DU men’s basketball halted a three-game losing streak on Jan. 14 with a win at home against the Western Illinois Leathernecks (WIU).
After battling the first half to gain and keep a lead, DU (8-10, 2-3 Summit League) changed their approach for the second half and began to pull ahead, beating WIU (7-8, 2-3 Summit League) 68-54.
“We made a little adjustment with what we’ve been seeing in our offense,” head coach Joe Scott said. “And that little adjustment worked.”
WIU took an early lead despite the fact that DU stole the ball on the first possession. After some early foul trouble, DU took their first lead six minutes into the game on a layup by senior guard Cam Griffin. That lead was quickly relinquished and the game was back and forth for most of the first half until DU began to gain momentum towards the end of the half, where they once had a 7 point lead. However, WIU crept back, capitalizing on DU’s fouls and tied up the game 31-31 on a buzzer-beater shot to end the first half.
The Pioneers took control after halftime; with the help of tougher defense, including a full-court press, DU held the lead for the rest of the game. However, foul trouble followed DU: freshman center Christian Mackey fouled out of the game halfway into the second half, leaving the already small team without one of their centers.
Size did not seem to be an issue for the Pioneers, however. Denver scored an unprecedented 46 points in the paint to WIU’s eight points and out-rebounded WIU 33-20. Consistency was key for DU’s win. Nine of 10 players scored for the Pioneers.
“[Consistency] really is what we’re working on so it’s big for us to come out, play well, and have a good Denver basketball game,” Scott said.
Griffin had his second double-double of the season, scoring 16 points and collecting 10 rebounds. He was the lead scorer for the Pioneers. Junior guard Jalen Love was the second-leading scorer for DU with 13 points and three rebounds.
Junior guard Nate Engesser recorded a career-high six assists and three steals on the night. Engesser also scored nine points.
“It seems like [Engesser] was pretty focused tonight,” Scott said.
This was only the Pioneers’ third game back at full strength, as freshman center Daniel Amigo has missed ten games this season due to a knee injury.
“Now we’re back to where we might be full strength but we haven’t had enough time to really gel and find the rotations . . . but it’s always nice to get a win,” Scott said. “We know we have the pieces, it’s when it’s all going to come together.”
DU had a week before their next game on Jan. 21 against Oral Roberts University. This will be the first time the two teams have ever played each other, as Oral Roberts is new addition to the Summit League Conference.
“We’ve got to take it one game at a time. We’ve got to prepare for a team that we haven’t played . . . but it’s about us, it’s not about who we’re playing, what they do, what their record is,” Scott said. “You have to eliminate the circumstances and focus on what our vision is so that we just keep moving forward.”
The Pioneers will play Oral Robers at 6 p.m. in Magness Arena on Jan. 21.
