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?
On January 11th, DePaul travelled to New York to play St. John’s. In a hotly contested game, the Red Storm prevailed after DePaul’s Jalen Coleman-Lands failed to connect on 2 of 3 free throws that would have narrowed the gap to 2 points. After St. John’s knocked down several free-throws, DePaul ultimately lost by 7.
The three game gauntlet against Villanova, Butler, and Creighton, teams that had beaten DePaul a combined 40 times, is over. However, two of the long streaks are still alive. A diminished Blue Demon squad, missing starter Jaylen Butz, and sixth man, Devin Gage, succumbed to Creighton’s 3 point shooting in the second half.
The Blue Demons took an early lead on Nick Ongenda’s dunk. It was the only lead of the night for DePaul. At the ten minute mark of the 1st half, the Bluejays had taken a comfortable 8 point lead on Denzel Mahoney’s 3 point shot. The Demons stayed within striking distance keeping the deficit under 10 for the remainder of the half, and closed the half being down only 3.
This writer was ecstatic to only be down 4, because the Demons did not look right.
In my preview, I thought that Romeo Weems would draw Creighton sharpshooter, Mitch Ballock, but he ended up on point guard Marcus Zegarowski. In general, Weems disrupted him and kept him to having an average night with 9 points, 10 assists, and 3 turnovers.
Ballock did turn into an issue as the night went on going 5 for 11 from 3 point land, ending up with 19 points. It was the supporting cast of Creighton that did the damage. Five Bluejays scored in double figures. As a team, the Bluejays shot 40% from deep going 10-25.
If you watch the makes below, Ballock really had only 2 open shots. The guy is a shot maker.
Mitch Ballock’s made 3s against #DePaul last night. The Blue Demons only truly lost him twice. Dude can just shoot, and sometimes gets lucky. #Creightonpic.twitter.com/0KHu0inN5W
DePaul made three 3 pointers in the game, all by Jalen Coleman-Lands, who went 3-7 on the game, but that was it. The rest of the team went 0-9. As a team, the Demons shot 3-16 or 18.75%, which was a season low. Simple math explained the whole game in one tweet.
When I write my blog on this game all I need to say is #DePaul brought a knife to a gun fight, right? If you look at all stats to explain the game, it really came down to one team making 10 3-pointers and the other team making 3. 30-9 equals 21. #Creighton won by 15. #dpubb
If your opponent averaged 1.2 points per possession on possessions that ended in a 3-point shot, and your team averaged .56 points per possession in which you shot a 3-pointer and your opponent took 9 more 3 point shots? You are going to lose. The end.
It didn’t help that when Creighton wasn’t shooting 3’s they made 53.5% of their 2 point shots (1.07PPP), while DePaul made 51% (1.07PPP).
Always remember boys and girls, 3 is greater than 2, and when you have an elite group of shooters who take a ton of 3s, you are going to come out ahead a lot of the time.
Coming off of the massacre of the Butler Bulldogs, ending an eleven game losing streak to the boys from Indianapolis, DePaul tries to end a ten game losing streak to the Creighton Bluejays. This will be the third game in a row against teams that the Demons had a combined 40 game losing streak. At least now, DePaul have snuffed out one of them. This game could put the Blue Demons right back on track to relevance in the Conference standings and NCAA Net ratings.
The last time, and only time, that DePaul beat the Blue Jays in Big East play was when Forrest Robinson, with lighting bolts shooting out of his fingers, made 5 three pointers in the first 5 minutes of the game and made 6 three pointers on the night at Omaha on January 7th, 2015.
Forrest Robinson Murdered The Blue Jays in January 2015
Lead by Paul Reed’s 23 points and 9 rebounds, the DePaul Blue Demons dominated 5th ranked Butler, ending an eleven game losing streak to the Bulldogs. The game felt like DePaul was in control throughout, with the exception of a few minutes at the end of the first half, when Reed picked up his 2nd foul with 6:05 to go. Butler went on a 12-2 run to close the gap to 4 points with 2:17 left. For the first time in a long time, Win Probability favored the Bulldogs.
The Demons responded with their own 6-0 run to get back ahead by 10. With 16 seconds left in the half, Butler’s Jordan Tucker hit a 3 pointer to get the game back to 7. Tucker thought he had silenced the DePaul side of the crowd. Well guess what? Romeo Weems decided to ignite the crowd again. Weems ended the half with an exclamation point, 3 pointer to put the Demons back up by 10. DePaul never looked back.
