DePaul loses to Georgetown

DePaul Decides that They No Longer Will Be a Favorite This Year

If I were going to only show you this picture of the stats, you would thing that the DePaul-Georgetown game was a 1 possession game.

However, if you read my  Georgetown Preview   for this game (I’ll wait for you to come back) you would’ve read that the Hoyas are incredibly efficient on the offensive side.  Their Achilles’ heel has been turnovers and below average 3pt shooting.  They kept the turnovers in check and shot 37.5% from 3pt land, and did everything else that they do well, well.  I mentioned that the Hoyas get to the line a LOT (24th highest rate in the country), and they shoot free throws well (77.6% which is 17th in the country.)

Guess what?  The got to the line 37 times tonight.  They made 31 of them for 83.8%.  You are going to lose if your opponent makes 17 more free throws than you do on the night.

I mentioned that the Hoyas are long and was wondering how DePaul would match up.  Shocking (that is sarcasm) Leitao went with his normal lineup.  The size bothered the Demons on both ends.  DePaul’s big men (Maric and Butz) were in foul trouble all night.  Maric managed to have an outstanding offensive game while being careful on the other side.  Max Strus clearly had difficulties once 6’6″ Junior, Kaleb Johnson, was assigned to him in the 2nd half.  Strus began getting shots blocked and turning the ball over when trying to make dribble drive moves.  Strus ended up with 19 on 6-15 shooting but also had 4 turnovers and was largely ineffective in the 2nd half (4-8 in the 1st half, which means he was 2-7 in the 2nd).

So how do you lose a game by 9 that should be a one possession game?  Allow your opponent to make 17 more free throws than you.

The Setup

50% human DePaul fans and 50% blue seats.  Great work packing them in JLP.

Gambling Corner

DePaul was favored at -4.5.  They crapped the bed.  The over hit, because so many foul shots.

The Player of the Game:  Jessie Govan

It has to be Jessie Govan.  Marcus Derrickson started super strong ending with 24 points, but Govan had a crazy efficient 25 on 8-12 shooting, with 5 assists, 12 rebounds and 1 turnover.

The Good

Frankly, it is hard to talk about good, when the Demons had so many chances to change this game, and it is so much easier to talk about the bad.

Eli Cain (Will show up in both categories)

Tonight Cain dished 10 assists on 3 turnovers.  This is an improvement for sure.

Brandon Cyrus

I killed Cyrus in the last game, because he had shown a propensity to miss WIDE OPEN shots.  Today, Cyrus made them.  Cyrus needs to let the game come to him, and make his WIDE OPEN shots.  When he is at his worst is when he tries to take on 2 players and shoot a baseline fade-away jumper.  He shouldn never ever ever ever shoot this shot, and ONLY shoot layups and WIDE OPEN shots.

McCallum

McCallum had some real moments tonight.  Unfortunately, he also missed a key alley-oop shot that would’ve kept the game close, and instead lead to a Hoya run.

DePaul never seems to learn.  In the Notre Dame game, at a point when the Demons could’ve taken a lead, Gage and Strus combined on a blown alley oop, when they could’ve taken a layup.  Take the easy play.  Nothing is given!

The Bad

Dave Leitao’s Idiotic Technical Foul

So DePaul gets the game down to a 1 point game on a sweet, unselfish play by McCallum

Instead of building off this momentum, after a missed 3 point shot by the Hoyas, let’s have a wonderful display of crap play.

Justin Roberts missed Jumper.

Foul on Strus.  2 G’Town Free throws. Down 3

Cain Turnover

Missed Shot by G’town

Missed 3 by McCallum

G’Town Made 3 pointer.  Down 6

Missed shot by Strus (Leitao thinks he was fould.  Nope, long armed defenders get pieces of jump shots.)

2 pointer by G’town.  Down 8

LEITAO TECHNICAL FOUL  Down 10

DePaul shot clock violation, turnover

Turnover G’Town

Immediate Turnover by McCallum

G’Town Layup Down 12

My point is, when things are not going your way, and you HAVE POSSESSION, why get the Tech?  In this case, we lost time on the shot clock, and when we finally shot (which would’ve been a made 3 by Roberts), the shot clock had run out.  Why intentionally give you opponent 2 extra points when your own team is NOT EXECUTING!

Eli Cain

3-11 shooting is better than 1-9, but is still abysmal.  90 offensive rating (Remember 100 is average).

Justin Roberts

Just as Blue Demon nation was asking for the kid to get more playing time, Roberts comes into the game and immediately turns the ball over multiple times. 2 points on 2 shots, 3 turnovers and 1 assist.  Not great Bob.

Strus

Max Strus had a slightly off game, mainly in that he lead the team in turnovers.  It looked like a long, long armed, athletic defender caused him issues.  He had a slightly above average offensive rating, but the turnovers were killers.  DePaul relies on him way to much, and he basically has to have a perfect game for the Demons to win.  This isn’t a knock on Strus as much as he has elevated his game so much, that expectations are also elevated.

Tweets of the Game

Since this was a game that the ever shrinking Demons Nation had circled on their calendars, there were plenty of bitter tweets.

After the failed alley-oop that directly lead to a big G’town run.

And the real reason for the poor attendance:

This tweet explains it all:

Conclusion

It doesn’t get easier.  However, I can still say that I was at the last DePaul home victory over Georgetown in 19 frickin’ 94, which is nice.