That is right, the DePaul Blue Demons grabbed their first regular season conference win since… well too long to remember with a win over Marquette last night. After trailing for essentially the whole game Marquette missed the front end of two one-and-one attempts and, Blue Demon, Mike Stovall hit a tough jumper giving DePaul their first and only lead, 51-50, with only 0.7 seconds left on the game clock. Marquette could not score in the last 0.7 seconds and DePaul’s 24 regular season BIG EAST losing streak came to an end. The win was the first for interim coach Tracey Webster, who has been at the helm for the Blue Demons for three games. He had this to say after the game.
“Our guys did a great job of battling, battling, battling. That’s all we ask for. To battle and battle for loose balls and really don’t give up. I thought they did a really, really good job of not giving up.”
And for the fans who made the trip all the way to All-State Arena saw exactly that… a battle. DePaul didn’t give up and got a very big win. Will Walker played big and Stovall was a hero.
Obviously we don’t follow DePaul basketball very closely here, but you have to feel good for them and their fans. A 24 game skid is a lot to take. It was a big win for them and a very exciting one at that. And what is even better is that on a night where Rutgers, barely showed up in a losing effort to Villanova, the Blue Demons officially pulled themselves out of 16th place in the league for the first time in a very long time.
From our point of view this makes that 30 point beat Marquette hit us with hurt a little bit more. We mean DePaul beat this team, thirty was a lot to loss to them by. But we were missing Greedy (so maybe we would have only lost by 15) and as we all know anything can happen on any given night in the BIG EAST.
From a Marquette point of view this one really hurts. We have been high on Marquette this season despite their rocky 1-3 start. They beat Georgetown and killed us, but this loss really hurts their credibility. It is one thing when you lose to the Syracuse’s of the league but DePaul really hurts. And being the team they end their streak against adds some insult in injury. And for the teams that have played Marquette already, those wins maybe don’t look as good as they did a day ago. Villanova beat the Golden Eagles twice by two each time. Clearly one game does not dramatically effect other teams wins but it is a bad sign for MU. When you loss to the teams better than you but also give up wins against the teams you are supposed to beat, that will land you near the bottom of the BIG EAST… and that hurts you and the teams that play you. A trip to the Carrier Dome is next for Marquette.
But congratulations to DePaul.
find time. But since we are late in posting this we will just have a short recap and a few thoughts.
We weren’t able to see most of this game so we will not say much. One thing for sure is that VC continues to impress. 24 points on the road when the rest of your team is nowhere to be found as a freshman… that is impressive. VC has a very bright future.
Enrollment(UG) 8,000 / BIG EAST
What you should know about Marquette: In Head Coach Buzz Williams‘ second year at the helm Marquette is 10-6, 1-3. But don’t let the 1-3 BIG EAST record fool you, Marquette is a very good basketball team. In their three losses they have lost collectively by 5 points and they were to West Virginia and to Villanova twice. And their lone win came against Georgetown. So after losing their three best players from last year Marquette has had to open with one of the more difficult BIG EAST schedules, and they could have just have easily been 4-0 in the league at this point. Marquette’s best player is Lazar Hayward. Often overshadowed by the outstanding MU back court last year, Hayward is back and averaging over 18 ppg and 7.6 rebounds. He is a versatile player who is a gamer. He is supported guard/forward Jimmy Butler who is averaging similar numbers. Darius Johnson-Odom also is averaging double digits in the scoring column. Marquette is a tough team that plays quick. They have lightning vast guards and bigs, like Hayward, who are very athletic and won’t only beat you under the rim. Also look out for Dwight Buycks.
PFB Perspective: Marquette is a very good team. They play fast and tough. They have taken on some of the leagues elites already and have held their own. Buzz Williams is a good coach and the Bradley Center is a tough place to play for visiting BIG EAST teams. Marquette has had 11 days to prepare for Providence, and Providence has been on the road for a few days now. The odds are clearly not in our favor, but crazier things have happened.
Providence Friars Basketball 