DePaul travels to Providence on Saturday, March 7th at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center in Providence, Rhode Island. When these two teams met in the 2nd game of Big East Conference play, the game pushed the teams in opposite directions. The Friars had accumulated some funky results which put them near the bottom of Big East teams entering conference play. After convincingly defeating Texas and Georgetown, the Friars won the rock fight against DePaul on a last second free-throw.
Since that time, Providence has proven to be a resilient team defeating all the Big East teams at least once. The Friars are on a five game winning streak. It is incredible.
The DePaul Blue Demons, one of the worst Division One teams at shooting free-throws, shot 88.6% from the line to defeat Marquette. The Demons rode the hot free-throw shooting of 50% shooter Jaylen Butz and 57% shooter Darious Hall. Hall and Butz went a combined 15-17 or 88.2%. It was also incredible.
The DePaul Blue Demons host rival Marquette. The Golden Eagles currently sit in 5th place in the Big East with a 9-9 record. As we all know, DePaul is in the cellar with a 2-14 record in conference play. This game will be a contest of contrasts. Marquette has an excellent offense that lives by the 3 and dies by the 3, while the Blue Demons have a horrific offense that lives by the 2 and dies by the 3, because the team takes too few and shoots them poorly.
DePaul takes on Marquette Tuesday, March 3rd, at 7PM Central at Wintrust Arena in the South Loop. The game will be on FS1 Channel 237 on Comcast in Chicago and on Radio 670AM.
Tale of the Tape
Marquette has 6 great advantages, while DePaul has 5. Of course, Marquette is the 11th most lethal 3 point shooting team in the country shooting 38.2% as a team. That is just crazy.
Winner of the Tape: Marquette
Who Can Hurt the Demons?
Markus Howard
Howard is the highest usage guy in the country. 37.8% of all possessions end in his hands. 41.0% of all shots come from Howard, which is the highest percentage in the country. He is currently rated as #3 in the kenpom.com player of the year metric. He is pretty much a nightmare, so it would be interesting if he did not play. Who would pick up the shots?
Howard is also a clean point guard not turning the ball over at a high rate.
Sacar Anim
Anim is another deadly 3 point shooter shooting 39% behind the arc. Strangely, he only shoots 64% from the free-throw line.
Theo John
You do not have to worry about John’s offense, but he blocks 10% of all shots in a typical game. The Golden Eagles funnel drivers to him and he finishes them off.
Other Dangerous Shooters
Brendan Bailey shoots 39% from 3, while Jamal Cain and Greg Elliott shoot 40% and 39.5% from 3. All 3 of these guys typically have wide open attempts, which contributes to their deadliness.
What is Going to Happen on Tuesday?
It is Senior night. It is the last regular season game for DePaul at home. It will most likely be the last time we see Paul Reed at Wintrust in uniform (if he plays). That is why it is hard to say how the game will go. If Reed plays, DePaul has an excellent chance to win. If Reed’s hip-pointer keeps him out. Forgetaboutit.
DePaul and Butler met up in Hinkle Fieldhouse for the first time as Big East opponents. For the first 30 minutes of the game, the Bulldogs had the game in hand, building a 12 point lead with 10 to go. At that point, the Blue Demons mounted a furious attack lead by Cleveland Melvin, Brandon Young, and Freshman, Billy Garrett Jr. When regulation was over, the Demons found themselves tied with Butler. After 28 points combined were scored in Overtime, DePaul and the Bulldogs remained tied. Finally, after 2 Overtimes, the Blue Demons won an epic game 99-94.
Cleveland Melvin Eyes a Rebound in Last DePaul Victory against Butler. Melvin had 30 points in the Double Overtime victory.
DePaul is coming off being swept by Xavier in a game that was there for the taking. After being down by double digits for most of the first half, the Blue Demons went on a 10-0 run between the end of the 1st half and the beginning of the 2nd half, cutting the lead to 3. With multiple changes to get to less than 3 or keep it within 5, DePaul’s offense stalled at 52-48, and did not score for over 5 minutes (9 possessions), allowing Xavier to get up by 14. From that juncture on, the game was out of reach.
