A historic split for the men’s basketball team, a great effort from the women’s gymnastic squad on the road and a meet sweep for the swim and dive squad.
Here’s what happened last week in University of Denver athletics.
Men’s Basketball
DU men’s basketball split their home conference slate this past week after an all-time classic matchup against South Dakota on Thursday night and falling to Omaha by 19 Saturday afternoon.
Thursday’s contest spoiled the fans inside Hamilton Gymnasium as they got to see a tremendous ending to the 111-110 victory. A back and forth second half prompted South Dakota to tie the game with 19 seconds left and force overtime. Fifteen points later in overtime, fifth year Tommy Bruner forced a second overtime period after he drained a three pointer and forced a foul for a four point play. A 96-96 tie heading into double overtime turned into a Denver win, after a game winning shot from senior guard Isaiah Addo-Ankrah with two seconds left lifted them to a one point margin.
Bruner dropped a record 49 points in the contest. That is the most in Bruner’s collegiate career, the most in Division One basketball this season by any player and the most in a game in Denver basketball history.
The great momentum did not trickle into Saturday’s matchup against Omaha and the Mavericks downed Denver in their second meeting this season. Denver could not climb out of an early deficit in the first half despite forcing a lot more turnovers than Omaha.
Bruner recorded his 16th 20+ point game and added three rebounds and four assists to his effort. Graduate guard Jaxon Brenchley dropped 11 points, three rebounds, three assists and three steals in the defeat.
DU will take to the road this week and match up against Kansas City on Thursday night and Oral Roberts Saturday afternoon. Both games are available to stream on the Summit League Network.
Women’s Basketball
Denver women’s basketball fell to 4-16 on the season after dropping their two Summit League matches this past week. They fell to South Dakota on Thursday night, 70-78, and Omaha Saturday afternoon, 77-80.
In Thursday’s contest against the Coyotes, DU jumped to an early deficit of 15 that they could never climb out of. Denver had a decent night shooting from three point land and registered 11 threes of 31 attempts. Sophomore guard Jordan Jones recorded a double double in the contest including a team high 18 points and 10 rebounds.
Denver found more offense in Saturday’s matchup against Omaha and held a 10 point lead heading into halftime. Despite out-rebounding and forcing more turnovers, Denver’s lead spoiled in the second half and the Mavericks defeated DU by three. Sophomore guard Angelina Robles had her best career game and dropped 28 points in the loss. Graduate forward Makayla Minett also picked up 20 points and added 18 rebounds as well.
The team returns home for two more Summit League contests this week. They will host Kansas City Thursday night and Oral Roberts on Saturday afternoon. Both games are available to stream on the Summit League Network.
Men’s Hockey
DU men’s hockey was swept by rival conference opponent North Dakota this past weekend in Grand Forks, North Dakota. DU fell 2-5 Friday night and 2-4 Saturday night.
After a scoreless first period in Friday’s contest, North Dakota scored three goals in the second to lift them to their second victory over Denver this season. Sophomore forward Aidan Thompson and freshman defenseman Zeev Buium scored the two goals for Denver in the contest.
In Saturday’s matchup, the game was tied at two heading into the third period. A major penalty and game misconduct from junior defensemen Sean Behrens proved to be costly for the Crimson and Gold who allowed two game winning goals off the five minute penalty kill. Freshman forward Sam Harris scored his fifth goal of the season and sophomore forward Jared Wright also tallied in the contest.
The squad will return home for another NCHC series against Western Michigan on Friday and Saturday. Both games are slated to be broadcasted on Altitude Network.
Women’s Gymnastics
Denver gymnastics traveled to Norman, Oklahoma to take part in a dual meet against No. 1 Oklahoma. Amidst rotation shuffles, Denver put up a good effort but fell short by less than a point to the Sooners.
Senior Jessica Hutchinson took home another all-around title and boasted a career high score of 39.725. Hutchinson’s three 9.950 scores on the vault, beam and floor events led her to her best career performance.
Freshman Madison Ulrich improved her all-around score by .150 and captured a 39.550 and third place all-around score. Ulrich had her best event on the floor where she recorded a season high 9.925 and she also recorded her first 9.900 on bars as well.
Denver will travel back home and host Towson University in their next meet at Magness Arena. The meet is slated for Feb. 4 with a start time of 1:45 p.m.
Swim and Dive
Both DU swim and dive squads dominated their Sprint Eliminator meet this week against Seattle and Air Force. The men won their side of the meet by 139 points while the women one-upped and won by a margin of 147 points.
Four Sprint Eliminator records were broken in the 28 event wins for Denver. Graduate student Erika Remington recorded a record 22.74 in the 50 meter freestyle prelim race. Junior Jessica Maeda broke the previous record in the 50 meter breaststroke semifinals event and then broke her own record by .13 of a second in the finals event. Junior Marco Nosak broke the 200 individual medley record also in the finals portion of the meet.
Denver’s divers will participate in the Air Force Diving Invite this week. Prelim action starts on Thursday and ends on Saturday.
Women’s Tennis
DU women’s tennis was in Durham, North Carolina this past week participating in the ITA Kickoff Weekend. DU first competed against Auburn University on Friday and fell 0-4 to the Tigers. They then competed against Princeton University the next day and fell 3-4 in the matchup.
DU kicked off the weekend with a 0-4 loss at the hands of Auburn. Both doubles matches resulted in 4-6 losses, while on the individual side, all three single matches finished in straight sets.
The squad found more success in the individual matches in Saturday’s matchup. Sophomore Alice Otis won her matchup in straight sets, sophomore Caroline Driscoll also won her matchup in straight sets via a second set tiebreaker and sophomore Louise Wilkander won her match due to retirement of her opponent.
The Crimson and Gold will host Kansas State for a match on Friday and Iowa on Saturday. Both matches will be held at Denver Tennis Park.
Men’s Tennis
The men’s tennis squad picked up two match wins this past weekend on the road. They defeated Western Michigan 5-2 on Saturday and Purdue 4-3 on Sunday.
Denver picked up the doubles points to start off Saturday’s contest. Graduate students Marvin Schaber and Anish Sriniketh combined for a 6-0 win over their doubles opponent. Senior Nicolas Herrero Cuesta and junior Rikuto Yamaguchi combined to capture the doubles point via a 6-4 victory.
Sriniketh and senior Charlie Miller each won their singles matches in straight sets while Herrero Cuesta and junior Daniel Sancho Arbizu won their singles matches in three sets.
In Sunday’s 4-3 victory against the Boilermakers, the Crimson and Gold could not pick up the doubles point. But singles victories from Herrero Cuesta, Sancho Arbizu, Schaber, and Sriniketh lifted Denver to their second consecutive match win.
DU will hope to keep the great momentum going into their next matchup against Utah. The match will be held at Denver Tennis Park on Friday at 5 p.m.
