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It’s not easy to overcome defeat, but the DU men’s basketball team has made a habit of it this season, following each of its four losses with four standout victories.
The Pioneers (14-4, 4-1 SBC) avenged a 79-75 Wednesday loss at Colorado State with a dominant performance against conference-foe Western Kentucky on Sunday afternoon in Magness Arena.
The Pioneers advanced to 4-1 in conference play with the 78-65 victory over the Hilltoppers, but more importantly, the team maintained this season’s standard of avoiding back-to-back losses.
“If we can maintain what we’re doing after a loss, then that’s got to be a pretty good character trait,” said head coach Joe Scott. “There are a lot of ups and downs in this long season. You don’t win every game, but you don’t let the losses stay with you. I talked to our guys about that—move on from the last game, move on from the last play and learn from it.”
Sophomore forward Chris Udofia led the team on Sunday with 20 points and 11 rebounds, recording his third career double-double.
Freshman guard Royce O’Neale also had a career afternoon, finishing with a career-high 16 points off the bench.
DU’s defense was impenetrable in the first half, limiting WKU to a mere 16 points on 25 percent shooting from the field. The Hilltoppers were held scoreless until the 13:38 mark in the first half.
“We have to give our guys credit because they executed our game plan from the opening tip,” said Scott. “They have some good young players, but I wanted us to make them play like freshmen and I think we did a good job of making their youth come out.”
The Pioneers took a 43-16 lead into the half only to see the Hilltoppers collect a total of 49 second-half points. However, the lead was never cut to fewer than 13 points despite a late run from WKU.
“I think we did a pretty good job at maintaining the lead, because they never got it closer than 13,” said Scott. “I told the team on the bench, probably too early, that they did everything I wanted them to do. Can we learn from this? Of course. Every game helps you learn something about yourself.”
Although the defense looked sluggish in the second half, it wasn’t nearly as poor as the team’s effort on the road against Colorado State last Wednesday.
The Pioneers finished with a season best 62.9 field goal percentage, but allowed the Rams easy baskets and 31 free throw attempts.
“I thought the tone was set early; defensively, we weren’t physical enough and we weren’t ready to guard their dribblers,” said Scott after the loss. “I think that made CSU pretty confident early on. To be successful on the road, you have to somehow find a way to take the home court advantage away from them, and the way to do that is with defense. Our guys know that we can do that, but we didn’t tonight. We need to develop that persona on a consistent basis and play like that every game.”
During the loss, senior guard Brian Stafford moved into the top five of DU’s all-time career scorers, finishing with a game-high 24 points.
The Pioneers’ 14-4 record marks the team’s best NCAA Division I start in program history.
They look to continue their strong start on the road this week when they travel to Louisiana Monroe Thursday night. They conclude the road trip at North Texas on Saturday at 6 p.m.
