Davis Drops 21 in @unco_mbb's Win at Sacramento State

Thursday, December 29

Sacramento, CA

8:05 p.m.

University of Northern Colorado

5-7, 1-0Big Sky

Sacramento State

3-9, 0-1Big Sky

Northern Colorado

Sacramento State

12/29/2016 10:42:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Kobee Stalder, UNCBears.com

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Northern Colorado (5-7, 1-0 Big Sky) jumped out to an early lead and never took its foot off the gas pedal as the Bears coasted to a 69-53 win over Sacramento State (3-9, 0-1 Big Sky) on Thursday night.

How It Happened:
UNC led wire-to-wire its offense jumped out to a 19-7 lead over the Hornets just six minutes into the ball game. With 13:24 remaining, to the end of the game, the Bears advantage never dropped below double figures.

A jumper by redshirt sophomore Chaz Glotta pushed the score to a 20-point differential (34-14), the largest of the half.

Sacramento State was able to cut into its deficit in the final five minutes, but Northern Colorado still held a 39-25 edge going into the locker room.

Sophomore guard, Jordan Davis paced the Bears in the first 20 minutes with 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting.

Davis etched his seventh 20-point game of the season, finishing with 21 points on the night.

The second half was more of the same as the Bears put their offense on cruise control, while their defense continued to stifle Sacramento State.

For the third game in a row, UNC's defense held its opponent to under 40% shooting as the Hornets finished 32.4% from the field.

The Bears expanded their lead to as many as 26 (59-33) with eight minutes remaining before Sac State ended the game on a 14-2 run, but it wasn't enough as UNC took the Big Sky opener 69-53.

Game Changer:
Jordan Davis got back to his scoring ways on Thursday night, finishing with 21 points, shooting 8-of-17 (47%). Davis also dished our five assists and four rebounds, along with three steals.

Key Stat:
UNC dominated the glass on the night, out rebounding Sacramento State 53-35. It was the second time this season the Bears have hauled in 50 or more rebounds.

In Their Words:
Head Coach, Jeff Linder:
"I give our guys a lot of credit. Coming off of break we basically had just two days of practice and Jordan Davis didn't practice on Tuesday and then Gerad [Davis] caught the same thing by living with his brother, so he's back in the hotel room right now sick. For our guys to understand the game plan on both ends of the floor, they're taking great strides and that's why we're seeing these results."

"To hold a team close to under thirty percent on their home court as we understood what they wanted to do by limiting them to one shot. That's something that's a habit that we've been building since day one. Regardless of your size, there is no excuse to not be a great defensive rebounding team and we were plus-twenty on the glass. It was just a great collective effort by the guys."

Notables:
- Northern Colorado shot 41.7% from the field, going 25-of-60. The Bears did however make an uncharacteristically low amount of threes, notching just 5-of-20 on the evening. Coming into the game UNC was averaging 8.8 makes from beyond the arc a game.
- DJ Miles was the only other Bear to finish in double figures, scoring 11 points. Miles has now scored in double figures in six out of the last eight games. Chaz Glotta and Jon'te Dotson recorded nine points each.
- Ibrahim Sylla and Jonah Radebaug led the team in rebounding, tallying nine each.
- The Bears continue to battle the turnover game, ending the night with 19. In the last four games, UNC has finished with 16 or more TOs.
- UNC has now won its Big Sky opening game in six of the last seven seasons.

Up Next:
The men's hoops team will end the conference opening weekend at Portland State on Saturday, Dec. 31. Tip against the Vikings is set for 3:05 p.m. (MT).