After a week off to lick their wounds from a gut-punch loss to Xavier, Creighton begins the home stretch of the season with a Saturday matinee in Chicago. They have seven games remaining, with just two of them against teams that currently have a winning record in the league (at Villanova and at Marquette). The other five? At Seton Hall (5-6), a trio of home games against St. John?s (5-7), Georgetown (4-8) and Providence (4-8), and Saturday?s game at DePaul (1-10). It?s as manageable of a seven-game stretch as you could hope for, with home games against the 7th, 8th, and 9th place teams and road games at the 5th, 6th and 10th place teams.
First up is the DePaul Blue Demons, who?ve lost seven straight and 10 of their first 11 in the Big East. They?ve been much more competitive at home, however; they?ve lost games by one, three, and six points, while picking up their lone win, and have an average margin of defeat of just under six points. On the road, they?ve lost by double-digits in all but one of their six losses, and have an average margin of defeat of 16 points ? ten points worse than at home. That?s a big difference, even in the world of college hoops where homecourt advantage is a very real factor.
Part of that, certainly, has to do with Allstate Arena, a building that is mercifully in it?s final season as the Blue Demons? home court. It was once referred to as the ?Armpit of all Arenas? by the late Steve Pivovar of the Omaha World-Herald, and I can?t say I disagree. It isn?t that it?s an old, run-down building, though it?s certainly seen better days. It?s that DePaul hasn?t drawn well at Allstate for years, and when they don?t, it?s a strangely quiet, cavernous place to play a game; with a capacity of 18,600, an average paid attendance of 5,514 last season and an actual attendance of 2,395 per game (!), that means on an average night 85% of the seats are empty.
Not to mention, it?s been a house of horrors for Creighton over the years ? Nate Funk suffered his season-ending shoulder injury there in 2005, Grant Gibbs? career nearly ended there in 2014 with a dislocated knee cap that cost him six weeks of his senior season, and Doug McDermott injured his shoulder in the same game.
Northwestern will play there next season while they renovate Welsh-Ryan Arena on campus, which is a bit of a shame; if they were imploding the place after DePaul moves into the swanky new Wintrust Arena this fall, I?d take great satisfaction in wielding a sledgehammer to whatever tiny corner they?d let me attack.
Back to this year?s Blue Demons. Eli Cain leads DePaul in scoring at 16.5 points per game, though his average has steadily declined in Big East play; he scored 20+ in seven of 13 non-conference games, and has done it once in 11 conference battles. For the year he shoots 40.4% (133-329) from the floor and 37.0% (47-127) from three point range. In the first meeting in Omaha, he was 4-17 from the floor and 1-5 from three-point range, scoring nine points.
Billy Garrett is second with 15.5 points per game, and after a career of underwhelming offensive games against Creighton ? he?d scored 53 total points in eight games before the meeting last month ? he broke out with 18 points on 6-10 shooting, including 4-5 from three-point range, with three assists and four steals. It was Garrett?s finest all-around game against the Bluejays, and strangely, it came in spite of not getting to the line (he was 2-2 from the stripe). The senior has a career-long trend of both getting to the line a ton and making almost all of them. He?s shooting 91.0% there this year, and 131 of his 372 points this season have come from the line.
Junior college transfer Tre?Darius McCallum is the only other player scoring in double figures, at 10.1 points per game, and leads the team with 6.9 rebounds per contest. He was held down in the first meeting, scoring seven points and grabbing just four boards in 29 minutes; he was 3-9 from the floor and 0-3 from three-point range. That game appears to have put McCallum into a bit of a funk.
Prior to the game in Omaha, he?d had two straight double-doubles; McCallum logged 14 points, 10 rebounds, two blocks and two steals at St. John?s, and followed it up with 15 points, 11 rebounds, and two blocks in 42 minutes of action against Butler. He narrowly missed double-doubles three other times in league play (8/8 against Providence, 14/9 against St. John?s at home, and 19/7 against Villanova), but since the game against Creighton in Omaha, he?s been a different player. He scored six points with three boards in 35 minutes against Georgetown and six points with four boards against Xavier, though he did come back a bit with 21 points and seven boards while playing all 40 minutes against Marquette.
6?5? freshman guard Brandon Cyrus has started all 24 games this year, and lately has begun to emerge as a serious scoring threat ? he?s scored in double figures in three of the last games, after doing so in just one of the first seven Big East games (and three of 13 non-conference games). He had 12 points and 6 rebounds in Omaha, and made a pair of three-pointers. Earlier this week against Xavier, he set or matched career highs in points, field goals, field goal attempts, three-pointers, three-point attempts and minutes ? he scored 18 points with six boards, an assist and a steal in 36 minutes.
