Down One with 11 seconds left, the Season Rested in Max Strus’s Hands
On a complete defensive mishap by Marquette, Eli Cain found Max Strus wide open for a potential game winning 3-point shot with 5 seconds left in the game. Strus took the shot, and left it short, and DePaul lost, yet again, by less than 5 points for the 8th time on the season.
I have watched this play an unhealthy amount of times, but hey, let’s relive it again.
Marquette’s Andrew Rowsey completely messed up this pick and pop. Rowsey should be sending Strus a wheel of Wisconsin cheese for the following:
- Missing the shot
- Not driving to the basket
- Not passing to a wide open Brandon Cyrus
- For standing around admiring his missed shot instead of running towards the basket in case he missed.
And with that, DePaul’s season came to a crashing halt.
As I said on twitter, “Was this a microcosm of the season or what? Wouldn’t want it any other way than to go down losing the way we have 8 other times this year.”
So how did we get to this ending?
The Demons went down early 7-2, but fought back to take a 10-7 lead at the 13:30 mark of the 1st half. Marquette then went on a 19-4 run to go up 12 with 7 minutes to go in the half.
DePaul cut it 7 with 52 seconds left in the half, and then the wheels nearly came off.
Marquette’s Greg Elliott hit a 3 while being fouled by Brandon Cyrus, for the 4 point play. Marin Maric made 1 of 2 from the free throw line, leaving just enough time for Andrew Rowsey hit a 2 pointer at the buzzer putting the Golden Eagles up 12 at the half.
The 1st six and a half minutes of the 2nd half was basically back and forth. Marquette never lead by more than 12, and the Demons could not get the score below 8 points. Finally, DePaul went on a 11-0 run capped off with a 3 point play by Eli Cain.
From that point on, the spread of the game was never more than 6 points.
With 4:45 left in the game, Rowsey made a jumper to put the Golden Eagles up 5. They would score only 6 more points the rest of the way.
Cain made a layup to cut it to 3, and then Marquette’s Sacar Anim made a jumper to put them back up by 5 with 2:37 left.
Then it was Max Strus time to keep it close.
Down 5 with 2 minutes left in the game, Max Strus hits a clutch 3. A minute later, down 4, Strus takes an off-balance 3 pointer to get the Demons within one.
After Strus’s off balanced 3 to make it a one point game, the Demons set up a press to try to steal the ball. If it didn’t work they would foul one of the Golden Eagles, preferrably not Rowsey, not Howard, and not Hauser. Rowsey gets the ball and as he moves to mid-court the pressure gets to him resulting in Cyrus stealing the ball and calling a time out.
All that excitement culminated in Strus’s last attempt, that fell short, just like an entire season’s hopes. Sheer disappointment.
The Setup
Sadly, not full capacity. If this were the Wintrust, I am sure JLP would blame the lack of full capacity on the weather. Evidently, there was a flight of Marquette fans that had their plane diverted to Syracuse due to the snowstorm.
“Welcome to Syracuse, NY, the place that no Marquette fan wants to be.” Ha ha.
Gambling Corner
If you picked the Demons and the under, you were a happy bettor.
The Player of the Game: Marin Maric
Maric Played his ass off in his last College game. He left it all out on the court. He had 22 points on 7-12 shooting, along with 7-9 from the free throw line. 10 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 block. He put up a 127 offensive rating. He controlled the post, and was a viable option all game long. We are going to miss him big time next year. I hope that he can land a professional contract somewhere that he wants to go.
The Good
Max Strus
Strus started out slow, going 1-5 in the 1st half including 1 3-pointer for a grand total of 3 points to go along with 2 turnovers.
The 2nd half started with a bang with a Strus dunk. He ended up scoring 19 in the 2nd frame on 6-12 shooting including 3-7 from 3 point land. He also went 4-5 from the free throw line. He hit 2 clutch 3 pointers in the last 3 minutes to put the Demons in position to win. I just wish he could’ve hit a 3rd, or drive for another dunk at the end.
Strus will have the Summer to work on honing his shot. He will need to increase his 3 point percentage if he wants to get a legitimate shot at the NBA. 33% from the college line will not cut it.
Cain had a Goodish Game
10 assists, but 5 costly turnovers. Probably the worst was in the last 1:30 when he tried to force a pass to Maric in the post, but the pass was too flat and went out of bounds. At the time the Demons were down 2.
Team Did Not Give Up
There were plenty of junctures in the game when the Demons could have just quit, but to a man, they fought to the very end. I am going to miss the scrapiness of this team.
The Bad
The 19-4 Run
DePaul almost let the game slip away in the first giving up an 18-2 run, to go down double digits.
9 Missed Free-Throws
If DePaul misses 2 less, this game is over.
Key Plays of the Game
Screwed on another ‘Charge’
Cain was trying to make something happen here, when once again, DePaul got screwed on an obvious blocking foul. But of course, it is called a charge.
Tweets of the Game
Since it turned out to be the last game of the year, there were a lot of desperate, angry DePaul fans, so there are plenty of tweets to choose from.
I wasn’t very happy with the closing sequence in the 1st Half
This is more from the Day After the Game, but I love it anyway
This is plainly Pathetic
It has been quite a ride for DePaul Twitter
Very Important Article, since it is filled with nothing but excuses by JLP
Let’s Close with a Word from the Esteemed Bubba Gage:
In Conclusion
Since, Jean Lenti-Ponsetto Hired Jerry Wainwright before the 2006 season, DePaul has had the Most losses of any Power 7 conference Team.
It is time to hold the Athletic Director accountable. Now is the time.
The Program has been a Dumpster Fire for Eleven consecutive losing seasons.
Final Word
I will probably write an end of the season note, or come up with more analytical items related to the demise of the program, so that we can all share visually compelling evidence of the incompetence at the top.
Thanks for Reading!
