Well, so much for momentum.After getting their first Big East victory of the season Thursday, Feb. 17 in a 79-76 win at Providence, the Blue Demons men’s basketball team faltered. First came a heartbreaking overtime loss to Villanova on Feb. 19, followed by a 25-point blowout against No. 25 St. John’s four days later.
It was a disappointing follow-up to the win that had players riding high. And even more difficult to swallow when the team is trying to find its groove before the postseason starts.
“We’re no different than everybody else. We want to be playing well going into the Big East tournament,” Head Coach Oliver Purnell said the day after his team lost to St. John’s. “And after having played well for a stretch, we had a clunker last night. We would love to say that’s not who we are right now.so we’re trying to build momentum.”
The first misstep came against Villanova, a 77-75 overtime loss.
Villanova’s Corey Fisher led all scorers with 34 points in the game, no shot bigger than his 3-pointer late in regulation. With 0:12 remaining on the clock and DePaul leading 62-59, Fisher took the ball and hung behind the arc. With Cleveland Melvin defending, Fisher put the shot up. Just like that, the game was tied at 62. In the extra period, the Wildcats pulled ahead for good.
“Fisher’s a little deeper shooter, and he’s a really good player, and he made a play to send it to overtime,” Purnell said after the loss. “Overtime, we just kind of fumbled some plays. We just kind of showed our inexperience there a little bit.we turned it over, fumbled some plays that were there for layups, that kind of thing.”
For the Blue Demons, junior Jeremiah Kelly led the team in scoring for the second straight game-this time with a career-high 25 points.
“The guys fought hard, they’re playing better, and it’s a tough one to take,” Purnell said. “They’re hurting in the locker room, but that’s the way we want it to be, in a situation like this moving forward.”
Freshman Moses Morgan said after the loss that their play against a good Villanova team could be partially attributed to their victory against Providence.
“That [win] really boosted our confidence, and it showed today,” he said. “We came up short, but we’re just proving to people that we can play with anybody in this league.”
The momentum-if there was any-would be snuffed out quickly, however.
The Blue Demons traveled east to play No. 25 St. John’s, whose defense gave them issues all night long.
“I thought it was not a good game for us, from a team that’s been playing pretty good,” Purnell said on a teleconference the day after the game. “Obviously last week winning at Providence, and then taking Villanova to overtime, I thought we were playing well. But St. John’s took it to us.”
St. John’s defense frustrated DePaul all game. The Blue Demons shot only 36.4 percent in the first half and found themselves down by 15. In the second half, it became even more difficult: They shot just 9-33 (27.3 percent) from the field.
Purnell credited the Red Storm’s stifling defense for the result.
“I think St. John’s had everything to do with it,” Purnell said. “They’re playing with a lot of confidence. Their zone is as good as I’ve seen this year. You know, they play kind of a matchup zone with a number of outstanding athletes. The slides are good.
“You get the ball in the middle, which is where you want it, and they do an outstanding job of containing and bottling you up in there and bringing out the knives and getting their hands on balls, arms and everything.”
The Red Storm, meanwhile, knew the game meant a lot to them as well.
“We know how important this game is,” senior G/F D.J. Kennedy said after the game. “In past years, we had letdowns in games like this. So we just look forward to that and we just lock in every game.”
After last Saturday’s game against USF, DePaul has only two remaining regular season games .
They then travel to New York for the Big East Championship tournament, where first place could sneak them into the dance.
“The tournament consists of every team in the league, from clearly the best basketball league in terms of teams,” Purnell said. “When you look down this murderers’ row, and you put them all in one building over a compressed period of time I think you’re gonna get some great games.
“And I think that hopefully you’ll see some upsets, because if there’s some upsets we got a chance of being a part of that.”
However, even if the team is riding a losing streak into the tournament, they have faith.
“I still believe that we can do some things,” Kelly said after the overtime loss to the Wildcats. “I mean one thing about this team is we never quit. I’ve been telling them, we still can do some things. We’re looking forward to the Big East conference tournament.”
And all it took was one measly win.