Since DePaul moved to the Big East in 2005, they’ve had a winning record in league play only once in 18 seasons. They’ve finished dead last in the Big East standings in 11 of the past 15 seasons. DePaul is 71-272 against Big East teams over that span including the Big East Tournament. And somehow the 2023-24 Blue Demons are struggling even to clear that low bar — they’re 3-11 overall and the only remaining winless team in league play at 0-3.
That’s perhaps not terribly surprising given that they lost five of their top six scorers from a team that put together a 3-17 campaign in the league a year ago. But the Bluejays aren’t overlooking them — with how their first four games in league play have gone, they can’t afford to.
“Everybody in this league, you just don’t know. And going on the road in college basketball is really, really hard,” Greg McDermott said on Saturday after their win over Providence. “I don’t care who you’re playing or where you’re playing, it’s not easy. The most important game in the Big East is the next one.”
Creighton has had double-digit leads in each of its first four Big East games, and in each one, the Jays gave up big runs to let their opponent back into it. Against Villanova and Marquette, it cost them a win. Against Georgetown, it kept them from getting more playing time for bench players who could have used the experience. Though they held on (barely) against Providence, their inability to put teams away is concerning.
Should the opportunity present itself tonight, the Jays need to find the killer instinct to put the game on ice. And if we’re being honest, it should.
DePaul was smacked 84-48 by Villanova and 85-56 by UConn, and in the non-conference they lost by double-digits to Iowa State (99-80), Texas A&M (89-64), Northern Illinois (89-79) and San Francisco (70-54). If you’re sensing a trend with those scores, you’re right: DePaul’s defense is really bad. For a team who plays at a relatively slow tempo (their average game has just 68 possessions, 232nd slowest in D1, and their average possession length is 18.3 seconds, 283rd longest) to give up point totals in the 80s and 90s is horrible.
The analytics back that up. For the season, their adjusted defensive efficiency is 107.6, ranking 235th in D1 — but in Big East play it’s been an unbelievable 121.2. That means they’ve given up 121.2 points per 100 possessions, or 16.2 more points than the average defense. Yikes. They’re dead last in a host of categories: effective field goal percentage defense (62.3%), three-point shooting defense (46.4%), and block percentage (6.5% of opponent’s shots). They’re second-worst in two-point shooting defense (57.0%). And they’ve allowed opponents to record an assist on 62.4% of made baskets, well above the D1 average of 50.8%.
There’s just very little resistance to anything their opponent tries to do — they don’t defend the perimeter, they don’t protect the rim, and they don’t contest the stuff in between either. Combined with an offense that also ranks among the worst in several categories, including adjusted efficiency (86.4%, or nearly 19 points less than the D1 average of 105), it’s a wonder they’ve won three games. With a defense 16.2 points worse per 100 possessions than the average defense, and an offense 18.6 points worse, that’s a 34.8 point hole to dig out of. Add it all up and it starts to make sense how they lost by 29 to UConn and by 36 to Villanova.
Individually, they have four players who average in double figures. Fifth-year senior Chico Carter, Jr., a 6’2″ transfer from South Carolina, leads them in scoring at 12.7 points per game. He’s made 37.3% of his threes this year, but that’s actually worse than his career numbers, by quite a bit. He entered the season as the second-best active three-point shooter in college basketball, and made 47.6% a year ago at South Carolina (49-of-103). Two years ago at Murray State, he made 42-of-100 (42.0%).
6’9″ Jeremiah Oden is a stretch-four who shot 34% from three-point range at Wyoming a year ago. He’s been even better this year, making 23-of-56 (41.1%), and is second in scoring at 11.0 points per game.
6’8″ Da’Sean Nelson is third in scoring at 10.8 points per game, playing mostly as the ‘5’ because they don’t have a true big on the roster, though he’s built more like a combo forward. That lack of size explains a lot of their defensive problems — they often have to over-commit and send double teams to the paint, which exasperates their other deficiencies. Offensively, Nelson is a decent shooter (52% on twos, 56-of-107) and has scored 19 points in back-to-back games. He made 8-of-10 inside the arc against Georgetown, and 7-of-13 against UConn. He will step out and take the occasional three, though not with much success (he’s 5-of-23 this season).
