After a 73-37 thrashing of San Jose State Thursday night and a 68-57 Saturday night win over Utah State, the DU men’s basketball team has moved up into sole possession of second place in the Western Athletic Conference. The victories extended the Pioneers’ winning streak to seven wins, a season high, and advanced their record to 11-7 overall and 7-1 in the WAC.
After the weekend, Denver trails only Louisiana Tech in the WAC. The Bulldogs, who are the only conference team to have topped DU so far this season with a 68-60 victory on Dec. 29, boast a 7-0 WAC record.
Junior forward Chris Udofia paced DU on Thursday, dropping in 15 points, 11 of which came in the first half, before handing the game over to the bench.
“As you go through a league season, as you go through a year, it’s critical that all your players develop,” said head coach Joe Scott. “Obviously, they all did today.”
The team-wide contributions helped to fuel the big win over a Spartans team that entered with the game with an identical 9-7 overall record to DU. With the loss, San Jose State dropped to 9-8 overall and 3-3 in WAC play.
DU held the Spartans to their lowest point total of the year by a wide margin. San Jose State shot just 28 percent from the floor on the game, while the Pioneers shot 56.3 percent on the way to their lopsided victory.
“It always feels nice to lay a beatdown like that, but we’ve got to get ready for the next game and not get too high on this game,” said senior guard Chase Hallam after Thursday’s win. “We need to be focused on the next one, because the next one [against Utah State] is a big one.”
Against Utah State, the Pioneers were able to capitalize on the Aggie injury woes. Utah State came into Magness Arena without starters Kyisean Reed and Preston Medlin, averaging 12.1 and 16.3 points per game, respectively. Both players were injured during their Thursday night game at New Mexico State, the Aggies’ first loss in 14 games.
Sophomore guard Brett Olson poured in 18 points on the strength of four three pointers to pace the Pioneers, dropping four dimes in the process. Hallam finished with 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting, continuing his run of solid play, which earned him the College Sports Madness WAC Player of the Week award last week.
“We are playing well. The guys know the game plan. We took care of the ball and took good shots,” said Scott. “I’ve seen that type of performance over the course of the past five weeks. We’ve been consistent, and that’s what we’re looking for. We’re looking for the same effort on offense and defense every game, and that’s what we saw tonight.”
This week, the Pioneers will hit the road to take on third-place New Mexico State (6-2 in the WAC) on Wednesday. NMSU has won six games in a row, led by sophomore guard Daniel Mullings, who leads the Aggies with 16.3 points per game in WAC play.
