CJ Gunn was named Big East Player of the Week today after scoring a career-high 31 points in the Blue Demons’ 80-75 win against Marquette on Jan. 16.
Gunn led the team in scoring and shot 7-for-13 (53.8%) from three and 11-for-23 (47.8%) from the field.
According to a release posted on the DePaul Athletics website, Gunn is the first to earn the honor since 2022. Gunn’s seven three-pointers “are tied for fourth-most in program history” and are “the most by a Blue Demon since Max Strus tied the program record with eight on March 6, 2019.”
Gunn said what allowed him to get into a rhythm was “just the flow of the offense,” keeping “God first,’’ and “a good prayer before the game,” which gave him “immense confidence” entering the game.
He also attributed his success to “a good couple days of practice” and the team feeding off “the energy in Wintrust.”
Nineteen of Gunn’s points came in the first half, and 12 came in the second.
Gunn said the key to maintaining that offensive consistency was to “not go chase any shots,” noting that the game was coming to him, so he did not need to take a bad shot or try to get his own. He said he “played within the rhythm of” the offense.
“CJ was phenomenal,” head coach Chris Holtmann said in the postgame presser, highlighting how he “bailed us out of some stuff in the first half.”
But Holtmann said he was most proud of his offensive rebounding.
“He’s got the rebound force, and the seven rebounds, four on the offensive glass,” Holtmann said.
Gunn was “terrific, player of the game for sure,” Marquette head coach Shaka Smart said in the postgame press conference.
“I thought, literally from the start of the game, Gunn just was in rhythm,” Smart said. “And even some of the shots where we had a hand up, he made.”
According to ESPN, Gunn is 11th in the Big East in points with a 14.5 average and is the leading scorer for the Blue Demons.
“I just love playing basketball,” Gunn said.
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