Some things take time.
This past Wednesday, November 28th, men’s basketball traveled off the hill to take on Otterbein.
Unfortunately, Big Red fell short to the Cardinals with the game ending 76-65. Throughout the game Otterbein maintained a steady lead, never falling short of an eight-point lead.
The Denison players never gave up however, cutting their opponent’s temporary 23-point lead back down to eight points with only 2:26 minutes left to play. The leading scorer for the second game in a row, was Fred Brou ‘20. Brou scored 15 points on 7-of-13 shooting.
Matt Gerics ‘21 also helped contribute to the Big Red scoring effort, adding 12 points, while Alex Meurer ‘20 and Jack Coulter ‘20 each added 8 points.
After Wednesday’s game, the Big Red were back on the road Saturday, December 1st, when they headed to Crawfordsville, IN to play against Wabash College.
Despite the fight shown all game by the whole team, Denison lost to Wabash by a final score of 83-57. The Little Giants were able to score comfortably all game and ended up shooting 57% of their shots from the field.
The main scorer of this game for the Big Red was Jake Livingston ‘21, who put up 13 points and six rebounds in 24 minutes of time on the court.
Matt Gerics ‘21 contributed nine points, while teammates Nate Haller ‘20, Jack Coulter ‘20 and Brou ‘20 each added eight for Denison.
This loss to Wabash leaves Denison with a record of 1-4, one that they will hope to improve as their season progresses.
Brou ‘21 talks about the season thus far and what they hope to see improve with practice.
“I think we all expected a little better of a start to the season in terms of outcome in wins and losses, but we’re still really hopeful and excited about the season in general. We’ve been learning a new system and are working out the kinks and learning to play with each other in a new way. We have young guys who have been really ready to step up and take coaching so that’s really exciting. We’re looking forward to getting back on track with two games at home this week,” Brou said.
Despite these past few losses, the season is still young, and everyone is eager to work hard and grow both individually as players and also collectively as a team.
A major positive take away early this season for the Big Red is the quality minutes they are getting from their underclassmen, as can be seen in the scoring breakdowns above. With these less experienced guys getting valuable playing time now, the future is certainly looking up for this program.
With that being said, there is plenty of talent and enough experienced players on this team to blend with this young core. They will look to get back in the win column on Wednesday night when they will host Hiram at 8 p.m.