Blue Demons Look To Snap 11 game Losing Streak to Bulldogs
In January, 2014, 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. DePaul has not beaten Butler since. Sounds like a recurring them.
Cleveland Melvin Eyes a Rebound in Last DePaul Victory against Butler. Melvin had 30 points in the Double Overtime victory.
DePaul is coming off of a tough loss at Villanova. AP ranked #5, Butler is coming off their 1st home loss and first Big East loss against Seton Hall. Let’s hope the referees try to extricate themselves from deciding this game.
The Setup
DePaul takes on Butler Saturday, January 18th at high Noon at Wintrust Arena in the South Loop of Chicago.
The game will be on The UToo on Comcast and on Radio 670AM.
DePaul can play with anyone. No one intimidates the Blue Demons. This team has been in every game. Tonight, the DePaul Blue Demons were screwed. Screwed terribly. Improbably, the Men in Blue took the 14th ranked, Villanova Wildcats, to overtime, losing after Villanova took 8 free throws in overtime. The most egregious were the first set of ‘fouls’ called. But alas, let’s dwell on that later, in the Bad, Bad section.
Down eleven with 2:10 to go in regulation, Charlie Moore hits a three, Paul Reed hustles to get a jump ball, Jaylen Butz catches a tough pass and hits a two. DePaul forces another turnover. Egregious foul called on Reed (when I thought the game was over.) Incredible steal by Reed and a monster dunk. Gillespie travels horribly, but since we are in Villanova, there was a foul called on Reed. He made one of two. Jalen Coleman-Lands hits a 3, his first of the game to cut it to two. DePaul traps the Wildcats who throw it away. The Demons call a timeout and let Charlie be Charlie who delivered. DePaul then stopped Villanova on their last gasp effort, which brought us to overtime.
DePaul started overtime with two awful possession, while Villanova was gifted with the following possessions, which added up to 4 free points. Compare this to the first of 2 consecutive fouls called on the first 2 possessions of the second half when DePaul hosted Seton Hall and Charlie Moore picked up two push off fouls. Which is worse? Maybe no calls across the board would be the answer, but instead 4 calls against the Demons.
Jalen Coleman-Lands then set up Romeo Weems for an alley-oop, which looked like Weems had been hit off the ball by Gillespie, missing the shot. Moore stole a ball and made a layup. ‘Nova made their first field goal of the session. JCL hit his 2nd 3-pointer of the night to make it a one point game. Villanova made a contested layup and after an exchange of turnovers, Charlie Moore was fouled.
Astonishingly, the Blue Demons were still in a One-and-One situation, and Moore missed the front end. Weems blocked a dunk and Saddiq Bey turned the ball over, which set up a JCL three point shot. JCL was short. Reed blocked a Justin Moore shot with eleven seconds left, and ‘Nova fouled Charlie Moore to make sure that DePaul would not get a 3 off.
Moore made the front end, and intentionally missed the 2nd, and the Demons failed to get the rebound. DePaul fouled with less than a second which brought the end game score.
Demons Look To Snap 18 game Losing Streak to Wildcats
On January 3rd, 2008, Jerry Wainwright, Draelon Burns and the DePaul Blue Demons upset Jay Wright and Scottie Reynolds’ 17th ranked Villanova Wildcats, 84-76 to win the opening game of Big East play at the Allstate Arena. DePaul, shockingly, went on to win 3 of their next 5 to be 4-2 in Conference play. But then reality set in, as it has every year since, and the Demons lost 9 of their next 10 conference games, and due to a tie-breaker, failed to qualify for the Big East tournament, yet again.
Draelon Burns, Leading Scorer for DePaul in their Last Victory over Villanova. Also Last Blue Demon to make 2nd Team All Big East until Max Strus last Year.
A lot of stuff has happened since then. I now have a 6th grader and 4th grader. Neither have been alive since that last Demon victory of the Wildcats. Will Tuesday night be any different? We will see. After losing to St. John’s , the Blue Demons are becoming desperate.
Villanova comes in ranked 14th in the latest AP poll, while DePaul is in a tailspin. Twelve years later, nothing has seemed to change except the Wildcats are ranked 3 spots higher than they were in January 2008.
