Photo by:
The DU men’s basketball team lost at home for the first time in Sun Belt Conference play this season, falling to South Alabama on Sunday afternoon in a game that would have given them a full game lead in the West Division heading into the final week of the regular season.
With the loss, the Pioneers (13-14) drop to 9-5 in conference and into a three-way tie for first place with Louisiana Lafayette and Arkansas State with two road games looming.
The Pioneers blew a 31-17 halftime lead, losing 48-47, after allowing the Jaguars to take a 46-45 lead on a Gary Redus three-pointer with 90 seconds to play. Redus was able to drain the big basket, because sophomore Chase Hallam dived after the ball attempting to steal it.
DU had a chance to tie the game late, but junior Brian Stafford made only two of three free throw attempts after being fouled behind the arc.
“He [Brian] is our best foul shooter, that’s not why we lost the game,” said head coach Joe Scott. “Guys miss foul shots sometimes, but we lost because we didn’t execute on offense and we embolden South Alabama to comeback.”
Before the contest could end, the Pioneers had a pair of other opportunities to try and tie the game. Scott called a timeout seconds before Hallam drained a three-pointer. Then he used the team’s last timeout with seven seconds remaining with the Jaguars heading to the line.
Redus missed his first free throw attempt and freshman Chris Udofia grabbed the rebound for DU; however, the team couldn’t advance the ball down court as time expired.
“If I would have known it was going to go in I wouldn’t have called the timeout,” said Scott of the timeout on the offensive end. “I thought the timeout was needed there.”
Despite a solid effort from Hallam, who finished with a game-high 15 points and a career-high 12 rebounds, the Pioneers could not hold off the Jaguars’ comeback.
The team was plagued by seven turnovers in the second half and a horrendous 25 percent shooting percentage from the field, scoring only 16 second-half points.
“Give them credit for the comeback, but I don’t think they were capable of what they did until we let them do it,” said Scott. “We turned the game into a challenge for ourselves by missing open shots and some easy layups.”
Denver was dominant on the defensive end, holding USA to 20.8 shooting percentage in the first half; however, Scott was quick to pick up on the one second half mistake that allowed the Jaguars to take their first lead since the beginning of the game.
“A defensive mistake can be the difference in a game,” said Scott of the failed steal attempt with 1:30 to play. “I don’t think you can fault our defense though. It wasn’t our defense, it was our execution.”
DU finally fell at home in the final home game for seniors Kyle and Rob Lewis.
In order to clinch a first round bye in the SBC postseason tournament, the team will need to win at least one of its final two games, which is no easy task considering DU has dropped its last four road games.
Scott acknowledged the race for the top spot in the West Division is a lot tighter now with his team’s loss; however, he noted the situation this week would have been no different had the Pioneers won.
“We knew nothing was going to be won or lost today,” said Scott. “If we would have won [today], we would have had to be successful on the road – that was the case either way. We are in the same position, and we got to be successful on the road.”
DU takes on ULL on Thursday night, and then travels to Denton, Texas, in a rematch game against the defending conference champions North Texas on Saturday.
ULL has won its last nine games, the longest streak in the conference, while UNT will be looking to avenge a loss earlier this season at Magness Arena.
“In a weird way, I think this situation is a good thing for us,” said Scott. “We have to be resilient in late February. If you don’t play well in this time of the season, then you’re not going to win. No team is going to fold and give you a game this late in the season.”
