University of Northern Colorado Athletics
Wednesday, November 25
Greeley, CO
7:00 p.m.
University of Northern Colorado
1-4
85
vs
105
University of Nebraska at Omaha
3-2
1
2
F
OMAHA
64
41
105
Northern Colorado
31
54
85
Team Stats
OMAHA
UNCO
FG%
.508
.397
3FG%
.400
.333
FT%
.846
.778
RB
39
44
TO
11
17
STL
11
3
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
20
FGM
4
3FGM
3
FTM
9
Pts
12
FGM
1
3FGM
1
FTM
9
Pts
12
FGM
5
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Pts
11
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
3
Players Mentioned
G
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballF
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballPhoto by: Rob Trubia
@unco_mbb Succumbs To Nebraska-Omaha Early First Half Run
11/25/2015 11:13:00 PM | Men's Basketball
The Mavericks jumped out to a 19-9 lead over the Bears and never looked back, while UNC was held scoreless for close to six minutes throughout all of the first half.
The 105 points were the second most allowed this season by the Bears behind Kansas's 109 point total.
The Mavericks got on the gas pedal quickly within the first five minutes of the game going on a 19-9 run, a deficit that UNC would never overcome.
Northern Colorado was without their leading scorer all evening in junior guard, Cameron Michael. Michael suffered a concussion earlier in the week and his return status is still TBA.
Junior guard, Anthony Johnson scored the UNC's first 11 points of the game and finished with 15 in the first half en route to a 20 point performance, tying his career-high that he set last Sunday in the loss against Austin Peay.
Johnson now has back-to-back 20 point games and has set a new career-high in points in four of the last five contests. The junior added eight rebounds, two blocks and one steal to go along with the point total.
Four other Bears finished in double figures. Sophomore forward, Spencer Mathis and junior guard, Jordan Wilson both tallied 12 points in the loss. The 12 points are a new career-high for Mathis and the first time reaching double digits, while Wilson has now dropped 10 points or more in all five games this season.
Freshman guard, Jordan Davis ended with 11 points and redshirt sophomore center, Jeremy Verhagen chipped in 10.
One bright spot of the game came in the form of redshirt freshman Ibrahim Sylla.
Sylla was able to make himself a presence on the defensive end of the floor, ending with three blocks to go with his seven points and six rebounds in 20 minutes of play, the most court time he's seen thus far in his young career.
"We had some really good discussions about two days ago about trying to simplify things because when you have a young team a lot of what's involved in being successful at this level seems pretty daunting and overwhelming to young kids," said head coach B.J. Hill. "So as a coach I tried to narrow things down and simplify it for some of these guys to focus on two or three things and I didn't see any of that when the ball went up in the air and the lights were on."
Perhaps the most costly portion of the game came at the 11:27 mark in the first half. With the Bears trailing by 15 (30-15), UNO proceeded to rally for 11 straight points, holding UNC scoreless for close to four minutes during the run.
Two makes at the free throw line from Johnson ended the drought for the home team, but the damage was done as Northern Colorado found itself down by 24 points (41-17).
Another offensive dry spell of two minutes beginning with 7:29 remaining sent the Bears tumbling even deeper down the rabbit-hole, heading into the locker room behind by 33, 64-31.
"I know we didn't have Cam [Michael] and Cam's a big part of that (team leadership) and he's our main guy and obviously that was proven tonight, but I'm not going to put that all on him," Hill added. "There's other guys that have played college basketball for a year or two that should have stepped up tonight and I didn't hear any of that."
UNC ended the first half 9-of-29 (31.0%) from the field and 3-of-10 (30.0%) from three point land, while UNO shot lights out, hitting on 20-of-37 (51.0%) from the floor and 6-of-12 (50.0%) from the perimeter.
The Bears went point-for-point with the Mavericks in the first 10 minutes of the second half and slowly erased some of their 30-point deficit near the end of the game thanks to eight points from freshman guard, Miles Seward in the final three minutes.
UNC closed out on an 11-2 run with Seward leading the charge.
"We're learning how to communicate with each other – we're learning how to encourage each other and that can sometimes be really hard to do when you're not succeeding. We've got great kids they just don't know what they don't know," Hill said. "They need to be learning quicker than they are – sometimes it takes a loss like this to pound home what needs to be done and bring a sense of urgency to them and quicken their learning curve."
Northern Colorado finished much better in the second half, going 16-of-34 (47.1%) on field goals and 4-for-11 (36.4%) from three.
The Bears continued to make the free points count, ending the night 28-of-36 (77.8%) from the charity stripe.
Men's hoops looks to get back on track this Sunday, Nov. 29, but it won't be easy as they head to Pac 12 opponent, Colorado for a 1:00 p.m. tip against the Buffs.
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