Tag: Paul Reed

Creighton Extends the Streak to Eleven Against DePaul

Poor 3 Point Shooting Dooms the Blue Demons

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.

sad_blue_demon
18.75% from 3 will make a Demon Cry

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.

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.

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.

Continue reading “Creighton Extends the Streak to Eleven Against DePaul” →

DePaul Puts a Leash on 5th Ranked Butler

cropped-white-demon

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.

butler win prob1

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.

Continue reading “DePaul Puts a Leash on 5th Ranked Butler” →

Pennsylvania Screw Job: DePaul Loses in Overtime at Villanova

The Zebras Did the Demons No Favors

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.

cropped-white-demon

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.

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.

Continue reading “Pennsylvania Screw Job: DePaul Loses in Overtime at Villanova” →

Demons Downed By Johnnies

DePaul 0-3 in Big East Play, Trouble Brewing

In a game that both teams needed, the St. Johns’s Red Storm prevailed in an ugly, forgettable victory.

Not all was bad at first.  Charlie Moore hit a 3 pointer at the 16 minute mark.  We like when Charlie finds his long-distance stroke.  DePaul took at six point lead at 13-7 with 14:31 in the half.  The players were playing loose and confident.  Of course, it rapidly changed after that.  A quick 3, a turnover leading to a layup, and it was a one point game.  From that point on, the Demons were never up by more than 4 points.  The teams exchanged the lead several times for the next few minutes until the Red Storm began to take control of the game taking a lead that they would never relinquish with 6:12 to go in the 1st half.  DePaul went over 3 minutes without a point, during which the Jonnies went on a 10-0 run getting the lead to 6 points.

With 1:24 left in the half, Paul Reed finally got on the board to cut the St. John’s lead to 3.  DePaul  played strong defense to get the ball back with the chance to tie and 1:09 left in the half.  Then badness occurred.  Moore missed a layup, DePaul played excellent defense again, getting the ball with 32 left.  After running the clock down to less then 10, Devin Gage missed a wild shot which lead to this awful sequence.

So instead of being down 1 or being tied, the Blue Demons found themselves down 5 and extremely hot-headed going into the locker room.

giphy-7

Continue reading “Demons Downed By Johnnies” →

DePaul Loses Big East Opener to Seton Hall

 

giphy-9Well, that sucked.  Games are not always lost in the final two minutes.  Games can be lost via attrition, lack of offensive flow, or a series of defensive mistakes.  Attrition can occur in different ways such as the physical toll taken on the body to the point where players lose their legs, or the gamesmanship of players getting into foul trouble via the ticky-tak foul.

I hate blaming losses on the officiating crew, but in tonight’s DePaul/Seton Hall game, the crew was an abomination.  In the first half, DePaul’s Paul Reed and Jaylen Butz both got into foul trouble with minor infractions.  We all know that DePaul’s offense is not the most free flowing thing to witness, but Paul Reed’s general excellence and Butz’s ability to rebound errant shots generally propel the Blue Demons to success.

At the half, I could not believe that the Demons were only up 6.  They had thoroughly dominated the half.  DePaul shot a higher Field Goal percentage, higher free-throw percentage, had 5 less turnovers, and 3 more rebounds than the Pirates.  How could they only be up six?

At the high point, they were up 10 and felt in complete control.  But then the zebras got involved.  In the last 3:53 of the 1st half, Seton Hall did not score a single basket, but somehow cut a 10 point lead to only six at the break.  Any idea of how you could complete that magic trick?  6 free-throws.  This matters.  This is how teams are kept in games when it is not their day.

At half time, it was extremely clear that one coach, Kevin Willard of Seton Hall, got in the ears of the officials, while the other coach, Dave Leitao of DePaul, remained dignified.  Within 3 minutes, DePaul’s Charlie Moore picked up two offensive fouls on ‘push-offs’, which happen on virtually every possession by every guard in NCAA basketball.

The combination of 3 of DePaul’s key offensive players all getting ticky-tak fouls disrupted the Demons from expanding their lead.

This all culminated in DePaul being up 1 with 2:18 left.  Myles Powell, coming off of a concussion, and being treated by the officiating crew like a lost son, did an excellent pump fake from 3 point land making Romeo Weems foul him.

Powell, gifted fifteen free-throws, FIFTEEN FREE-THROWS!!!!!!, calmly sank all 3, mainly because he had had so much practice through out the game, to put Seton Hall up 2.

cropped-demons-college

Jalen Coleman-Lands then tried a step-back 3-pointer, which he shoots 20% on as covered in the pre-game notes to this game, which he, of course, missed.  JCL is a catch and shoot guy, and desperately needed to be set up in a catch and shoot situation, but the offense did not execute that, which lead to a poor shot.

Seton Hall then did an impressive alley-oop dunk to Romaro Gill, who just killed the Demons tonight, to go up 3.

