DENVER – The University of Denver men's basketball team picked up another signature win in the early stages of the Tim Bergstraser era on Friday night as the Pioneers earned just their second road win at Colorado State in their modern Division I era at Moby Arena.
LEADERS:
Graduate student Zane Nelson scored 22 off the bench to lead the Pioneers offensively, shooting 6-for-10 from the field, 3-of-4 from the beyond the arch and 7-for-8 from the free-throw line.
Fellow graduate student Julius Rollins scored 16, including Denver's last six points of the night in the win. Coming off his explosive home opener on Saturday, Carson Johnson had 18 on 6-of-11 from the field and 3-of-5 from beyond the arc to go with three assists.
Kyle Jorgensen led all scorers from CSU with 29, cashing in on 12-of-14 from the line. Carey Booth had a double-double for the Rams with 18 and 10, going 10-for-10 from the line and adding 10 boards.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
First Half:
The two teams were back and forth in the opening segment. Graduate student Julius Rollins led the Pioneers with five of their first seven points as they trailed 9-7 at the under-16.
One of the nation's most prolific offenses in the country caught fire early as CSU started 7-of-8 from the field to open up their lead to seven at the U-12.
Out of the timeout, Rollins hit his second triple of the night and on the next possession Zane Nelson canned a wide open straight-away triple to cut the deficit to one at 20-19 and force a Colorado State timeout. After a Wysocki steal, Nelson cruised right to the rack to cap an 8-0 Denver run and give the Pioneers the lead with nine minutes to play.
Another pair of triples out of a timeout, this time by Carson Johnson and Nelson, and a layin from Shaun Wysocki gave Denver another 8-0 run to push its lead to eight with just over six minutes to go in the opening half.
Colorado State trimmed the Denver lead to four from the free-throw line, but a pair of back-to-back triples from Nelson and Johnson at the buzzer sent Denver into the locker room up 41-33 at the intermission.
Denver held the lead despite battling foul trouble through most of the half with six different Pioneers picking up two fouls in the opening 20 minutes. The Pioneers shot 8-for-14 from beyond the arc in the first half to fuel the advantage.
Second Half:
Wysocki made a layup to push the Pioneers lead to 10 before Colorado State went on a 9-0 run in a 2:50 span to trim the Denver lead to 43-42 with 16:50 to play. The Rams were able to even the score at 45 apiece at the under-16.
Denver's foul trouble horrors continued in the second half, as Jeremiah Burke and Logan Kinsey picked up their third and fourth fouls of the night, as Denver was called for seven fouls in the opening eight minutes of the half.
Nelson, Johnson and a couple big buckets inside from Gabe Oldham got Denver a one-possession lead back at the under-eight media timeout, leading 63-60 with 7:46 to go.
Out of the under-8, Kinsey hit a big triple to push the lead to six, before it was quickly canceled out by a Kyle Jorgensen triple to get him to 20 points on his third three of the game.
The teams continued to trade baskets and free-throws before the last media timeout. Oldham held his own in the post and got some big rebounds down low to keep Denver in-front 73-70 at the under-4.
In another tight one on the road, it was Rollins who stepped up for the Pioneers down the stretch. A layin and an old-fashioned three-point play pushed Denver's lead to 80-75 with 1:53 to go before four-straight CSU free-throws trimmed it right back to one with 43 seconds to play. Rollins hit a pair from the line with four seconds to play that were answered by two more from CSU. Rollins split a pair from the line and CSU missed its out-of-bounds play three-pointer at the buzzer to send the Pioneers back down I-25 south with a massive road win.
NOTES:
Denver improved to 68-97 all-time against Colorado State, earning just the fourth win against the Rams in the Pioneers modern Division I era (4-17 since 1998-99).
The Pioneers earned their second win in the modern DI era in Fort Collins with the lone other win coming in December, 2013.
Denver hit double digit triples for the second-straight game and the second time this season.
The Pioneers reached 80 points for the first time since an overtime game at North Dakota State last February (L, 84-89).
DU shot 50+% from the field for its second-consecutive road game.
The Pioneers turned it over just four times on Friday, its first game under five turnovers since December, 2024 at Portland State, and the first game with four or less turnovers since January 27, 2024 against Omaha.
Friday marked the first game with four or less turnovers in a win since turning it over just four times in a 94-63 win over Omaha on January 22, 2022.
Zane Nelson finished with 22 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists.
Nelson finished in double figures for the first time as a Denver Pioneer and the 27th time in his collegiate career.
Nelson finished with 20+ points for the first time as a Pioneer and the ninth time in his collegiate career.
Carson Johnson finished with 18 points and 3 assists.
Johnson finished in double figures for the third-straight game, the fourth time this season and the 24th time in his career.
Julius Rollins finished with 16 points and 3 rebounds.
Rollins finished in double figures for the second time this season and the 21st time in his collegiate career.Logan Kinsey fi
nished with 11 points.
Kinsey finished in double figures for the fourth time as a Pioneer and his 55th time as a collegiate player.
Gabe Oldham played some big minutes off the ben as well, finishing with seven points and seven boards in 27 minutes.
After missing the season opener due to injury and playing games two-through-four off the bench, Shaun Wysocki made his first Division I start on Friday night.
CSU outscored Denver 35-15 from the free-throw line.
UP NEXT:
Denver will continue its three-game road swing on Monday night when the Pioneers make the trip to [5/4] Arizona on Monday at 8:30 p.m. MT. The game will be broadcast on CBS Sports Network.
DENVER'S HOME FOR COLLEGE SPORTS
Visit DenverPioneers.com for complete coverage of all 18 of DU's NCAA Division I sports.
Like Denver Men's Basketball and Denver Pioneers on Facebook
Follow @du_menshoops and @DU_Pioneers on Twitter
Follow @du_mhoops and @DenverPioneers on Instagram
