The Pioneers are a 10.
With a devastating 27 points off turnovers, the University of Denver looked like something special most of the way Thursday night in a a 70-58 victory over The Citadel in Magness Arena.
The victory sends coach Joe Scott and the Pioneers into Sun Belt Conference play next week at 10-2, DU’s best start in Division I competition since going 11-2 in the 1942-43 season.
“For us to be 10-2 says it all,” Scott said. “I told our guys that a lot of people say going into conference begins a new year. We’re going to keep doing what we’ve been doing. It’s the same season. We’re going to keep playing defense the way we’ve been doing it and playing offense the way we’ve been doing it.”
If the Pioneers can play the way they played in the last four minutes of the first half, they will be fine.
In rapid-fire order, DU went on a 16-0 run after The Citadel pulled to 21-19 on center Mike Groselle’s follow shot. Brian Stafford’s 3-point field goal started the run, Chris Udofia’s three-point play and two free throws with 1:13 left kept it going and Chase Hallam’s two quick field goals finished it off.
Travis Hallam’s 3-point field goal gave the Pioneers their biggest lead at 51-24 heading into the last 15 minutes.
“When the game was a game, our defense was really good,” Scott said. “When the game wasn’t a game, maybe our defense wasn’t so good. I thought our defense was good in terms of blocks, steals and not giving them good looks. We just needed to win the game.”
Forward Udofia, whose 19 points led the Pioneers, said the Pioneers were calm throughout and that was reflected in the performance.
“We play best when we’re calm,” Udofia said. “We knew they were going to play zone so we worked on our shooting a lot. We’re going into conference play rolling pretty well.”
The Pioneers hit 12-of-26 3-point shots and finished shooting 46.7, 21-for-45, from the field. They open conference play Thursday night against Troy at home.
The Citadel coach Chuck Driesell pointed to points off turnovers.
“Give DU credit. they played hard, but we can’t have breakdowns like we did in the first half,” Driesell said. “We’ve been struggling with turnovers. The 27 points off turnovers killed us.”
Irv Moss: 303-954-1296 or imoss@denverpost.com
