Recap: @UNCO_MBB Uses Strong Second Half to Advance to CIT Semis

Wednesday, March 21

San Diego, CA

8pm

University of Northern Colorado

24-12

University of San Diego

20-14

Northern Colorado

San Diego

3/21/2018 11:46:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Anthony Johnson joins the 1,000-point club in the first half of the victory

By: Kurt Maddox, UNCBears.com

San Diego—If you tuned into the first half and thought, where is the Northern Colorado team I came to know and love, well all you had to do is wait twenty minutes. The Bears trailed at the half but came out in the second half like a UNC team we have seen in the second part of the season to move on to the semifinals of CIT with their 86-75 win over the Toreros of San Diego.

How It Happened
UNC did take the early lead 3-2 but the Toreros put together a 9-0 run and couldn't miss a shot. The spark for the Bears came from the reserves and when Anthony Johnson came into the game, he brought the Bears back to within striking distance by racking up 12 points in a very quick fashion.

Northern Colorado would pull to within one point multiple times but San Diego would run away again with big shots by Isaiah Pineiro who put up 15 in the first half. UNC shot at a pretty good clip of 46.9% in the first but the Toreros were hitting two out of three shots and hitting 66.7% from the field. UNC trailed at the half 43-38.

Northern Colorado came out a different team in the second half and tied up the game at 45 with 16:51 to go. JD would help take the lead 50-48 with a jumper and he or Dre wasn't done yet. The Bears took an 8-0 run and ballooned it up to a 15-3 spurt to take the lead for good.

USD did make some small runs but hot shooting by Spight and Davis while the other Bears played good supporting roles and hit their free throws late to secure the win. Bears scored above the 20-point mark as JD, Ant and Dre combined for 67 of the 86 UNC points.

Game Changer
After making history vs Drake with a triple-double, Jordan Davis decided to carry that momentum into tonight's game and record his first double-double of the season as he scored 21 points and pulled down 12 boards. The 12 rebounds ties a career-high for JD.

Key Stat
Despite the Toreros shooting over 50% for the game, Northern Colorado stayed in the game and came back to win with consistent shooting from the field. USD shot a whopping 66.7% in the first but only 41.4% but the Bears remained steady at 46.9% in the first and 48.4% in the second. UNC finished the game shooting 47.6%.

What They Said
Head Coach Jeff Linder
Opening Statement
"That was a tale of two halves right there. We are 36 games in and I love these guys to death but when you're a family sometimes you have to tell the truth. I let it be known at halftime what I thought. 'If you guys want to end the season right now, let's just end the season'. What I saw in the first half, that's not how we got here. They needed to decide right then as a team if you want your season to continue. I am not going to go back out there and watch that. We'll just call the game at halftime and we'll forfeit. Those guys responded and I knew they would. We weren't going to go out there and forfeit because (David) Sabolcik (UNC Senior Associate AD) would've been mad at me on that one. Our guys responded and that team is a hard team to guard. They went on the road to beat New Mexico State, beat Grand Canyon and beat Colorado. San Diego is a really good defensive team and what it came down to was our toughness and we imposed our will. We made more winning plays and that was the bottom line. The two winning plays were coming out at halftime to really set the tone. Our guys came out and played their hearts out."

On the leadership on the court
"I let Jalen know at halftime that it wasn't acceptable that he had no rebounds. It's not acceptable for him not to use his voice. He isn't a freshman anymore and he's played a lot of minutes. I told him 'You need to take the next step as a player.' He responded and that's the beauty when you have good kids that understand the coaches know what they are doing and when they talk to them sometimes it is not all sunshine and roses. They know what it takes to win. Look at JD. I don't know what happened in terms of his athleticism because he has always been really athletic but man, the last three or four weeks he's been bouncing off like he's on a trampoline. I am really happy for Anthony Johnson on joining the 1,000-point club and for him to sacrifice like he did this year so I told him we are going to try to win a championship for him this year. He stayed the course. It has been a pleasure to coach these guys and it was a pleasure to go to the beach today. This team has a close bond and we are looking forward to where ever we might go in this tournament."

Notable Stats

The Bears won this game off turnovers as UNC scored 22 points off 17 USD mistakes while San Diego only scored 14 off Bears turnovers.
UNC's reserves came up big as they outscored Toreros reserves 31-19 and Anthony Johnson led the charge by scoring 20.
Northern Colorado held San Diego scoreless on second-chance points. The Bears had nine offensive boards and scored only four but USD couldn't throw the ball in the hoop after their four o-boards

What's Next
The Bears will move onto the semifinal round of the CIT on Wednesday, March 28 at either 5 pm or 7 pm Mountain Time. The location and opponent is to be determined.
To keep up to date on all things UNC men's basketball, follow us on uncbears.com or on Twitter @UNCO_MBB.