For the fourth straight game DePaul played the way coach Pat Kennedy had envisioned all year. Pounding the glass and playing as a unit, the Blue Demons hung on to beat an athletic South Florida team 81-69 on Tuesday.
Led by Bobby Simmons (19 points and 17 rebounds) DePaul out rebounded the Bulls 51-30. It was the second consecutive game that the Blue Demons had out rebounded their opponents by more than 20.
Coach Kennedy praised his team’s performance considering the Blue Demons had just come off a big road win at UNC-Charlotte 48 hours earlier.
“It was an outstanding effort,” Kennedy said. “We didn’t have anytime to really prepare against their half court trapping defense. That really hurt us. To win by the number of points we won by and have 24 turnovers is pretty darn good.”
DePaul jumped out to an early 13-6 lead on a three-pointer by Kerry Hartfield with 16:54 still to go in the first half. The Blue Demons extended their lead to 20-10, but never could pull away thanks in large part to South Florida’s half-court trap.
Steals by South Florida’s Altron Jackson (who had 19 of his 23 points in the first half) on consecutive plays from DePaul point guard Rashon Burno, led to two easy dunks giving the Bulls a 25-22 lead with 7:30 remaining in the half.
Jackson, 6-7, was the point man in South Florida’s zone defense, matching him up against the 5-7 Burno most of the half. That gave DePaul match-up problems and helped cause 16 turnovers in the first half.
“We really struggled reversing the ball against the big guy in the zone,” Kennedy, whose team led 38-37 at halftime, said. “That really took us out of our game in the first half. But I thought we recovered nicely and really executed down the stretch.”
The Blue Demons clamped down defensively in the second half forcing turnovers and taking the lead for good on a three-pointer by Quentin Richardson that made it 45-42.
DePaul grabbed the momentum on a steal by Burno that led to a basket and a foul for Steven Hunter, giving the Blue Demons a 52-45 lead with 16:25 to play.
South Florida battled back to cut the lead to 61-58 on a lay-up by B.B. Waldon, who led the Bulls with 24 points and a team high eight rebounds.
However, a 6-0 run, highlighted by a Burno steal and pass to Simmons for a dunk, gave DePaul a 67-58 lead with less than seven minutes remaining.
Despite a late rally to cut the lead back to three, the Blue Demon’s lead proved to be too much for South Florida to overcome. Two free throws by Simmons with 1:45 to go, gave DePaul a 76-67 lead and all but assured a victory.
South Florida Coach Seth Greenberg thought his team had some good looks in the last four minutes, but could not capitalize.
“It’s hard to win on the road when you shoot 52 percent from the line and get out rebounded the way we did,” Greenberg said.
The win was Depaul’s 16th of the season, matching the regular season total from a year ago.
“Our guys are starting to mature,” Kennedy said. “We are not necessarily a veteran team because we are still young, but we are maturing at the right time.”
DePaul got 18 points and 10 rebounds out of both Richardson and Hunter.
For Richardson, that point total put him over 1,000 for his career, making him second only to Mark Aguire as the fastest Division One player ever to achieve that mark.
DePaul travels to Marquette on Wednesday and hosts Louisville on Saturday.
UIC Flames
UIC shot only 27 percent in the second half as they lost to Detroit 73-55 on Feb. 5.
The Flames (2-7, 7-17) trailed only 29-28 at the half and actually took a 36-31 lead early in the second half. However, a 17-3 run led by the Titans’ Terrell Riggs, who had seven of his 11 points during the run, gave Detroit a 59-44 lead and control of the game.
Theandre Kimbrough led UIC with 15 points and Maurice Brown added 10.
UIC plays host to Loyola on Saturday.
Note: Due to an early press time, the results of the 2/10 game against Wisconsin-Green Bay could not be published.
Northwestern Wildcats
Center Aaron Jennings scored a career-high 18 points as the Wildcats snapped a 12 game losing streak by beating Rice 61-47 in a non-conference game Wednesday night.
Northwestern (5-17) took a 27-19 lead into halftime and then pushed their lead to 47-32 midway through the second half on their way to this route.
Ben Johnson had 12 points to go along with five points and five assists for the Wildcats.
Northwestern plays at Penn State on Wednesday and will host Illinois on Saturday.
Loyola Ramblers
Cleveland State opened the second half with a 9-0 run as the Vikings gave Loyola their third straight loss 69-60 on Feb. 5.
The Ramblers (2-7, 12-10) were led by Earl Brown with 17 points. Silvije Turkovic grabbed a team-high eight rebounds.
Loyola travels across town to UIC on Saturday.
Note: Due to an early press time, the results of the 2/10 game against Wisconsin-Milwaukee could not be published.
Chicago State Cougars
The Cougars shot only 33 percent as they were crushed 92-53 by UMKC on Feb. 5.
Chicago State was led by Kin Yanders with 12 points.
The Cougars travel to Wisconsin-Milwaukee on Tuesday and Youngstown State on Thursday.
Note: Due to an early press time, the results of the 2/10 game against Youngstown State could not be published. |
