“Just be more hungry than the other team,” Gunn said. “We obviously let two go in our past two recent games, and Gardner-Webb was going to come in here hungry and wanted to beat us and want us to continue on that streak. So we definitely, the mindset was just come in, be more hungry, and attack them just like any other team with respect.”

“It was good just to get our confidence back, our trust, building trust with each other again,” Smith said. “Seeing the win feels good, so we can get a move on from that slate we had last week.”

The Blue Demons are feeding Flores in the paint, and it is leading to buckets. Flores leads the team in second-half scoring with nine points. He has 11 points for the game.

Gunn in the first half: 11 points.

Gunn in the second half so far: Seven points.

Blocker in the first half: 10 points.

Blocker in the second half so far: Six points.

Gunn knocks down the 3-pointer and follows that up with a dunk. He has 16 points for the game. The Blue Demons lead 76-48 with 7:54 remaining.

Blocker is the second leading scorer with 14, and Banks is third with 12. Banks is 5-for-6 from the field with a steal and a block.

The Blue Demons have had their sloppy moments, but the team is playing similarly to how they did in the first.

Having fed Benson in the paint twice, the Blue Demons are up to 10 points in the paint with nine bench points in the half. DePaul also has 10 points off turnovers.

It is his third of the game, and the freshman is up to nine points. He is 3-for-4 from the three-point line. DePaul has strung together a pair of stops to go along with McClure’s three and a Banks layup.

The Blue Demons’ offense was quiet, while Gardner-Webb had scored seven points in the half. However, Pierre-Justin knocks down the 3-pointer to end the scoreless run DePaul had.

The Blue Demons are continuing to find success in the paint with a Flores dunk and a Blocker layup. They have also forced a turnover.

Head coach Chris Holtmann has been critical of the team’s second-half performances in games this season. While the Blue Demons have a 24-point lead, they cannot start to play sloppily and need to keep the defensive energy they had in the first half. Against Chicago State, the 92-62 victory, Holtmann liked the defense in the first, but not the second.

DePaul has not only found its players to lead the way offensively in Gunn (11 points) and Blocker (10 points), but multiple Blue Demons are chipping in.

Notably, Banks has eight points and McClure has six.

The Blue Demons are finding their offensive success in the paint (20 points), points off turnovers (15) and bench points (19).

The defense has forced 11 turnovers and is up to seven steals.

DePaul is playing like the team fans saw against Northwestern offensively, with solid contributions from multiple players.

The defense is making things tough for the Runnin’ Bulldogs in every aspect. Gardner-Webb is shooting 28% from the field and 28% from the three-point line.

The Blue Demons have four steals and one block, forcing Gardner-Webb to turn the ball over seven times. DePaul has 10 points off the Runnin’ Bulldogs’ turnovers.

The Blue Demons are continuing to show the offensive depth they showed against Northwestern.

Gunn: Seven points.

Blocker: Six points.

McClure: Six points.

Pierre-Justin: Four points.

Banks: Five points.

Benson: Two points.

McClure now has two 3-pointers in the game so far for six points.

DePaul is applying pressure on the defensive end. Gardner-Webb is shooting just 13% from the field with three turnovers in the game so far.

Blocker is the focal point of the offense so far, with six points for the game.

Pierre-Justin has added four points, Kaleb Banks knocked down a 3-pointer and Gunn made a jumper in the paint to expand the offense outside of just Blocker.

DePaul 15 – Gardner Webb 4. 12:00 remaining in the first half.

Both teams have now made a field goal in the game, with DePaul now up to two made baskets.

DePaul and Gardner-Webb have struggled early on offense. The only advantage DePaul has is Blocker getting sent to the free-throw line. Had the Blue Demons been able to make more shots early on – and also not shoot 22% from the field – this could be a very different score.

Benson checks in at the 17:32 mark.

Fouled on a drive and a 3-pointer, Blocker has gone to the free-throw line five times and has knocked down four free throws.

Those four free throws account for all of DePaul’s points so far.

Flores wins the tip for the Blue Demons.

The game starts NOW. The Blue Demons look to end their two-game slide and get back in the win column.

G Brandon Maclin

G Layden Blocker

G CJ Gunn

F Théo Pierre-Justin

C Fabián Flores

Flores gets the start in place of Benson. Again, Benson is dealing with a sprained right wrist.

1. Kruz McClure: Can he build off of the 15-point night he had against Northwestern and show that he can be a viable scoring option for the team consistently if given enough minutes?

2. Benson: Benson only played 19 minutes and scored seven points against Northwestern. If DePaul gets a big lead, Benson may be able to rest a decent amount in this game, as he is dealing with a sprained right wrist. This would likely open up opportunities for Fabián Flores, who had six points and eight rebounds against Northwestern.

Lorenz is dealing with a neck injury and will not play. He played seven minutes in the game against Northwestern.

1. Defense, defense, defense. Mainly: paint protection.

The Gardner-Webb Runnin’ Bulldogs are still looking for their first win. They will likely come out hungry, especially considering they have scored over 80 points in each of their last two games. They scored 40 and 54 paint points in those games, respectively.

The offensive punch in those two games came mainly from the starters. In each of the games, four of the five starters finished in double figures. However, in both games, one player off the bench finished in double figures as well. 

Had the defense been better against Northwestern, DePaul could have taken advantage of its offensive numbers and walked away with the victory.

2. Keep the offensive rhythm from the Northwestern game. 

The Blue Demons had nine players score in the game, and eight of the nine finished with five or more points, which led to a 79-point outing by DePaul. 

Having a variety of scorers again will make this offense tough to stop, also creating easier scoring opportunities for NJ Benson, Layden Blocker and CJ Gunn.