The Pioneer men’s basketball team extended its win streak to six straight games over the weekend, defeating Utah State 63-60 in overtime on Thursday and topping San Jose State 62-41 on Saturday night.
After the weekend, DU (17-8 overall) sits at No. 2 in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) with a 13-2 conference record, second only to Louisiana Tech’s perfect 14-0 WAC record. With the victories, Denver moved into College Insider’s Men’s Mid-Major Top 25, ranked No. 21.
Sophomore guard Brett Olson led Denver with the first and last bucket of Thursday’s game in Logan, Utah, scoring a buzzer-beating three-pointer in overtime to secure the 63-60 victory and posting a team-high 17 points.
Sophomore Royce O’Neale, senior Chase Hallam and junior Chris Udofia all scored in double digits as well, recording 14, 13 and 10 points, respectively. O’Neale and Udofia added five assists each, and Hallam posted three steals.
“It was a great college basketball game,” said head coach Joe Scott. “You have to give Utah State credit. They’ve dealt with an unbelievable amount of adversity this season, and their players and coaches have re-gathered themselves and are playing well. Our guys stayed calm the whole time tonight. We battled all game and came up big at the end.”
Denver led by as many as nine points in the final eight minutes of the game, but Utah State was able to close the gap with solid free-throw shooting to send the contest into overtime. The overtime period was closely contested, with the Pioneers and the Aggies exchanging leads multiple times. In total, the score was tied seven times during the contest.
In the final 15 seconds of the game, sophomore Cam Griffin faked a drive to the basket and shot a pass out to Olson, who drained a three-pointer as the clock expired. The Pioneers finished the contest shooting 46.8 percent from the field and 36.8 percent from the three-point range.
Denver carried the momentum from Thursday’s victory into their final conference road game of the regular season in San Jose, Calif., on Saturday. In the 62-41 victory, Udofia scored his 1,000th career point in a 13-point, five-rebound, five-assist, five-steal performance.
Udofia’s 13 points marked a team high, while his five steals set a new career high. After the weekend, Udofia was named the WAC Player of the Week.
“Chris has played well all season, so it’s nice to see him recognized by the WAC,” said Scott after the game. “He is at his best when he’s getting a lot of rebounds, assists, blocks and steals to go along with 10 to 15 points per game, and that’s exactly what he did in two big road wins for us last week.”
The Pioneers improved their shooting from Thursday night, finishing at 53.3 percent from the field and 42.9 percent from beyond the arc. The team also shot 100 percent from the free-throw line, draining eight of eight.
San Jose State, No. 7 in the WAC, finished the night with 18 turnovers, resulting in 21 points for Denver. The Spartans shot only 31.7 percent from the floor and 18.8 percent from the three-point range, allowing Denver’s offense to dominate.
“We knew it might be sluggish after a big win on Thursday, but credit our guys for staying in there and battling,” said Scott. “Our defense was really good all night, and our offense finally broke out. San Jose State played extremely hard all night, and we needed to match their competitiveness, and we did.”
This week, the Pioneers will take a break from conference play to participate in the Ramada Worldwide BracketBusters as they take on Northern Iowa on Saturday at 6 p.m. on the road.
Before battling Denver, Northern Iowa (16-11) will take on Missouri State on Tuesday, entering the contest riding a five-game win streak that reaches back to Feb. 2.
The team, a member of the Missouri Valley Conference, is led by senior guard Anthony James, who has recorded 297 points so far this season and is averaging 12.4 points per game. The game will be broadcast on ESPN3.