Leitao called a timeout, and drew up a play??  It ended with Weems taking a difficult shot which was contested by Gill, and Seton Hall rebounding it.

Powell missed an ill-advised 3 pointer, but during the rebound, Butz knocked it out of bounds.  On the ensuing inbounds play, Weems lost Myles Cale for a layup, and that was the ball game.  DePaul was now down 6, and it wasn’t going to happen.

Continue reading “DePaul Loses Big East Opener to Seton Hall” →

Blue Demons Host Northwestern Seeking Revenge

I don’t know where you were December 8th, 2018.  I know that my poor son and I were in Evanston, Illinois to watch the Blue Demons visit Northwestern.  You know, great bonding moments between father and son.  Nice seats, easy drive from the Northwest ‘burbs, why wouldn’t I go?

DePaul came out beautifully, taking a  41-29 lead into half-time.  Now, I have been to too many games where things have been flowing excellent, and then the Demons have gotten their teeth kicked in, so I always have my guard up, and never get too high.

Continue reading “Blue Demons Host Northwestern Seeking Revenge” →

DePaul Survives Berserker Vikings

cropped-white-demon

 

Evidently, it truly is Believeland.  The Cleveland State Vikings gave the DePaul Blue Demons quite a scare, ultimately losing 73-65.  It was a bizarre game.  DePaul turned the ball over 26 times, shot less than 50% from the field and 21% from the 3-point line, but…….DePaul made free-throws, 26 of them!

giphy-3

Fortunately, Cleveland State turned the ball over more than normal to the tune of 29 times.  Normally, the Vikes turn the ball over at an incredible rate of 25% of possessions, while today they turned the ball over 36% of the time.  So that’s good??

The State of Cleveland shot better than normal from 2 point land (44% normally 48.8% today) and 3 point land (23.6% normally 33.3% today), but thankfully, they shot like crap from the free-throw line 56.5% when they normally shoot 67.2%.

If you tuned in early, the game went exactly as expected, with the Demons going on a quick 9-0 run after 5 minutes.  I was already having dreams of being up forty and getting a little excited about seeing some extended time from our non-starters.  I was talking trash to my son, my dog was begging to be petted, so I was indulging her.  Everything was going great.

Although there were a plethora of turnovers, the lead kept expanding, reaching a high point of 16 with just under 1:30 left in the half.

From then on, it was a slow march to the end.  It was mildly stressful with never the thought of the Demons actually losing.

So what was the problem?  The damn diamond beserker press.  It has becoming abundantly clear, that our guards do not like pressure.   Buffalo and now Cleveland St. asked us to increase our tempo and we obliged them with a deluge of turnovers.  Even when we did break the unholy press, our big men, would make a bad pass, lose the ball, miss a layup, or charged into our old friend Big Al Eichelberger.

Jaylen Butz, Paul Reed, Romeo Weems, Charlie Moore, and Devin Gage all had 4 turnovers.  Only Jalen Coleman-Lands had more assists than turnovers.  It was an awful game to watch.  It hurt my feelings.  Best summed up by the following tweet which was inspired by a tweet by @HSS1DPU:

Alright, let’s get to the nitty-gritty.

cropped-demons-college

Continue reading “DePaul Survives Berserker Vikings” →

Blue Demons Douse the Flames

During the first 10 minutes of the DePaul/University of Illinois-Chicago game, many were having flashbacks to the Buffalo game.  The Blue Demons physically looked like the better team, but a lack of execution, and awful 1-9 shooting felt a lot like last Sunday’s debacle.

giphy

Thankfully, UIC did an equally terrible job of making shots and as a bonus, they also did not take care of the ball.  With 10:14 left in the 1st half, Darious Hall made a layup with an assist by the resurgent Charlie Moore for DePaul to take a 15-14 lead, which they never relinquished.  Lovely.

The Blue Demons slowly choked the Flames to death, expanding their lead in each 10 minute increment for the rest of the game.

After it was all said and done, DePaul finished with an 86-65 win.

cropped-white-demon

Continue reading “Blue Demons Douse the Flames” →

Demons Succumb to the Trap Game

sad_blue_demon
The LazyBlueDemon after the game.

After a euphoric week of fun after beating Texas Tech, with the hashtag #RankDePaul trending, and the BigEastBias.com writing 7 or 8 articles about the AP voters being cowards for not ranking the Demons, DePaul came out flat, missed Eleven free-throws, turned the ball over fifteen times in the first half, and ultimately lost to the Buffalo Bulls by 5.

The first 18 minutes of the game were brutal for both teams.  DePaul couldn’t get out of their own way and invented new ways to turn the ball over.  The Bulls could not make a shot.  For most of the half, Buffalo was shooting in the low 30 percents and less than 20% on 3-point shots.  However, the Bulls began to get easy buckets off of the increasingly careless turnovers.

Continue reading “Demons Succumb to the Trap Game” →

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

cropped-white-demon-e1515450555406

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” →