2016–17 Denver Pioneers men's basketball team

2016–17 Denver Pioneers men's basketball
2016–17 Denver Pioneers men's basketball
Conference	The Summit League
Record	16–14 (8–8 The Summit)
Head coach	Rodney Billups (1st season);
Assistant coaches	Ricardo Patton; Steve Snell; Dan Ficke;
Home arena	Magness Arena
	Seasons ← 2015–16 2017–18 →

2016–17 Summit League men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
South Dakota	12	–	4	.750	22	–	12	.647
North Dakota State	11	–	5	.688	19	–	11	.633
Omaha	9	–	7	.563	18	–	14	.563
Fort Wayne	8	–	8	.500	20	–	13	.606
Denver	8	–	8	.500	16	–	14	.533
South Dakota State †	8	–	8	.500	18	–	17	.514
IUPUI	7	–	9	.438	14	–	18	.438
Western Illinois	5	–	11	.313	8	–	20	.286
Oral Roberts	4	–	12	.250	8	–	22	.267


† 2017 Summit League Tournament winner

The 2016–17 Denver Pioneers men's basketball team represented the University of Denver during the 2016–17 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Pioneers, led by first-year head coach Rodney Billups, played their home games at Magness Arena and were members of The Summit League. They finished the season 16–14, 8–8 in Summit League play to finish in a three-way tie for fourth place. They lost in the quarterfinals of the Summit League tournament to South Dakota State.

Previous season[edit]

The Pioneers finished the 2015–16 season 16–15, 7–9 in Summit League play to finish in sixth place. They defeated Nebraska–Omaha in the quarterfinals of The Summit League tournament to advance to the semifinals where they lost to South Dakota State.

On March 11, head coach Joe Scott was fired.^[1] He finished at Denver with a nine-year record of 146–132. On March 14, the school hired Rodney Billups as head coach.^[2]

Roster[edit]

2016–17 Denver Pioneers men's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown
G	0	Ade Murkey	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	Fr	Minneapolis, Minnesota
G	2	Joe Rosga	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	175 lb (79 kg)	So	St. Paul, Minnesota
G	3	Bradley George	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	So	Houston, Texas
G	4	Jacob Lunsford	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	175 lb (79 kg)	So	Clayton, California
G	5	Jake Pemberton	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	Jr	Highlands Ranch, Colorado
G	10	Jake Holtzmann	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	So	Parker, Colorado
F	11	Jake Krafka	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	215 lb (98 kg)	Fr	Austin, Texas
G	12	Luke Neff	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	155 lb (70 kg)	Fr	Arvada, Colorado
F	13	C.J. Bobbitt	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	225 lb (102 kg)	So	Harker Heights, Texas
G	14	Duke Douglas	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	RS Jr	New Orleans, Louisiana
G	15	Thomas Neff	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	So	Arvada, Colorado
G	22	Josiah Dunn	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	Sr	Littleton, Colorado
C	24	Christian Mackey	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	275 lb (125 kg)	Jr	Kirtland, New Mexico
F	25	Emil Knighton	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	220 lb (100 kg)	So	Parker, Colorado
F	32	Abiola Akintola	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	220 lb (100 kg)	So	Melbourne, Australia
C	44	Daniel Amigo	6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)	245 lb (111 kg)	Jr	El Paso, Texas

Head coach

Rodney Billups (Denver)

Assistant coach(es)

Ricardo Patton (Belmont)
Steve Snell (Radford)
Dan Ficke (Loyola (MD))

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on

Injured
Current redshirt

Roster

Schedule and results[edit]

^[3]