The Setup
DePaul takes on Butler Saturday, February 29th at 5:30 Central at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana.
The game will be on FS1, Channel 237 on Comcast, and on Radio 670AM.
Coming off a long awaited win against Georgetown, DePaul travels to Cincinnati to seek revenge against the Xavier Musketeers. On February 4th, the Musketeers lost their minds and made eight first half 3 pointers, including 7 of their first 10 shots, roaring to a 19 point lead. Funny enough, the X-Men then went 1-15 from 3 the rest of the game. The Blue Demons put up a pathetic 16 points in the first half for their worst offensive showing of the year. The Demons went the final 8:22 of the first half without scoring a single, damn point.
A late rally, and I mean really, really late, made the final score a respectable 8 point loss. DePaul scored 23 points in the last 4:15 seconds of the 2nd half, totaling seven more than they scored in the entire first half.
DePaul tries to end an eleven game losing streak to the Creighton Bluejays. When the Blue Demons last played the Bluejays, the team and fan base were coming off of the great Butler win. All were hoping that it would be the start of something new. But no, Creighton snuffed out all hope of a quick turnaround by shooting 40% from 3pt land, while DePaul shot 18%. In the end, it was the most lopsided defeat of the season.
Last February 9th, DePaul finally put an end to a nine game losing streak to the Xavier Musketeers as Paul Reed, Femi Olujobi, Eli Cain, and Max Strus all put up double digits. It was one of the most well rounded scoring games of the season. Let’s see if DePaul can start a streak of their own by beating Xavier for the 2nd time in a row.
DePaul Ends Super Frustrating Week 0-2 on Games that they Lead Throughout
Free-Throws and Free-Throw Rate Will Be the End to Me
DePaul played two road games this week against teams in the top half of the Big East. The Blue Demons came in and gave it their all in both.
DePaul lead at half-time against Seton Hall and lead until the final 5:27 of the game.
DePaul lead or tied Marquette for 38 minutes and 44 seconds.
DePaul lost both.
DePaul held Marquette to a season low 22.6% from 3 point land. The Golden Eagles had more turnovers than the Blue Demons. DePaul held Seton Hall to 22% from 3 point land and caused 20 turnovers.
DePaul still lost both.
DePaul made 9 more shots from the field than Marquette and lost.
Marquette made ONE shot from the field in the final 6 minutes of the game, a game that they trailed or were tied throughout and won.
DePaul, with the lead, made more field goals in the final 6 minutes of the game and still lost.
Only the 2nd time this season when the Blue Demons had over a point per possession and still lost. The other was against Villanova.
The DePaul Blue Demons travel to Milwaukee to take on rival Marquette. The Golden Eagles currently sit in 5th place in the Big East with a 5-3 record. As we all know, DePaul is in the cellar with a 1-7 record in conference play. This game will be a contest of contrasts. Marquette has an excellent offense that lives by the 3 and dies by the 3, while the Blue Demons have a horrific offense that lives by the 2 and dies by the 3, because the team takes too few and shoots them poorly.
Marquette swept DePaul last year. The first game was relatively close, but the Golden Eagles smoked the Demons by 19 in the second. Markus Howard had 36 points on 4-9 from 3, 8-12 from 2 and 8-10 from the free-throw line. It was an all around terrible effort by DePaul.
The Setup
DePaul takes on Marquette Saturday, at 1PM Central Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee. The game will be on FoxSports Regional which means UTOO Channel 230 on Comcast in Chicago and on Radio 670AM.
Tale of the Tape
Marquette has 7 great advantages, while DePaul has 5. Of course, Marquette is the 6th most lethal 3 point shooting team in the country shooting 39.4% as a team. That is just crazy.
