DENVER – The University of Denver men’s basketball program dropped its home opener 84-79 to UTSA on Saturday afternoon in the Pioneers’ home opener inside Hamilton Gymnasium.
LEADERS:
Sophomore Carson Johnson had a game-high 29 points, including 20 in the second half to fuel Denver’s attempted comeback. Johnson added five boards and four assists. Graduate student Jeremiah Burke had 23 points, four boards and two assists.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
First Half:
Both teams relied on the long ball in the opening segment. UTSA shot 3-for-8 in the opening six minutes, while Denver shot 2-for-6, as the Pioneers took a 10-9 lead into the first media timeout.
Denver’s offense struggled to get into sync in the second segment, but the defense came up with stop after stop to send the two teams into under-12 tied at 13 apiece.
Last week’s Summit League Peak Performer of the Week Jeremiah Burke continued his hot-shooting first halves in the first four games of the season, exploding for 16 in the first 16:17 of the opening 20 minutes to help Denver cut an eight-point lead that UTSA built down to three at the final media of the first half.
UTSA came out of the under-4 on a 5-0 run to push its lead back out to eight, a lead it extended to nine by the intermission.
Second Half:
Carson Johnson shot out of a cannon to start the second half, scoring Denver’s first 15 points of the second half to trim the UTSA lead down to three with 16:30 to play in regulation.
Zane Nelson hit a three after Johnson’s run and Julius Rollins had a thunderous block on one end that led to a pair of Burke free-throws to put Denver back in-front at 50-49 just on the other side of the under-16.
UTSA hit a pair of threes on the next couple of possessions to restore its advantage to five with under 13 minutes to play.
After the two offenses started off on fire to start the second half, both went cold in the next several minutes, but UTSA maintained its five-point lead at 68-63 at the under-8.
Rollins provided his second big momentum block of the half and then hit a triple on the other end to cut the deficit to 73-71 with just over four minutes to play.
The teams continued to trade buckets down the stretch, but Denver wasn’t able to get the lead back and dropped its home opener on Saturday.
NOTES:
- Sophomore Carson Johnson finished with a game-high 29 points to go with 5 rebounds and 4 assists.
- Johnson finished in double figures for the third game this season and the 23rd time in his career.
- Johnson finished with 20+ for the first time this season and the 13th time in his career.
- Graduate student Jeremiah Burke had 21 points and 4 rebounds.
- Burke finished in double figures for the fourth-straight game to start the season and the sixth time in his career.
- Burke finished with 20+ for the third time this season and of his career.
- Burke entered the game averaging 13.3 points in first halves this year, and had 16 in the first half on Saturday.
- Denver had two players score 20+ points in the same game for the first time since December 17, 2024 at Cal Poly.
- The crowd of 1,456 was Denver’s largest since the home opener four years ago (1,607).
UP NEXT:
Denver will begin its second three-game road swing of the young season on Friday when the Pioneers head north up I-25 to Fort Collins to take on Colorado State. Opening tip on the Mountain West Network (free stream) is set for 7 p.m. MT.
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