and end as the Pioneers would have hoped, they still gave fans an impressive performance with an eight-game winning streak in the middle of the season.
Despite that, the team suffered from a 2-9 start at the beginning of the year and a four game losing streak to conclude the season.
The win streak was intensified when the Pioneers gained a huge overtime victory against eventual SBC tournament champion Arkansas-Little Rock on Jan 2.
Two games later, the Pioneers delivered another strong home performance against Florida International with a 79-70 victory in overtime.
Sophomore guard Chase Hallam was named StatSheet Sun Belt Player of the week for Feb. 15. Senior guard Kyle Lewis and freshman forward Chris Udofia also added to the 2010-2011 season excitement when each were named StatSheet Sun Belt 6th Man of the Week.
Hallam was honored to the Second Team All-Sun Belt at the conclusion of the season, averaging 12.5 points and 4.5 rebounds
The Pioneers performance did not go unnoticed by fans in Magness Arena. In fact, attendance skyrocketed an astonishing 60% from the 2009-10 season.
“It’s not just the team, the players and the coaches – it’s everybody. We are all doing this together. I think when you do it that way, and you have a little bit of success, you are going to see the kids start to get involved,” said Scott.
Next season looks to be very hopeful for the DU men’s basketball team with its incoming talent. While three players have already been signed, including two locals from Highland’s Ranch, Marcus Byrd and Brett Olson, and a player from Iowa, Jake Logan. According to Scott, more players will be added to the roster as Lewis and senior forward Rob Lewis are going to be graduating.
With talented athletes, knowledgeable and driven coaches and a sturdy training program, next year looks promising for the Pioneers.
