Denver Post Profiles DU Hoop Team's Bench Players

From: Denver Post
by Irv Moss

Playing off the bench doesn't mean that four players on the University of Denver's basketball team necessarily are taking a back seat.

Seniors Travis Hallam and Justin Coughlin, sophomore Blake Foeman and freshman Royce O'Neale have given their best impersonation of starters anytime coach Joe Scott has put in a call. In the first 17 games of the season, DU's bench outscored the opposing substitutes 10 times. O'Neale underlined the importance of a good bench when he moved into the starting lineup for two games in the 10 days he replaced the injured Rob Lewis.

O'Neale returned to the bench Thursday night in 72-71 overtime loss at Louisiana-Lafayette, but he still looked like a starter. He led the Pioneers in scoring with 21 points and recorded a double-double with 13 rebounds. The 6-foot-5 Texan has responded to Scott's call with a 9.7-point scoring average overall and 12.5 in Sun Belt Conference play [read entire article].

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mens bball gets a big win! Crowd storms the court, never seen anything like it here

Anonymous said...

Too bad there were only a dozen people in the stands.

Anonymous said...

Dozen people? Try about 5,000-6,000 with 700+ students.

Fantastic D-I atmosphere!

One of the best events I've ever seen at Magness,

Anonymous said...

I know DU isn't a basketball school but all the empty seats were embarrassing.

Anonymous said...

Empty seats? Except for the high ends the place was full ... that was a huge crowd ... anyone remember what it was like a few years ago, when we placed in the Hamilton gym?

Anonymous said...

I don't get the empty seats comment? Is there no sense of perspective? DU averaged less than a 1,000 a game until just a few years ago. This year, it's over 5,000. Today, there was a rocking crowd - and entertaining game - in front of a national audience. Unbelievable.

Anonymous said...

The game was played the day after a huge snowstorm and had a changed game time for TV. Attandence was excellent - somewhere between 5,000-6,000 people.

More than that, the big DU student turnout made for a great college hoops atmosphere.

It was a very impressive event.

Anonymous said...

Gotta be happy that they even got the few fans that they did with all the snow. And hockey tonight.

Anonymous said...

It was televised - you could see all the empty seats. They may have sold or given away tickets but the place looked like a hockey game during Christmas break.

Anonymous said...

More fans for girls gymnastics the mens hoops at DU.

Anonymous said...

5,000-6,000 seats filled out of 7,000 is not a "few" fans.

It was an outstanding turnout and a great atmosphere.

DU hoops crowds are averaging 5,000 for the season. That's up over 2,000 oer game on average from the 3,000 per game average last year.

It's clearly building. For comparison, DU hockey averages about 5,700 per game.

Anonymous said...

Gymnastics averages 1,800 per meet. Not even close.

Anonymous said...

Not only was the basketball game sold out, they put up a big screen outside at the lacrosse stadium and it was full. The fans had to stand because of the snow. So many people want to go to the games that next year all the games will be at the Pepsi Center. Even there, they are worried that there may not be enough seats.

anonevermore said...

Great atmosphere for hoops today. Haven't seen anything like it for a non hockey event at DU. Awesome exposure for DU on ESPN. Big kudos to all who were involved in getting this done today.

Plus it took away some of the sting from a lackluster hockey weekend. Good stuff.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, it's not like the hockey game sold out.

Anonymous said...

Actually, the Hockey game did sell out with a school record 6,207 tickets, breaking the record of 6,199 set in 2004, Hockey capacity is 6,026. Of course, not all 6,207 showed up at the game due to the snowstorm, but there were probably 5,700 in the house for DU/CC.

dggoddard said...

Interesting to hear about the record number of tickets sold.