DePaul will head back to Chicago after a first-round exit in the College Basketball Crown Invitational, losing 61-83.
CJ Gunn led the way for the Blue Demons with 16 points. NJ Benson added 15 to go along with nine rebounds and two blocks.
Cincinnati had six players score in double figures.
Holtmann said priority No. 1 when the portal opened March 24 was to retain players like NJ Benson. He also said the timing of the transfer portal “probably needs to change” but that he will “leave that for other people.”
This season’s transfer portal has been a point of contention since it opened on March 24, before even the Sweet Sixteen in the NCAA Tournament.
Despite the timing of the portal in conjunction with the Crown, he said, “I feel really good … to be able to, more than anything else, compete like we did in the Big East Tournament, to play the way we did at the end of the year … I feel really, really good.”
Holtmann said “by all accounts … it looks good” about Blocker’s arm injury, though further evaluation is needed.
Benson first commented on what DePaul means to him beyond financial incentive.
“It’s about being home, being like a family. Everybody has accepted me. The fans have, the coaches have … they just make it feel like home, and I feel wanted. And for me, that’s bigger than money.”
Benson commented on how close he and DePaul’s core of Blocker and Gunn are. The three of them have all announced they are coming back and forming to core of next season’s group.
“It’s really big to have those two guys back, for sure, and we tried to retain what we could, but … some people just go for other stuff.”
Benson said he would do “whatever coach needs me to do” to help the recruiting effort in the transfer portal.
Rivera added that, despite being out of eligibility, “anybody could ask me, and I’ll tell them the truth and how good of an experience it is to play under coach Holtmann.”
Blocker has been taken to the locker room. DePaul is down to seven players, for now.
DePaul guard Layden Blocker went up for a layup, took a lot of contact, and landed directly on his left arm. He is being attended to now and has been on the ground for more than a minute.
Cincinnati has made four of their last five from deep
The lead is now 74-47 with 5:58 remaining.
Cincinnati is 8-20 from deep (40%).
Cincinnati goes up 23.
Cincinnati extends their lead to 16.
A foul on DePaul’s Isaiah Rivera is under review for a potential flagrant.
Rivera clipped the top of Jizzle James’s head.
After starting 1-11 from deep, DePaul makes two straight three-pointers from Isaiah Rivera, followed by a Benson block going into a media timeout at the 12-minute mark.
DePaul cuts the deficit to 16.
The 9.5-point favorites going into this game are really creating separation.
Cincinnati forward Aziz Bandaogo missed an and-one free throw, but Dan Skillings Jr. swooped in for the putback to complete a four-point swing.
Bandaogo was fouled on an alley-oop reverse finish off of an 11th DePaul turnover.
Cincinnati leads 50-32 with 14:20 remaining.
Both teams have combined for 8-13 from the floor, a stark difference from the combined 4-17 start to the game.
With both offenses heating up, DePaul trails 32-44 as Cincinnati has already hit two three-pointers in the frame.
15:49 remains in this one.
DePaul falls behind double-digits after a 32% shooting performance in the first half. They are 1-11 from three-point range (9%).
Despite the poor shooting from deep, major factors in this game has been offensive rebounding and turnovers. Cincinnati has nine second chance points off of six offensive rebounds while the Blue Demons have committed eight turnovers leading to 10 Bearcat points off turnovers.
Cincinnati leads 33-23 with 20 minutes to go.
Head coach Chris Holtmann calls a DePaul timeout after a two-minute scoring drought which included two missed three-pointers and two missed free throws in three attempts by Rivera.
DePaul falls behind nine points as Cincinnati leads 26-17 with 4:05 remaining in the half.
The Blue Demons are shooting 1-9 from deep.
After giving up Cincinnati’s first three-pointer, DePaul responds with a putback by Benson and a wide-open dunk by Gunn.
Cutting it to a three-point deficit, DePaul now trails 16-19 with seven minutes left.
Cincinnati heads to a media timeout making four straight shots to take the lead back, 14-12.
There have already been six lead changes.
10:29 remains in the half.
Just eight minutes into the game, every available DePaul player has logged minutes.
Rivera hits a drifting three-pointer to take the lead 12-10 with 11:40 remaining in the half.
Over the first four minutes, neither team has gotten a rhythm on offense, shooting a combined 23.5% overall. Benson has all four DePaul points, hitting a mid-range jumper and an and-one layup, missing the following free throw.
Cincinnati leads 5-4 at the first media timeout with 15:09 remaining.
Tip is won by the Bearcats and we are under way.
DePaul has eight players available, including these five starters:
David Thomas, Chris Riddle and Theo Pierre-Justin will be available off the bench.
None of Cincinnati’s players have entered the transfer portal, and all players are available. Here are the starters for the Bearcats:
This afternoon’s officials are Tim Clougherty, James Ford and Tommy Johnson.
Down to eight rotation players in a college basketball world in which the transfer portal opened last week, DePaul men’s basketball will take on the Cincinnati Bearcats in Las Vegas to open their College Basketball Crown tournament play. The Crown, introduced this year, is a 16-team single-elimination tournament spanning from yesterday, March 31 to Saturday, April 6.
Three Blue Demons have entered the transfer portal since it opened on March 24 – Conor Enright, Jacob Meyer and JJ Traynor – and will not be available. The DePaulia reported Monday that guard David Thomas plans to enter the portal after DePaul’s tournament run ends and will play.
Cincinnati heads to Las Vegas as favorites to win the Crown (+400) while DePaul is last in betting odds (+11000). The Bearcats finished 18-15, 7-13 in the Big 12, finishing 12th in the conference. Notable victories this season came against then-No. 22 Dayton as well as NCAA Tournament teams Xavier, BYU and Baylor. DePaul comes in with momentum, pulling the only major upset of the Big East Tournament against Georgetown and taking Creighton to double overtime before bowing out on March 13.
Cincinnati has lost three of their last five games, while DePaul has won three of their last four.
The last time DePaul played in a non-conference postseason tournament was in 2019 when they took part in the College Basketball Invitational (CBI), making it all the way to the championship where they lost in three games to South Florida.
Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. CST. Follow along live for developments during and after the game.
