Photo by: Michael Furman
Men’s basketball looks for 13th straight home win, faces Florida Atlantic
DU’s men’s basketball team (13-9, 6-5) has won their last 12 home games and desperately need to extend the streak to 13 on Saturday night when they host Florida Atlantic.
The Owls (12-10, 8-3) are on fire, coming in with a five-game winning streak and are tied atop the SBC East Division.
As good as the Pioneers have been in Magness Arena this season; they have been just as bad away from it.
The Pioneers are nursing a season-high eight game road-losing streak.
Because of two road-game losses, DU dropped into the middle of the SBC standings, yet remains only two games behind Arkansas State in the SBC West Division.
Against the Owls this Saturday, DU must contain freshman guard Greg Gantt who erupted for 21 points in the FAU’s 70-59 win over South Alabama last week.
Gantt leads the team in scoring with an average of 15.4 points per game and is shooting 40 percent from behind the arc this season.
He hit seven three-pointers on Jan. 21 in a win over Arkansas Little-Rock.
Another Owl, freshman guard Raymond Taylor compliments Gantt in the backcourt. Taylor averages 14.3 points per games and leads the team in assists with 6.4 per game.
The Pioneers have struggled recently with high-scoring freshman guards. Last Saturday, DU surrendered 34 points to Arkansas State freshman Brandon Reed in a contest they lost 73-62.
Another problem that has plagued the Pioneers recently is a lack of rebounding. In both of last week’s losses DU was outrebounded, which has been the case so far in every conference-road game.
FAU junior forward Brett Royster appears to pose a problem for the Pioneers. With his 235-pound frame, Royster is averaging seven rebounds a game.
After the brief home stint, the Pioneers return to the road next week for a pair of conference games.
“This schedule is right for us right now,” head coach Joe Scott said. “We need to conquer the road.”
Women’s basketball returns home, hopes to end two-game losing skid
After rising to the top of the Sun Belt Conference two weeks ago, the DU women’s basketball team (13-8) lost a pair of road games against Arkansas Little-Rock and Arkansas State last week.
With the losses, the Pioneers dropped to 8-3 in conference play, falling to second place in the SBC West Division.
The Pioneers return home to Magness Arena where they will host non-conference opponent Northern Colorado on Wednesday night.
On Saturday, the Pioneers have the opportunity to improve their conference record when they host to Florida Atlantic.
The Owls (10-11, 6-5) are in forth place in the SBC East Division and are coming off an overtime loss to rival Florida International.
The Pioneers cannot afford to have another sluggish start against a poor team.
Last Saturday they fell behind 27-9 after 10 minutes against Arkansas State (9-12) and never recovered.
Northern Colorado (9-12) is the second to last team in the Big Sky Conference and has lost six of their last seven games.
UNC has also struggled on the road this year, posting a 3-8 away record.
The Bears were embarassed twice last week during their road trip to Montana.
On Saturday, the Bears lost 75-54 to Montana State. That was one day after Montana beat Northern Colorado 65-54.
The Bears failed to take the lead in the second half of either game.
UNC senior guard Whitely Cox averages 16.2 points per game for the Bears and has led the team a dozen times this season.
DU’s Britteni Rice enters the contest with a streak of 17 consecutive games scoring in double figures.
“We run plays for Britteni, because teams have to help and then she can find other people to score,” head coach Erik Johnson said.
Rice isn’t the only Pioneer scoring in double figures; teammate Kaetlyn Murdoch has a steak of 11 consecutive games scoring in double-digits.
The Pioneers have an 8-2 home record and have only lost one conference game at home this season.
FAU has a pair of scorers in senior guard Brittany Bowe and junior guard Lyrell Barfield, which makes the Owl offense dangerous and poses a threat to DU’s offense that failed to score above 60 points in both contests last week.
However, the Pioneers face a weaker defense on Saturday, FAU allows opponents to average 67 points a game compared to DU’s 61.4. In their last four losses, the Owls have allowed their opponents to score 70 points or more.
The Pioneers play Northern Colorado at 7 p.m. on Wednesday and tip off against Florida Atlantic at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday.