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Non-conference regular season
Nov 12, 2016* 7:00 pm, ALT2		Jacksonville	L 84–92	0–1	Magness Arena (2,030) Denver, CO
Nov 17, 2016* 8:00 pm		at San Jose State	W 74–69	1–1	Event Center Arena San Jose, CA
Nov 23, 2016* 7:00 pm		Utah Valley	L 85–88	1–2	Magness Arena (1,377) Denver, CO
Nov 26, 2016* 7:05 pm		at Eastern Washington EWU Men's Basketball Classic	L 80–85 ^OT	1–3	Reese Court (1,026) Cheney, WA
Nov 27, 2016* 1:05 pm		vs. Sacramento State EWU Men's Basketball Classic	W 72–61	2–3	Reese Court (300) Cheney, WA
Nov 30, 2016* 7:00 pm		at Wyoming	L 70–82	2–4	Arena-Auditorium (4,106) Laramie, WY
Dec 3, 2016* 7:00 pm		at Weber State	W 57–55	3–4	Dee Events Center (6,167) Ogden, UT
Dec 7, 2016* 6:00 pm		at Texas A&M	L 58–80	3–5	Reed Arena (6,306) College Station, TX
Dec 10, 2016* 1:00 pm		at Air Force	W 77–65	4–5	Clune Arena (1,852) Colorado Springs, CO
Dec 13, 2016* 6:00 pm		at South Alabama	W 64–51	5–5	Mitchell Center (1,654) Mobile, AL
Dec 17, 2016* 1:00 pm, ALT2		Northern Colorado	W 73–70	6–5	Magness Arena (3,421) Denver, CO
Dec 19, 2016* 7:00 pm		Arkansas–Pine Bluff	W 74–52	7–5	Magness Arena (954) Denver, CO
Dec 22, 2016* 7:00 pm, ALT2		UC Riverside	W 73–55	8–5	Magness Arena (1,149) Denver, CO
The Summit League regular season
Dec 28, 2016 7:00 pm, ALT2		Oral Roberts	W 77–73	9–5 (1–0)	Magness Arena (1,347) Denver, CO
Jan 4, 2017 7:00 pm, ALT2		South Dakota	L 69–75	9–6 (1–1)	Magness Arena (1,115) Denver, CO
Jan 4, 2017 5:00 pm		at Fort Wayne	L 83–87	9–7 (1–2)	Gates Sports Center (1,164) Fort Wayne, IN
Jan 11, 2017 7:00 pm, ALT		Western Illinois	W 84–70	10–7 (2–2)	Magness Arena (1,067) Denver, CO
Jan 14, 2017 4:00 pm, ALT2		North Dakota State	W 79–55	11–7 (3–2)	Magness Arena (2,641) Denver, CO
Jan 19, 2017 6:00 pm		at Omaha	L 88–97	11–8 (3–3)	Baxter Arena (1,504) Omaha, NE
Jan 21, 2017 11:00 am		at IUPUI	W 78–74	12–8 (4–3)	Indiana Farmers Coliseum (1,078) Indianapolis, IN
Jan 25, 2017 7:00 pm, ALT2		South Dakota State	L 81–82	13–8 (5–3)	Magness Arena (1,171) Denver, CO
Jan 28, 2017 12:00 pm		at South Dakota	L 83–88	13–9 (5–4)	Sanford Coyote Sports Center (2,436) Vermillion, SD
Jan 31, 2017 6:00 pm		at Oral Roberts	W 93–69	14–9 (6–4)	Mabee Center (2,464) Tulsa, OK
Feb 4, 2017 4:00 pm		Fort Wayne	W 76–73 ^OT	15–9 (7–4)	Magness Arena (1,656) Denver, CO
Feb 11, 2017 1:00 pm		at North Dakota State	L 63–81	15–10 (7–5)	Scheels Center (4,433) Fargo, ND
Feb 14, 2017 6:00 pm, ESPN3		at Western Illinois	W 78–72	16–10 (8–5)	Western Hall (804) Macomb, IL
Feb 19, 2017 1:30 pm, ALT		IUPUI	L 72–83	16–11 (8–6)	Magness Arena (1,612) Denver, CO
Feb 22, 2017 7:00 pm, ALT		Omaha	L 83–84	16–12 (8–7)	Magness Arena (1,642) Denver, CO
Feb 25, 2017 3:00 pm		at South Dakota State	L 64–88	16–13 (8–8)	Frost Arena (3,829) Brookings, SD
The Summit League tournament
Mar 5, 2017 5:00 pm, ESPN3	(5)	vs. (4) South Dakota State Quarterfinals	L 73–83	16–14	Premier Center (9,837) Sioux Falls, SD
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Mountain Time.

References[edit]

^ "Joe Scott fired as Denver men's basketball coach, Rodney Billups could be successor". March 11, 2016.
^ "Denver hires Billups as head coach". March 14, 2016.
^ "The University of Denver Official Athletic Site". Archived from the original on December 15, 2014. Retrieved September 1, 2016.

[1] "Joe Scott fired as Denver men's basketball coach, Rodney Billups could be successor". March 11, 2016.

[2] "Denver hires Billups as head coach". March 14, 2016.

[3] "The University of Denver Official Athletic Site". Archived from the original on December 15, 2014. Retrieved September 1, 2016.

[1]

[2]

[3]

v t e Denver Pioneers men's basketball
Venues	Magness Arena (1999–present)
People	Head coaches Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25