Terry Cummings, a Chicago native who played college basketball in Lincoln Park from 1979 to 1982, was immortalized in DePaul basketball history Saturday, Feb. 24, when his jersey was retired at Wintrust Arena.
The retirement ceremony happened at halftime of DePaul men’s basketball’s matchup against Georgetown, where Cummings spoke before a banner displaying his No. 32 jersey was lifted into the rafters of the arena. Cummings joins only George Mikan (No. 99) and Mark Agguire (No. 24, who played two seasons with Cummings) as DePaul’s only men’s basketball players to have their numbers retired, meaning no player can choose their numbers to wear as a Blue Demon.
“It’s a great experience to be celebrated,” Cummings said after the game. “Being a part of DePaul’s legacy is very important to me.”
Cummings played 85 games for DePaul, averaging 16.4 points per game over his collegiate career before entering the 1982 NBA draft. He was selected second overall by the San Diego Clippers, beginning an 18-year NBA career that collected accolades such as Rookie of the Year and two All-Star game selections in 1985 and 1989.
“I remember Terry (Cummings) really well as a player, I’m a huge fan,” DePaul interim head coach Matt Brady said. “He’s a great representative of DePaul University.”
The jersey retirement ceremony was one of many highlights of the night. The Blue Demons dropped a nail-biter to the Georgetown Hoyas that ended with a missed layup at the buzzer by sophomore guard Jaden Henley. The final score was 77-76 in favor of the Hoyas.
After falling behind early and heading to halftime down 13, DePaul stormed back and took the lead just five minutes into the second half. There were six lead changes and six ties, all in the second half. With a minute remaining, DePaul was down four points before two buckets and a free throw from senior Da’sean Nelson gave DePaul a one-point lead. With eight seconds left, Georgetown’s Jayden Epps got to the free throw line and hit both, tipping the balance back to the Hoyas. The last possession saw an inbound from Henley that was handed right back to him. Henley barreled down the court to the rim and went up for the layup, but missed as the final buzzer sounded.
“We’re really fortunate the young man at the end of the game just missed the layup,” Georgetown head coach Ed Cooley said. “But I think that these kids (Georgetown) are resilient and they responded well. Today was a great Big East game.”
Brady, who stepped into the interim role in January, recalled his team’s crushing loss that would have been their first conference win of the season.
“Our guys are really down,” Brady said. “That’s a locker room that felt like they did a lot to earn a win … but it never comes down to one play in athletics. It’s easy to point to a missed shot here or there … but I’m proud of our guys. We got exactly what I thought we were gonna get out of the last play. Ball just didn’t go in and that’s how it goes.”
Cummings, who watched from his courtside seat, reflected on DePaul’s season and what it will take to get momentum going in the right direction.
“It’s just doing the little things in building back up this whole universal perspective of what we are at DePaul, and then allowing that to catapult us to being something really special,” Cummings said. “When we do really well at DePaul, Chicago does well.”
Brady echoed his disappointment that his team couldn’t pull off a win with Cummings in attendance.
“Our guys were a little disappointed we couldn’t pull this off because obviously, we brought some fans in for ‘Terry Cummings Night,’” Brady said. “I thought he was a remarkable college player. … He did his thing and he played at the highest level.”
