Photo by: Ryan Lumpkin
The University of Denver’s men’s basketball team plays Western Kentucky tonight at 7:30 p.m. MT in Hot Springs, Ark. after winning 61-50 in last night’s Sun Belt Conference quarterfinal contest against South Alabama.
The No. 3-seeded Pioneers (22-8, 12-5) enter the SBC semifinals for only the second time under head coach Joe Scott, winning six of their last seven games and continuing to set new school records for wins in a single season.
With the No. 1-seeded Middle Tennessee and No. 2-seeded Arkansas-Little Rock losing last night in the quarterfinals, DU is the highest seed remaining in the tournament.
“What I was most happy about was that we played exactly the way we finished the season, and we looked exactly the way we looked last Sunday at home,” said Scott after the victory. “We looked very similar to that except we were crisper on offense. We didn’t start that way, but we didn’t let it bother us. We played good defense and showed a lot of poise, and we stepped up at critical times in the game.”
As for the Hilltoppers (13-18, 9-9) they enter the contest as the No. 7-seeded team in the SBC tournament after upsetting UALR 68-63 last night in Summit Arena.
The Pioneers must contain freshman guard Derrick Gordon if they want to play in Tuesday’s SBC Championship game. Gordon finished with 25 points and 15 rebounds last night and is making a strong case for tournament MVP as he has the Hilltoppers surging into the semifinals.
WKU has won four in a row, including a pair of games in the tournament. On Saturday, the Hilltoppers edged Florida International 68-63 in the tournament’s first round to advance to the quarterfinals.
Despite early foul trouble from sophomore forward and SBC Defensive Player of the Year Chris Udofia, the Pioneers were able to squeak out a quarterfinal win over the Jaguars behind strong performances from their co-captains Brian Stafford and Rob Lewis, who each finished with 14 points last night.
Freshman Royce O’Neale recorded his third career double-double in the game, finishing with 11 points and 10 rebounds.
With the win, the Pioneers improve to 22-1 on the season when holding their opponents to 65 points or under.
In the only regular season meeting against WKU, Denver was able to jump out to an early first half lead and close out a 78-65 victory in front of their home crowd at Magness Arena.
Tonight’s game will be broadcast live on the Sun Belt Network, ESPN Full Court and ESPN3.com. Fans can listen live on AM 1510 or FM 93.7, and follow the action via a live blog available at DenverPioneers.com.
