Pioneers hope switch will salvage season

Having a team that shot 17- for- 49 from the field would be enough to irritate any coach, and Joe Scott of the University of Denver is no exception.

Scott is making a lineup change for Thursday night’s Summit League game against South Dakota, switching assignments for senior forward Marcus Byrd and freshman forward C. J. Bobbitt. And it’s based in part on the Pioneers’ poor shooting performance in their most recent game, a 6955 loss to Nebraska Omaha.

Bobbitt is moving to the center of DU’s offense, and Byrd is moving from the center to the outside.

“I’m not happy with our offense,” Scott said after Tuesday’s practice. “We’re going to be making some changes in hopes of getting what we want from our offense.”

Scott hopes to generate more effective play under the basket with the 6- foot- 7 Bobbitt. It also may signal a de- emphasis of the 3- point field goal for the Pioneers.

They were 5- for- 25 from 3- point range in last week’s loss to Nebraska Omaha that left the Pioneers at 1010 for the season and 2- 5 in league play. Thursday night’s game against South Dakota ( 10- 11, 2- 5) completes the first half of the league season.

Scott already had made a lineup change, moving senior guard Bryant Rucker to a reserve role and senior guard Nate Engesser, the team’s leading scorer at 12.9 points a game, to the starting lineup.

“I’ve told our players all season that it doesn’t matter who’s starting,” Scott said. “We’re a team. We wanted more offensive production early in the game.”

Engesser and Rucker seem satisfied with their change in roles.

“I enjoyed coming off the bench,” Engesser said. “Changes are beingmade to make us better. I’m going to do whatever job they give me.”

Engesser (. 446) and Rucker (. 413) rank first and second on the team in 3point field- goal accuracy.

“I’m a team player, and I’ll do what ever I can to help the team,” Rucker said. “We’re heading into the second half of conference play, and it’s time for us to play better basketball.”