Men's Basketball off to a 6-0 Start

Men’s Basketball begins the season undefeated

As the fall semester winds down, so do the games and tournaments in which many CU Denver club teams compete. Looking at some of the successes that the teams have had, men’s basketball has started the season undefeated and currently sits at 6-0 as they set their sights on regional and national competitions in the spring.

This fall, the men’s basketball team has played against a handful of teams from around the state in both one-off games and tournament play. The Lynx faced off against UCCS for their first game of the year, which was also CU Denver’s homecoming game. CU Denver also hosted a home tournament on October 18, in which they played UCCS again, and they played against the Air Force A and B teams. To round out their play this semester, the basketball team faced off against the Colorado School of Mines on October 24. Throughout all these games, CU Denver has gone undefeated, as previously mentioned.

When asked about what he thinks has made the team so successful to start the season, forward Trever Jiang talked about the team’s chemistry contributing to their 6-0 start. “I just think our team chemistry is really good. Usually, in practice, we’re always just goofing off and laughing at each other. So, I definitely think that had to be built over the weeks and months that went by.” Jiang also touched on how the team’s comfort level with each other has allowed them to hold one another accountable, subsequently making everyone better. “I also think the level of comfortability with each other lets us hold each other accountable. I think we’re pretty free to speak up and call each other out. I think that’s also contributed to our success.”

Forward Mateo Browning also touched on how impactful building team chemistry has been for the team’s overall success as well. “I think as the games and tournaments went on; we were going to build a lot of chemistry together. That was the main thing, especially in our first game; we didn’t really play well together, I would say. But as the tournaments went on, we kind of got closer together and built that chemistry.”

Browning also talked about what’s been so different from last year to this year. “I think last year, we primarily had a lot of ball-oriented people who just wanted to score, whereas this team, it's kind of more well-balanced. We have like an actual big two, like two or three big men, a couple of point guards, defensive players, just more well-balanced and well-rounded.”

Looking ahead to next semester, Jiang spoke on what the team still needs to work on ahead of their regional and national competitions in the spring. “There are a couple of things we still need to work on. It's just rebounding, just a couple of times throughout the game, where we just kind of lack focus, especially after halftime. And I'm pretty sure all our games, we're up by at least double digits, and within the last five minutes, we always just managed to lose the lead. So just being disciplined and staying focused all four quarters, all 40 minutes, is something we really have to focus on.” Browning added to that, saying, “coach really emphasizes that we're like a defensive-focused team, getting consistent stops on D, and not having kind of like strides of offense and then kind of like being stagnant, kind of having more consistent bases on offense and defense.”

We look forward to seeing how the men’s basketball team builds upon their 6-0 start and how they perform at their regional and national competitions in the spring.