The dominating factor in Tuesday night’s game from this new look DePaul team was the play of their defense. A roster that used to be offensive minded with key players like Max Strus, Eli Cain and Femi Olujobi, has to rely on their defense at the start of the season to get them wins.

This year with front-court duo of Paul Reed, Jaylen Butz and freshman Romeo Weems, the Blue Demons have become more of a defensive-minded team while their offense takes time to click. 

In their season opener, the Blue Demons’ identity was with their ruthless defense. From shot blocking, to steals and Alcorn State into tough shots, the Blue Demons had full control of this game because of their stout defense. The Braves barleyy shot over 25 percent from the field (17-for-66) and went 3-for-24 from behind the arc. 

Head coach Tim Anderson, who’s filling in for Dave Leitao while he serves his three-game suspension, talked about that after DePaul’s 72-54 victory against Alcorn State.  

“We want to be able to defend,” Anderson said. “We want to be very detailed defensively in our schemes. We want to rebound. We want to take care of the ball.”

Bringing out a defense first mindset from each player proved to be an advantage on Tuesday as the Blue Demons had the lead the whole game. 

One area where the team struggled against Alcorn State was in the rebound department. DePaul had eight offensive rebounds compared to Alcorn State’s 18, which gave more second-chance opportunities for the Braves..  

 Beside the rebounding woes, Reed notched his first double-double of the season with 17 points and 11 rebounds. Guard Charlie Moore made his DePaul debut on Tuesday, scoring 14 points while going 3-for-3 from the three-point line. 

Going into Wednesday night’s game against the University of Chicago, Anderson and the players want to improve their tempo and their rebounding. 

Keys to the game against University of Chicago will be better rebounding as this team prides itself on their rebounding ability, and more free throws made as they went 7-for-15 from the charity stripe against Alcorn State. 

“We got outrebounded and I don’t think that should ever happened against anybody. We pride ourselves on that and work on that every single day,” Coach Anderson stated.  

While the Blue Demons notched their first victory of the season, they are still looking to improve in multiple areas before their game against the University of Chicago. The game is scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m. at Wintrust Arena.