Even with five wins in eight games, this has been a tumultuous season so far for the Blue Demons.

While there have been some highlights, including thrashing Austin Peay at home, and Cleveland Melvin’s 30-point game in a win against Fairfield, DePaul has come out flat in multiple games against lesser opponents. They were outworked by Gardner-Webb in their Allstate Arena opener, and lost both games in Cancun to mid-level teams.

“We could do a lot better,” forward Donnavan Kirk said. “Especially for where we want to go, where we want to be. We’re happy we are at a winning record right now, but we aren’t satisfied.”

It’s unclear which Blue Demon team will show up from game to game. It can be the team that has a deadly press, which forces turnovers and rains in buckets in transition, or it can be the team who plays like a sieve on defense, totally stale and predictable on offense.

Both sides were exemplified Dec. 5 at Chicago State, who came into the game with a 2-7 record. DePaul trailed by 14 at half, but tapped into their energy reservoir, clamped down on defense, and outscored the Cougars 44-20 in the second half. The Demons won 74-64.

The team is glad it won, but disappointed that they trailed in the first place.

“We do respond, which is good,” said head coach Oliver Purnell. “But I also learned that we got a lot of work to do as far as being ready for every game.”

The season is still young, though, and improvements can be made.

“We’re not consistent yet,” said Purnell. “We’re not a consistent team, and I don’t think we’re too much different than a lot of teams around the country at this point. And that’s what you have the non-conference games for, so you can develop and become a better team as the season goes along.” 

DePaul closes out its non-conference slate with home games against UW-Milwaukee, Northern Illinois, UMBC and Loyola, and a road contest against Arizona State.

They face UW-Milwaukee at 4 p.m. Sunday at Allstate Arena.

Shuffling the Lineup Deck

Purnell has tried several different units so far this season. The Demons have used five different starting lineups, and freshman guard Durrell McDonald has started the last three games.

One reason for the alterations has been injuries. Two of the Blue Demons’ top rotation guys have missed games. Forward Jamee Crockett missed four games with a knee injury before returning against Chicago State, and guard Charles McKinney sat out a game with a knee contusion.

“[Injuries] prompted that,” Purnell said of the lineup changes, “as well as trying to become a more consistent unit, trying to find a group that starts the game in a strong fashion.”

Emergence of McKinney

While Melvin and Brandon Young are each having fine seasons, scoring 19.5 and 17.3 points per game, respectively, both Young and Kirk said that McKinney has been the most impressive Demon so far this year.

 “He’s just a great all-around player,” Young said of McKinney. “He gets stops on defense, he runs the floor, and he can be a great player if he really works at it.”

McKinney is scoring 6.0 points per game, but he’s aware of his greatest strength.

“I’ve mainly been stepping up on defense,” McKinney said. “Never really worried about who scores too many points… honestly, I’m not the type of guy who cares about that, I just want to win.”

Defensive Woes

The Blue Demons have little problem scoring (76 points per game, third in the Big East), but the club isn’t as sharp on the other end (they allow 70 points per game). Most of this is due to the up-tempo style of play DePaul uses – pushing the ball upcourt on offense and full-court pressing on defense leads to quick baskets – but there are still aspects of the defense that the team needs to tweak.

The Demons have been working in practice this week on tightening up their traps and closing out on shooters faster.

“You can’t have [opponents] score all these points,” Kirk said with a laugh. “We definitely got a chance to fix it and be a good team.”

Of course, effort is a part of it. Young said that DePaul has gotten lazy on defense at times this season, that they lose focus.

“We got to play defense for all 40 minutes,” Young said, “and not in spurts.”