Quick Notes on the Blue Demons:
First up is the DePaul Blue Demons, who?ve lost seven straight and 10 of their first 11 in the Big East. They?ve been much more competitive at home, however; they?ve lost games by one, three, and six points, while picking up their lone win, and have an average margin of defeat of just under six points. On the road, they?ve lost by double-digits in all but one of their six losses, and have an average margin of defeat of 16 points ? ten points worse than at home. That?s a big difference, even in the world of college hoops where homecourt advantage is a very real factor.
Part of that, certainly, has to do with Allstate Arena, a building that is mercifully in it?s final season as the Blue Demons? home court. It was once referred to as the ?Armpit of all Arenas? by the late Steve Pivovar of the Omaha World-Herald, and I can?t say I disagree. It isn?t that it?s an old, run-down building, though it?s certainly seen better days. It?s that DePaul hasn?t drawn well at Allstate for years, and when they don?t, it?s a strangely quiet, cavernous place to play a game; with a capacity of 18,600, an average paid attendance of 5,514 last season and an actual attendance of 2,395 per game (!), that means on an average night 85% of the seats are empty.
Not to mention, it?s been a house of horrors for Creighton over the years ? Nate Funk suffered his season-ending shoulder injury there in 2005, Grant Gibbs? career nearly ended there in 2014 with a dislocated knee cap that cost him six weeks of his senior season, and Doug McDermott injured his shoulder in the same game.
Northwestern will play there next season while they renovate Welsh-Ryan Arena on campus, which is a bit of a shame; if they were imploding the place after DePaul moves into the swanky new Wintrust Arena this fall, I?d take great satisfaction in wielding a sledgehammer to whatever tiny corner they?d let me attack.
Back to this year?s Blue Demons. Eli Cain leads DePaul in scoring at 16.5 points per game, though his average has steadily declined in Big East play; he scored 20+ in seven of 13 non-conference games, and has done it once in 11 conference battles. For the year he shoots 40.4% (133-329) from the floor and 37.0% (47-127) from three point range. In the first meeting in Omaha, he was 4-17 from the floor and 1-5 from three-point range, scoring nine points.
Billy Garrett is second with 15.5 points per game, and after a career of underwhelming offensive games against Creighton ? he?d scored 53 total points in eight games before the meeting last month ? he broke out with 18 points on 6-10 shooting, including 4-5 from three-point range, with three assists and four steals. It was Garrett?s finest all-around game against the Bluejays, and strangely, it came in spite of not getting to the line (he was 2-2 from the stripe). The senior has a career-long trend of both getting to the line a ton and making almost all of them. He?s shooting 91.0% there this year, and 131 of his 372 points this season have come from the line.
Junior college transfer Tre?Darius McCallum is the only other player scoring in double figures, at 10.1 points per game, and leads the team with 6.9 rebounds per contest. He was held down in the first meeting, scoring seven points and grabbing just four boards in 29 minutes; he was 3-9 from the floor and 0-3 from three-point range. That game appears to have put McCallum into a bit of a funk.
Prior to the game in Omaha, he?d had two straight double-doubles; McCallum logged 14 points, 10 rebounds, two blocks and two steals at St. John?s, and followed it up with 15 points, 11 rebounds, and two blocks in 42 minutes of action against Butler. He narrowly missed double-doubles three other times in league play (8/8 against Providence, 14/9 against St. John?s at home, and 19/7 against Villanova), but since the game against Creighton in Omaha, he?s been a different player. He scored six points with three boards in 35 minutes against Georgetown and six points with four boards against Xavier, though he did come back a bit with 21 points and seven boards while playing all 40 minutes against Marquette.
6?5? freshman guard Brandon Cyrus has started all 24 games this year, and lately has begun to emerge as a serious scoring threat ? he?s scored in double figures in three of the last games, after doing so in just one of the first seven Big East games (and three of 13 non-conference games). He had 12 points and 6 rebounds in Omaha, and made a pair of three-pointers. Earlier this week against Xavier, he set or matched career highs in points, field goals, field goal attempts, three-pointers, three-point attempts and minutes ? he scored 18 points with six boards, an assist and a steal in 36 minutes.
Quick Notes on the Blue Demons:
- DePaul is in its 37th and final season at Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois, where the Blue Demons are 342-180 (.655) all-time. They debuted the arena with a 74-56 win over Gonzaga and John Stockton on December 1, 1980. Of the 522 games played in the arena, current DePaul head coach Dave Leitao has coached in 71 of them across two stints; he holds a record of 48-23 (.676) there.
- DePaul is outscoring opponents 919-885 in the second half this season. On the flip side, the Blue Demons have been outscored 868-752 in the first half of games.
- The Blue Demons have totaled at least nine steals in six of the last 13 games. A year ago, DePaul tallied at least nine steals in four games the entire season. In conference play, the Blue Demons have a Big East-best 7.8 steals per game.