Winner of the Tape: Marquette
Who Can Hurt the Demons?
Markus Howard
Word on the street is that Markus Howard is questionable. Of course, we all know that he will play against DePaul. Howard is the 2nd highest usage guy in the country. 38.7% of all possessions end in his hands. 42.6% of all shots come from Howard, which is the highest percentage in the country. He is currently rated as #4 in the kenpom.com player of the year metric. He is pretty much a nightmare, so it would be interesting if he did not play. Who would pick up the shots?
Howard is also a clean point guard not turning the ball over at a high rate.
Sacar Anim
Anim is another deadly 3 point shooter shooting 43.7% behind the arc. Strangely, he only shoots 66% from the free-throw line.
Theo John
You do not have to worry about John’s offense, but he blocks 10% of all shots in a typical game. The Golden Eagles funnel drivers to him and he finishes them off.
Other Dangerous Shooters
Brendan Bailey shoots 39% from 3, while Jamal Cain and Greg Elliott shoot 40% and 45% from 3. All 3 of these guys typically have wide open attempts, which contributes to their deadliness.
What is Going to Happen on Saturday?
If Howard is playing, I find it difficult to believe that DePaul could deal with the firepower. Marquette has had 2 off shooting nights the entire year. In all Big East games they have shot at least 32% with the exception of their worst 3 point shooting game of the year, a win over Villanova, when they shot 23.8% and still won. They shoot 44% of their shots from beyond the arc.
If Howard is not playing, I can see a scenario where Marquette is a little out of their flow, with players being in positions that they are not use to. That could lead to an advantage by the Blue Demons.
Blue Demons Could Not Take Advantage of Seton Hall’s Struggles from 3-Point Land and the Free-Throw Line
If there was ever a game that was ripe for the taking, it was this one. In a game with 47 fouls and 49 free-throws, DePaul blew a nine point lead to lose to the Seton Hall Pirates 64-57. Granted, it was a game between the two team with the highest free-throw rate in the conference. It was ugly. The only reason that DePaul was in the game was due to the awfulness of the Pirates from the free-throw line and 3 point land. Seton Hall shot 29 free-throws at a rate of 48.3%, and a horrific 22.2% from 3 point land on 27 shots. These flaws were the only thing going for the Demons.
So how did DePaul lose? As I mentioned in the preview to this game, if DePaul shot better than 16% from 3 point land and defended better from 3 Point range, the Demons might have a chance. They did just that, but, and this is a big but, the Demons had 20 turnovers, shot 26.7% from three-point land, and 35.7% from two-point land. Dreadful. Yet they were in the game until the final minute. Down by 5 at the 1:11 point, Darious Hall drew a charging foul on the Pirates’ Quincy McKnight. DePaul attacked the rim, Charlie Moore missed a jumper and Jaylen Butz got the rebound, drew the defense to his side, and passed to a cutting Romeo Weems who lined up for a dunk that would bring the Blue Demons to within 3, but as he had 4 other times in the game, Seton Hall’s Romaro Gill blocked the dunk at the rim to preserve the 5 point lead. It was the last great effort of the game. A couple of free-throws and a couple of missed shots lead to the final line of seven.
You Hold your Opponent to 22% from 3 and your opponent shoots 48% from the free-throw line, and you still lose?
DePaul travels to New Jersey to take on undefeated in Conference play, Seton Hall. This matches the top and the bottom of the Big East through the first seven games of conference play. The Blue Demons and Pirates played a close game in Chicago to start the beginning of the conference season. With 2:36 seconds left in the game, Charlie Moore converted both free-throws to put the Demons up one. Unfortunately, these were the last points scored by DePaul on the day. On the ensuing possession, Seton Hall’s Myles Powell pumped faked Romeo Weems into the air behind the 3 point line and put his shoulder into Weems to ‘earn’ 3 free-throws. Powell sunk all 3 shots, putting the Pirates up by 2, a lead they would never relinquish.
