Recap: @UNCO_MBB Win Fifth Straight, Capture Showcase Title

Sunday, November 26

Sioux Falls, S.D.

10:30 am

University of Northern Colorado

5-2

University of Southern Mississippi

3-3

Northern Colorado

Southern Miss

Davis is now a 1,000 point player

Photo by: Dean Popejoy

11/26/2017 1:49:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Jordan Davis surpasses 1,000 points for his UNC career

By: Kurt Maddox, UNCBears.com

Sioux Falls, S.D.— Northern Colorado shook off the early drowsiness of a 9:30 am MT tip to earns its fifth straight win Sunday morning. The Bears win makes it five straight for the team, including all three games at the Sanford Pentagon Showcase to take home the hardware, downing the Golden Eagles of Southern Mississippi 77-63 on the final day of the showcase.

How It Happened
USM jumped out to an early 12-4 lead to start the game, but Anthony Johnson checked in for the Bears and got things rolling for the team. Johnson hit a 3 to start his scoring for the game and sparked a 14-5 UNC run to put them up 18-16.

The Golden Eagles responded with an 8-0 run of its own to reclaim the lead and go up 24-18.

After free throws were an important factor in the Bears win over South Dakota last night, UNC did not toe the charity stripe in the first half. The Eagles hit three free throws in the first half meanwhile, to be up 32-28 at the midway point of the game. Southern Miss played strong defense in the first half, including shutting out Jordan Davis.

The Bears woke up in the locker room at the half, and started the second on a 13-4 run. Davis broke into the scoring column during the run with five of those 13. Southern Miss. stayed close following the UNC run, but then Jonah Radebaugh and Andre Spight began to launch and hit 3's for the Bears.

Those 3's helped UNC pull away for good. From the 13:20 to 10:20 mark to go, the Bears proceeded to score 15 straight on the Eagles.

The scoring spurt built the UNC lead to 20 points. USM tried to claw back into it with a 16-4 effort around the four minute mark but it was not enough. The Bears hold on for the 77-63 win.

Game Changer
Anthony Johnson is making the most of his opportunity off the bench. He brought some life to the Bears offense in the first half, scoring 15 by halftime and 26 for the game. Johnson shot 11-of-17 from the field and 4-of-8 from deep. He also pulled down five boards.

Key Stat
Jonah Radebaugh recorded his first double-double of the season. Jonah hit all four 3-pointers he attempted and finished with 12 points. The redshirt sophomore went to the glass nine times on the defensive end and once on the offensive end of the glass for 10. He also swatted the ball away from USM two times.

1,000 Looks Good On You
Jordan Davis did not make a basket in the first half but caught fire in the last 20 minutes. The junior guard had five point in the first five minutes of the second stanza. With 8:46 to go, Davis got the ball on the wing and threw up a 3. The ball ripped the net to put Davis squarely at 1,000 points for his college career. He finished with 14 so he now stands at 1,006. JD sits sixth all-time in UNC Division I history.

In Their Words
Head Coach Jeff Linder
Opening Statement
"It was a really good weekend and I want to say thank you to the Sanford Pentagon. They put on an unbelievable first-class event. With the quick turnaround, we told our guys…'You have to have more juice and less excuses than the other guys. You have a excuse because you played 10 hours ago but at the same time, they played 12 hours ago.' We can't have any excuses. We have to make sure we win every 50/50 ball, which we didn't do in the first half but we did in the second half. We have to take care of the ball. We are too good of a team to turn the ball over in the first half. We did a much better job in the second half. If we could check those boxes, we felt like we had a good chance to win. In the second half, we checked all four boxes and we put together a heck of an effort."

On Anthony Johnson's role on the team
"Give credit to Anthony (Johnson). We challenged him from day one. For a guy like him, he is an all-conference guy to come off the bench and put his ego aside. He is really starting to adjust to it. I told the coaches yesterday…'Watch, Anthony Johnson is going to have a big game tomorrow.' You could just see it coming. He has really bought in and he just wants to win. He kept us in the game"

Notable Stats
• UNC won the rebounding battle 36-28
• Northern Colorado only got to the line seven times but hit all seven of it's free throws.
• The Bears were not afraid to throw it up from deep. The team hit 12 of the 27 attempted 3's

What's Ahead
UNC travels to UC Davis November 29 for a rematch with the Aggies before returning to Bank of Colorado Arena for a three-game stretch. That homestand opens Sunday, December 3, when the Bears host Head Coach Jeff Linder's alma mater, Western State, at 5 pm following a UNC women's game versus Pacific. Single game tickets are just $3 each in advance at UNCBears.com.