DePaul gets blown out by UConn, 94-60, in quarterfinals of Big East Tournament
DePaul sophomore forward Romeo Weems stands in front of a UConn player on Monday at Wintrust Arena.
Dave Leitao’s second job as an assistant coach was working for Jim Calhoun at UConn, a place that the current DePaul head coach spent 14 years at. On Thursday, Leitao was coaching against UConn for the first time in the Big East Tournament.
It did not go well for Leitao and his Blue Demons. The third-seeded Huskies dominated the game from start to finish, and won 94-60 to secure a ticket to the semifinals of the conference tournament.
“I was concerned at the first TV timeout just because the energy was different than it was last night,” Leitao said. “What happened after that was we lost some of our fight.”
On Wednesday, DePaul defeated Providence 70-62 in the first-round of the tournament. After playing a highly competitive game against the Friars, the story was different a day later.
In a way, it’s poetic that UConn is the team that ended Leitao’s season and possibly ended his time as DePaul’s head coach. According to a report from CBS Sports college basketball reporter Matt Norlander, DePaul is “definitely” going to make a head coaching change after this season. That article came out a couple of hours before Thursday’s game.
Leitao has preached in the past the importance of rebounding and playing solid defense. He got none of that from his team. UConn outrebounded the Blue Demons 53-29, including 24-11 on the offensive end, and outscored DePaul 50-32 in the paint.
“The one thing that we said first was rebounding and how to carry it over from last night [to] tonight,” Leitao said. “But you can’t go through box out drills, you can’t go through physicality. You just have to make sure that they understand how important it is. And to [UConn’s] credit, they beat us up pretty bad on the backboards because they went after it.”
DePaul was not allowed to find any offensive rhythm from the start, with the Huskies blitzing senior guard Charlie Moore and forcing others to beat them. After Moore scored 21 points in Wednesday’s win over Providence, he was limited to eight on 3-of-9 shooting a day later.
UConn jumped out to an early 15-7 lead following an 8-0 run that was led by sophomore guard James Bouknight. The Blue Demons’ inability to generate any offense really hurt them in the first half as the Huskies were getting anything they wanted on the offensive end.
DePaul also compounded its issues by sending UConn to the free-throw line 13 times in the first half, with the Huskies converting nine of them. In the closing six minutes of the half, the Blue Demons only made one shot, got outscored 16-2 and committed five turnovers.
Led by Bouknight’s 10 points, UConn took a commanding 45-22 lead into the break. The onslaught only got worse in the second half for the Blue Demons.
Two turnovers coming out of halftime resulted in four quick points for the Huskies, promoting Leitao to call a timeout in the opening minute. DePaul’s final 19 minutes were more about pride than trying to make a miraculous comeback. The dreams of advancing to its first Big East Tournament semifinals were shattered in the first half.
But the scoreline continued to get worse for the Blue Demons. A 9-0 run in the middle of the half gave UConn a 75-41 lead. Junior guard Javon Freeman-Liberty was the only bright spot for DePaul, scoring 19 points and grabbing four rebounds.
The largest lead of the game came in the final minute as UConn made it a 94-55 game before DePaul freshman guard Kobe Elvis closed the game scoring five points.
DePaul’s season ends with a 5-14 overall record and 3-13 in the Big East, including going 1-1 in the conference tournament. In the postgame press conference, Leitao touched on everything the players had to go through this season.
“So all the things that you need — other than the obvious, which is talent, skill, all of those things which hopefully you have enough of — those other things that provide you with opportunities to grow: chemistry, resiliency, knowing each other inside and out and the things that you do as team that we couldn’t either,” Leitao said.
The Blue Demons’ season didn’t begin until Dec. 23 because of three different Covid-19 pauses forcing them to cancel or postpone their first 10 games. Leitao also mentioned that he never had all 12 scholarship players healthy at one time for practice.
Leitao’s future is now what DePaul has to figure out moving forward. He was handed a four-year contract extension last April, but The DePaulia reported there is no money owed to him after this season.
Since taking over as head coach in 2015, Leitao has guided the Blue Demons to five consecutive last place finishes
Billy Blu Demon • Mar 12, 2021 at 8:53 pm
Another year another year in the basement. I’m tired of seeing the Demons hanging out with me!
Let’s bring me back and let’s let the good times roll again! Sorry Dibs you’re out the door with Leitao. It’s nice to have 4 star players, but it’s better to be able to customize a team. A good guard that doesn’t make other players better is just a average player. 8 assist in one game, when you should have 8 assist in one half. How do players the got good minutes in prior years is no way to be found the following year. Is it about grooming and teaching or is it about the new kids on the block. What’s with a team full of shooting guards but none can shoot. A team of small forward playing center.
Well we will see what the new AD thinks about this season in the next coming weeks.
