DENVER – The University of Denver men's basketball program opened the game on a 32-11 run in the first 10 minutes and never looked back in an 87-74 win over Kansas City on Wednesday afternoon in both teams' Summit League opener inside Hamilton Gymnasium.

LEADERS:
Sophomore guard Carson Johnson finished with a game-high 23 points, going a perfect 7-for-7 from the free-throw line. Jeremiah Burke turned in his first career double-double, scoring 16 to go with 11 rebounds. Zane Nelson also got it done from the line, going 8-for-9 en-route to a 17-point outing. Shaun Wysocki was the final Pioneer in double figures with 10.

Karmello Branch led the visiting Roos with 18.

HOW IT HAPPENED:
First Half:
Denver scored nine points on its first four possessions to open up to a 9-2 lead to start the game, stretching its lead to 18-4 at the first media timeout of the afternoon with 14:26 to play. Gabe Oldham had six points and four boards in the opening segment.

Kansas City hit the first two buckets out of the timeout to cut the Denver lead to nine before a flagrant one on the Roos gave Denver a four-point possession to push the lead right back to 13 with 13 minutes to play. A second bucket of the opening half from Jeremiah Burke sent Denver into the second timeout leading 24-9 with 11:47 to go.

A Shaun Wysocki drive to the rack got the Pioneers lead out to its biggest at 21 with 9:21 remaining before a 6-0 Kansas City spurt got the margin back to 15 at the under-8.

Both offenses went cold, going more than two minutes without a point on either side, trimming Denver's margin to 14 at the final media of the first half.

Burke broke the three-minute Denver drought out of the timeout with an old-fashioned three-point play. Denver took a 13-point lead into the locker room at 41-28.

A balanced scoring attack paced the Pioneers in the opening 20 minutes, with all seven players that played scoring at least five points in the first half. Logan Kinsey led Denver with a +24 rating in the first half before exiting with two fouls in the middle of the first half. The Pioneers turned six first-half offensive rebounds into 11 second-chance points in the first half, while blanking the Roos in that category on the other end of the floor.

Second Half:
Carson Johnson and Zane Nelson got Denver's offense started in the second half, but Kansas City continued to trim into the Denver lead, cutting it to seven with under 14 minutes to play. Kansas City did its work on the offensive glass to get back into the game with 12 second chance points in the first 10 minutes of the second half.

The teams traded three-pointers before a second triple in the run from Burke pushed Denver's lead back out to 13 with 9:41 remaining inside Hamilton Gymnasium.

A Wysocki corner triple gave Denver its fourth made basket from beyond the arc in the last five attempts to stretch the lead back out to 14 at 71-57 at the under-8 timeout.

The three-point barrage continued when Burke hit his third of the afternoon after pulling down a rebound to complete his double-double to give Denver a 79-63 advantage at the final mandatory timeout of the day.

A 6-0 Kansas City run out of the under-4 cut made it 79-69 with 2:35 remaining. Nelson killed 25 seconds off the shot clock before driving to the rack and drawing a foul on the other side of the KC timeout, connecting on both free-throws.

Denver hit its free-throws down the stretch and a Wysocki dunk on an extra pass from Burke put an exclamation point on the first Summit League win for head coach Tim Bergstraser.

NOTES:

• Denver is now 4-9 in its Summit League openers.
• Denver scored 80+ points for the seventh-straight game.
• The Pioneers are now 7-8 in their modern DI era against Kansas City, including 5-2 in the Mile High City. Denver has won three of the last four between the two programs dating back to the Summit League Quarterfinal win in 2024.
• DU is now 55-39 in Hamilton Gymnasium, including 5-2 this season.
• The Pioneers turned it over just six times on Wednesday, its third game in the last four with single-digit turnovers.
• Carson Johnson finished with 23 points.
• Johnson finished in double figures for the fourth-straight game, the 14^th time this season and the 34^th time in his career.  
• Zane Nelson finished with 17 points and 4 steals.
• Nelson finished in double figures for the third-straight game, the eighth time this season and the 34^th time in his NCAA career.
• Nelson had 3+ steals for the third time this season and the seventh time in his career.
• Jeremiah Burke finished with 16 points and 11 rebounds.
• Burke recorded his first career double-double.
• Burke finished in double figures for the fifth-straight game, the 12^th time this season and the 14^th time in his career.
• Burke finished with 10+ rebounds for the first time this season and the second time in his career.
• Shaun Wysocki finished with 10 points and 2 rebounds.
• Wysocki finished in double figures for the fifth time this season and the 17^th time in his career.

UP NEXT:
Denver returns to the road for the start of a three-game swing away from home on Sunday when the Pioneers travel to St. Thomas. Opening tip is set for 11 a.m. MT, and will be streamed live on the Summit League Network.

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