Elijah Fisher, a 6’6″ sophomore, was a five-star recruit out of Canada who committed to Texas Tech and then transferred when Mark Adams was fired. He’s been inconsistent for the Blue Demons — he was really good against UConn (17 points on 4-of-5 shooting inside the arc and 6-of-9 at the line), and nearly invisible against Georgetown (two points on 1-of-4 shooting with zero free throw attempts) and Villanova (five points on 2-of-8 shooting, again with zero free throw attempts). He’s by far their best finisher around the rim (69.4% on shots at or near the rim, a shot that comprises 52.7% of his total shot attempts), and when opponents have stopped him from doing that, DePaul has struggled to score.
- Tip: 8:00pm
- Venue: Wintrust Arena, Chicago, Ill
- TV: CBSSN
- Announcers: Chris Lewis and Chris Walker
- In Omaha: Cox channel 234 (SD), 1234 (HD); CenturyLink Prism channel 643 (SD), 1643 (HD)
- Outside Omaha: CBSSN Channel Finder
- Satellite: DirecTV channel 221; Dish Network channel 158
- Streaming info
- Creighton Radio: 1620AM, 101.9FM
- Announcer: John Bishop
- Streaming on 1620TheZone.com and the 1620 The Zone mobile app
- Simulcast on SiriusXM channel 383 as well as on the SiriusXM App
- DePaul Radio: 670AM The Score
- Announcers: Zach Zaidman and Dave Corzine
- 6’7″ senior Jaden Henley scored 17 points on Saturday against Georgetown off the bench, making 5-of-7 inside the arc and dishing out five assists, by far his best game as a Blue Demon after transferring from Minnesota.
- Elijah Fisher hung 25 points on Long Beach State earlier this season, the most by a DePaul player off the bench since Cleveland Melvin scored 25 against Texas Tech, Nov. 25, 2011.
- The Blue Demons led the Big East in three-point shooting through non-conference play with a 37.1 percentage, but have shot just 20.0 percent in conference play.
- Creighton has won at DePaul each of the previous 10 seasons, just the second different opponent in program history that the Jays have beaten on the road in six or more consecutive campaigns. Creighton beat Grinnell in seven straight seasons from 1929-30 to 1935-36. Since the Big East reconfigured in 2013, no other team is undefeated on the road against another league foe.
- Creighton has outscored teams by 40 points in its five true road games this season. That’s the seventh-best mark in the nation, and better than all other “Power 6” schools (Villanova is next-closest at +33, thanks in large part to an 84-48 win at DePaul).
- The trio of Baylor Scheierman (17.9 ppg.), Trey Alexander (16.8) and Ryan Kalkbrenner (15.5) have accounted for 62.4 percent of Creighton’s points this season. Creighton has not had three men finish a season averaging 14 points per game or more in the same year since 1983-84, when Benoit Benjamin (16.2), Vernon Moore (15.0) and Gregory Brandon (14.5 ppg.) did it.
Creighton has won 23 of the last 24 (including 18 straight) meetings with DePaul to take a 28-16 lead in the all-time series. Creighton is 21-1 in the series since joining the Big East. Twenty of the last 22 meetings in the series have been decided by double-figures, including all but the 2018 and 2021 meetings in Chicago since then.
Last March, the Jays won 84-70 in Chicago, with Trey Alexander scoring 21 on 3-of-6 from three-point range and 5-of-8 on two-pointers, with 14 of his points coming in the second half and 12 in the final six minutes.
On January 9, 2018 Creighton defeated Butler 85-74 on “Steve Lavin Dollar Beer Night.” But it might as well have been “Khyrifense Night” as Khyri Thomas dominated the Bulldog guards. There was this play, where Thomas blocked a shot by Butler’s Kelan Martin, ripped away the rebound, and fed the ball to a streaking Ronnie Harrell who took two dribbles and threw an alley-oop to Foster:
And this one, where Thomas poked the ball away from Martin at the top of the key, dove to the floor to recover the loose ball, and started a fastbreak that led to a layup by Foster:
He also threw down this explosive dunk in the lane.
The Bottom Line:
Creighton is 15.5 favorites in Vegas, and predicted to win 78-63 by KenPom. ESPN’s BPI gives them 95.4% odds of victory. This should be a game where players like Josiah Dotzler and Johnathan Lawson can play bigger minutes; if it’s not, something has gone wrong.
Creighton 85, DePaul 63