Two different teams took the floor this past weekend, both claiming to be the Pioneers.
Or at least that’s what it seemed like.

Thursday’s game against Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne (Fort Wayne) Mastodons ended in heartbreak by a score of 67-64, as sophomore guard Bryant Rucker’s potential game-tying three fell off the mark at the buzzer.

Senior forward Chris Udofia was limited to 29 minutes because of early foul trouble, and eventually fouled out along with starting sophomore guard Jalen Love in the second half.

Denver led by as many as nine with 11:16 left to play in the second half, but was hindered by fouls and turnovers down the stretch, despite hitting 51.1 percent of their field goals. The Pios committed a total of 15 turnovers that led to 28 points for Fort Wayne. The Mastodons remain undefeated in league play, and improved to 15-5 on the year.

Saturday night yielded a totally different result.

“I think most importantly we played consistently throughout 40 minutes,” said head coach Joe Scott. “And we played consistently as IUPUI played a pretty difficult defense to play against. Our guys were very consistent in staying with our concepts and I think they sort of broke through on their own in the first half with that.”

Down 11-4 with 12:29 left to play in the half, Denver went on a 21-0 run to go up 25-11 with under four to play in the first half, and never looked back.

The Pios rode the coattails of Udofia and junior guard Brett Olson on the way to an impressive 66-45 win over the Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) Jaguars, to get their first Summit League win, and improve to 8-10 overall.

“You know if we get Chris Udofia playing well at a really high level and Jalen Love and Brett Olson are doing the things to help him do that, we’re going to play well,” Scott said. “We’re going to be a really good team.”

Udofia finished with 16 points, eight rebounds and six assists, all team highs for the game. Olson also got to 200 career assists on a fast break bounce pass that led to a ferocious two-handed dunk by Udofia. Olson went three for five beyond the arc on the way to 15 points.

“I had no idea I was so close to 200 assists,” Olson said. “It means a lot, and that’s my role on this team, to make plays for other guys and when my shots are there, take them. I’m just trying to help other guys out, and I guess that’s a good mark for me so I’m very proud of that.”

Unlike Thursday’s game against Fort Wayne, DU won the turnover battle, committing only eight turns, and forcing IUPUI into 12, which the Pios converted into 18 points.

“I think we just stuck to what we do, and no matter what the other team is doing defensively. We just started playing our type of basketball, finding the open guys, and we were able to knock down some shots, I think it all started on the defensive end too, we started getting stops, and when we get stops defensively I think it translates over to our offense,” said Olson

The Pios head to Omaha to take on the University of Nebraska Omaha (1-2, 11-7 overall) this Thursday.