DePaul Hosts Marquette For Senior Night

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.

Poor free-throw shooting doomed the Demons in the first meeting in a game that DePaul lead for all but 1:16 of action.

The Setup

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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

 

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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.

 

 

Poor Free-Throw Shooting Dooms the Demons against Marquette

DePaul Ends Super Frustrating Week 0-2 on Games that they Lead Throughout

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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.

I was way off on my preview. It did not occur to me that the Demons could limit the Golden Eagles to under 25% from 3. Somehow they did, and somehow they still lost.

Continue reading “Poor Free-Throw Shooting Dooms the Demons against Marquette”

DePaul Travels to Old Milwaukee

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

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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

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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.

 

 

 

It’s Over: DePaul Knocked Out of Big East Tournament by Marquette

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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:

  1. Missing the shot
  2. Not driving to the basket
  3. Not passing to a wide open Brandon Cyrus
  4. 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.”

Continue reading “It’s Over: DePaul Knocked Out of Big East Tournament by Marquette”

Big East Tournament Preview: DePaul – Marquette III

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The Blue Demons Meet the Golden Eagles At Madison Square Garden With The Season On the Line

The Setup

DePaul plays the Marquette Golden Eagles on Wednesday, 3/7/2018 at 8:30 pm Central at Madison Square Garden.  It will be carried on FS1 (Channel 237 on Comcast) and on the Score (Radio 670).

Marquette comes into the game with 18 wins and 12 losses overall, with a 9-9 record in Big East games after beating Creighton in a must win game.  This will also be a must win game for the Golden Eagles if they would like to keep their chances for an at large bid to the NCAA Tournament.

DePaul is coming off their 7th excruciating loss of the season  with a 3 point loss to Xavier. .  In games decided by 5 points or less, the Demons are 1-7.  Not optimal.

Continue reading “Big East Tournament Preview: DePaul – Marquette III”

DePaul Holds off Marquette Splitting the Season Series

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Down 5 at the Half, the Blue Demons Smother the Golden Eagles to Get Their First Home Conference Win

Holy crap!  DePaul won a home conference game at Wintrust Arena for the first time ever!  DePaul splits the season series with Marquette for the 3rd time in 4 years.  Sure seems like a rivalry to me.  Yep, it’s a rivalry again.  More fun was putting a big damper on the Golden Eagles’ chances in getting an at-large bid for the NCAA Tournament.  Good Times!

Most of DePaul’s fans dressed as something other than blue seats for the second time this season. But instead of dressing up in Notre Dame Green and Gold, they dressed in Marquette Navy and Gold; I didn’t know it was Holloween.  So weird that they do not dress in DePaul colors for these home games.

In my game preview, I mentioned that DePaul had to fear 3 main players, Markus Howard, if he played,  Andrew Rowsey, and Sam Hauser.  Howard was questionable for the game, but after warmups looked like he would play.  Rowsey got himself in early foul trouble, which immediately benefited the Blue Demons.  Howard was brought in for his first action in a week, coming off a hip injury.  He looked a little off, but was relatively effective.  The early fouls seemed to keep the shooters out of rhythm, which was nice.  All three players ended up with double-figures, but none of them killed the demons all ending with below average offensive ratings, 94 for Hauser, and 87 for both Rowsey and Howard (100 is average).

On the DePaul side, Max Strus was the game MVP with 20 points on 6-13 shooting and a very important 7-7 from the free throw line.  He did have 6 turnovers, but redeemed himself with 11 rebounds, 2 assists and a steal.

The game had 2 major runs.  One by Marquette in the 1st half, and then a nice run by DePaul in the 2nd half, where the Demons help the Golden Eagles without a point for 6 minutes.

A 19-16 lead by the Blue Demons turned into a 31-22 deficit, until a 3 pt play by Strus at 3:03 left end a 17-3 run by Marquette.

Continue reading “DePaul Holds off Marquette Splitting the Season Series”

DePaul Hosts Archrivals Marquette: Preview II

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DePaul Hosts Their Neighbors to the North Who are Going to Over-Populate Winstrust

The Setup

DePaul plays the Marquette Golden Eagles on Saturday, 2/24/2018 at 11:00 am Central at the Wintrust Arena in the South Loop of Chicago, in front of thousands of cheese eaters and a handful of Blue Demon Fans.  It will be carried on UToo (Channel 230 on Comcast) and on the Score (Radio 670).

Marquette comes into the game with 16 wins and 11 losses overall, with a 7-8 record in Big East games after beating St. John’s in a must win game.  This will also be a must win game for the Golden Eagles.

DePaul is coming  off their worst loss of the year  by losing by 31 at Villanova.

This might be the last chance to win at the Wintrust Arena, unless the Demons upset Xavier at the final game.  If neither game ends in victory, for the entire off season, DePaul Nation will have to call the unfortunate arena Losetrust Arena.

Continue reading “DePaul Hosts Archrivals Marquette: Preview II”

DePaul Shoots Blanks at Marquette

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The Blue Demons are Impotent

Has this ever happened to you?  All your efforts have been building to a moment, and then once the moment comes…nothing?  You walk out of a cold, Milwaukee night to meet up with your familiar partner in an exchange of heat, sweat, and emotion, and instead, you go limp.  You fail to follow through.  You strain and flail, but you just can’t get it to your goal.

If this has happened to you, you either:

  1. Need Cialis   Image result for cialis commercial
  2. Or You were last night’s DePaul Blue Demons!

Continue reading “DePaul Shoots Blanks at Marquette”

DePaul Travels to Old Milwaukee to Face Marquette

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DePaul Travels North to Ruin MLK Day for the Marquette Brew Boys

The Setup

DePaul plays the Marquette Golden Eagles on Monday, 1/15/2018 at 8:00 pm Central at the BMO Harris Bradley Center in Milwaukee, in front of thousands of cheese eaters.  It will be carried on FS1 (Channel 237 on Comcast) and on the Score (Radio 670).

Marquette comes into the game with 12 wins and 6 losses overall, with a 3-3 record in Big East games after losing at Butler.

DePaul is coming  off another blown opportunity by losing to Providence after being up 12 points in the 2nd half.

Continue reading “DePaul Travels to Old Milwaukee to Face Marquette”