Denver hoped to start a home winning streak that would carry them through the rest of regular season and into the Summit League Tournament after a win against Nebraska-Omaha; however, close conference losses to the first-place North Dakota State University (NDSU) Bison and the Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) Jaguars left the Pioneers with losses in four out of their last five games.
DU fell to NDSU for the second time this year on Feb. 12, in overtime 73-69. The Bison started the game with a 10-0 run and held the lead the entire game. The most DU could do was tie the game late in the second half.
With 2:03 left in regulation, the Pioneers pulled within three with a dunk made by senior guard Cam Griffin (San Antonio, Texas)—the closest they had been the whole game. Nevertheless, NDSU retained the lead until senior guard Brett Olson (Highlands Ranch, Colorado) tied up the game with 11 seconds remaining. NDSU guard Lawrence Alexander drained a three to give the Bison the lead again, but Olson sent the game to overtime on a buzzer-beater half-court shot.
All drama aside, Denver was unable to get the win in overtime. The Pioneers struggled to keep the Bison’s Alexander—who finished the game with 28 points—and red-shirt freshman A.J. Jacobson—19 points—from scoring throughout the game, eventually leading to DU’s demise.
“We picked up the pace on them [in the second half],” DU head coach Joe Scott said. “Our defense just got better. Once we got back in the game, what hurt us was we gave up a three. I thought overall we really kept our poise and did the things we had to do to put us in that position.”
Olson led DU in scoring with 22 points, but did not score in overtime. His final three-pointer tied him for tenth on DU’s all-time scoring list. Griffin and junior guard Nate Engesser (Colorado Springs, Colorado) also scored in double digits, with 15 and 10 points respectively. Griffin additionally posted eight rebounds and five steals, moving him into eighth place in Denver’s career steals leaders with 134.
“It’s tough losing this one at home,” Olson said. “They’re the no. 1 team in our league right now and it would have been great to get a win, get our confidence back.”
DU was unable to stop IUPUI on Feb. 14, then losing their second close game in three days 54-53 to the Jaguars despite carrying the lead for most of the game.
DU led 30-20 going into halftime, but IUPUI began to creep back in the second half, and eventually took the lead with two minutes remaining in the game.
Freshman guard Cam Delaney (Harker Heights, Texas) started in place of injured junior Jalen Love (Wichita, Kansas) for the first time in his career. Delaney scored his first points of his career with five rebounds and three steals.
“[Delaney] definitely does things that this team needs: loose balls, rebounds, little more defensive presence out in the front of our defense,” Scott said. “He’s going to have his chance to poke his head out and if he can do that it’s going to help us through February and it’s definitely going to help us in the coming future.”
Olson was only the Pioneer to score in double digits on Feb. 14. His 18 points would put him in seventh place on DU’s all-time scoring list with 1,383 total career points.
The Pioneers play their last home game on Feb. 19 at 7 p.m. in Magness Arena against Indiana University-Purdue Fort Wayne before finishing out their season the road.
“Hopefully, we can get these few at home and then steal a few at on the road. That’s what it comes down to,” Olson said.
Denver only has four games remaining before the Summit League Tournament starts on March 7, in which the winner is guaranteed a place in the NCAA Tournament.