But please start off by bringing me Mr Billy Blue Demon back and maybe my friend Pitino ?lol…
Nicholas Tackes • Mar 12, 2021 at 8:46 pm
Rick Pitino
mike maloney • Mar 12, 2021 at 5:47 pm
Since the 2008-2009 season. ,DePaul `s record in conference play is 37 wins and 195 losses! Dave Leitao`s record in conference since he came back the second time is 21 wins and 85 losses! This is worse than pathetic! How could anyone justify bringing him back? I believe the team that plays the Harlem Globetrotters, ( the Washington Generals) has a better winning % than DePaul during that time. Leitao must go immediately!
Disappointed Alum • Mar 12, 2021 at 5:18 pm
This quote from Esteban was silly back in 2018 and is even more silly now: ““I understand the desire for our men’s basketball program to be good. But it’s not just about men’s basketball. The more we push men’s basketball, the more we also diminish the success of all the other sports.” Huh?
https://depauliaonline.com/34441/news/forward-thinker-president-esteban-talks-enrollment-endowment-and-hope-for-athletics/
Esteban is culpable for the diminishment of DePaul, and not just basketball. Clearly there are others as well responsible for that. But right now, basketball just happens to be the most visible issue of Esteban’s incompetence. The man clearly does not learn from his mistakes as demonstrated by many things most notably his promoting or lack-of-firing practices like this situation.
Lord Have Mercy! • Mar 12, 2021 at 2:41 pm
The obvious has been said by people who knew the inner workings of DePaul Athletics going back 30 years: You have the wrong people running this asylum! It’s been led by the most incompetent people going back to “Bitter” Bill Bradshaw. He was insanely jealous of Ray and Joey Meyer; he was even jealous of mannequin-toupee wearing Doug Bruno. Bradshaw did everything to undermine Joey from the beginning, and the priests let him get away with it.
Jean Lenti-Ponsetto was there the whole time, and we all know she was her own biggest advocate and ambassador. It can be argued that she was the worst Division I Athletic Director EVER! She even fabricated her athletic accomplishments as women’s teams back in her day were essentially intramural teams open to all who had a pulse and an ounce of interest. (That changed in the early ‘80s.) She topped it off by voting herself into DePaul’s Athletic Hall of Fame. Hysterical! DePaulia, please check the records and you’ll find out the truth; it was all fabricated in her head. This has been joked about on Twitter for years.
That’s why JLP will never be hired by another university. Outsiders know the truth, but the insiders pretended everything was stellar BECAUSE Jeannie wrote it all herself!
The reality is DePaul’s alumni doesn’t care about its basketball team any longer because we have been burned and discarded for decades. For decades, we have observed the obvious incompetencies in DePaul Basketball coaches, yet those in the know made sure their pockets were lined every year and did nothing. They weren’t changing anything and continued with the spin. So whether Leitao is terminated or not, we gave up a long time ago.
Mind you, Leitao has been bad going back to the 90’s at Northeastern. Even outsiders who know nothing about basketball could figure out he was a bad hire for any head coach position.
However, for the sake of the kids, it only makes sense that Leitao is relieved of his duties. But it’s really 30 years too late. DePaul is a Division III caliber basketball program, and it has lost all its “America’s Team” luster from many moon’s ago.
If there is a lesson to all talented, young athletes, regardless of sport, it is this: DePaul will never maximize your athletic potential. Do not come here! (Women’s Basketball and Softball are the exception. However, nobody but your family and friends care – which is a good thing.)
If you are a quality men’s basketball prospect, I say this: Regardless of who the next coach will be, don’t chose DePaul University. If DePaul paid a leading business consulting firm, like McKinsey, to destroy its basketball program, they couldn’t have done a better job than what its leaders have done.
Leadership is just changing faces; the same idiots who have been messing things up for 30 years are still pulling the strings. Please do yourself a huge favor and don’t commit to the little school under the L! Your basketball career will thank you!
I wish Dave Leitao a long, prosperous and enjoyable retirement. You sure as heck stole enough millions from DePaul to have a grand old time for 50 years! Enjoy!
Anthony B Cole • Mar 12, 2021 at 12:39 am
I’ve been following DePaul basketball since their time as routinely making the NCAA tounament during the years of Rey and Joey Myer. What’s happened to this program is beyond sad and embarrassing. It all starts with the AD who was allowed to retire when she should’ve been fired years ago. I believe the only reason she wasn’t is because of the success of the women’s team. She had no clue as to hiring a competent coach. She revisted the past by bringing in a head coach who was the last one to take them to the NCAA tournament. His recond go around has been an absolute disaster. Five straight last place finishes. When your players start saying u can’t coach then youve got a real problem. Paul Reed who was one of their best players on last years team made the jump to the NBA in part cuz he could no longer stomach playing for Leitao. I’d be shocked if Leitao isn’t fired. He certainly desreves to be.