Women's team rises to top of conference standings, men’s team loses in OT to Marquette
Plus, The DePaulia's players of the week & who the Blue Demon's take on next
“Courtside Countdown” is a weekly DePaul basketball newsletter by DePaulia sports editor Ryan Hinske and asst. sports editor Peyton Hopp. It is jam-packed with rundowns on how the men’s and women’s basketball teams fared this week. Each week we recap games, players of the week, statistics and next week’s schedule.
How the men’s team did this week
After a crushing overtime loss to No. 7 Marquette at Wintrust Arena last night, Chris Holtmann and the DePaul men’s basketball team fell to 0-7 in conference play. In a game that included 21 lead changes and both teams leading the game for roughly 20 minutes apiece, Marquette got off to a 10-point lead after four minutes of overtime. Over the next minute, Isaiah Rivera scored nine straight points for the Blue Demons to cut the lead to just one. It wasn’t enough as the Golden Eagles closed out the game 85-83, remaining undefeated against Big East opponents.
On Saturday, DePaul lost to Xavier at home, 63-77. Musketeers senior star Zach Freemantle scored 20 points against the Blue Demon defense, helping Xavier to their second Big East win.
Player of the week: CJ Gunn
The junior Indiana University transfer scored 37 points over the last two games
Gunn played 39 minutes last night, scoring 14 of his 16 in the first half to go along with seven rebounds
By the numbers
DePaul is fifth among 364 Division I teams in percentage of total points from three-point range (42.3%)
They are 33rd in the country in bench minutes. Rivera’s 20 points off the bench against Marquette certainly helped to boost that metric
DePaul shot 51.6% from the field last night, the first time since exactly one month earlier, in a win against Wichita St.
It has now been 728 days since the team has won a Big East game. Holtmann repeatedly promised in the postgame press conference that the wait will come to an end soon.
Next week, DePaul heads to the capital city to face off against Georgetown (3-3) on Friday before returning to Wintrust Arena to host Creighton (4-2)
How the women’s team did this week
On Sunday, Jan. 12, the DePaul women’s basketball team faced off against Providence and won 62-56. When looking at the stats, you would think that Providence won since they made 40% of their field goals, compared to DePaul who made 29%. What helped DePaul win by six points was making two more three-pointers than Providence, which made all the difference.
This win against Providence now marks a three game winning streak for the DePaul women’s team. In two of those three games, they were losing at halftime. The Blue Demons are currently 4-1 in the Big East conference and they are tied in third place with Seton Hall.
Player of the week: Taylor Johnson-Matthews
She is averaging 21.8 PPG against Big East opponents (she leads all league players in scoring through five conference games)
She has made 44% of her three-pointers (15 of 34) against Big East opponents
By the numbers
DePaul is averaging 40.66% field goals made in their five Big East games
The “big three” (Jorie Allen, Taylor Johnson-Matthews, Meg Newman) have averaged 50.2 points against Big East opponents
DePaul averages 13 offensive rebounds per game against Big East opponents compared to their Big East opponents who average 8.6.
Interim head coach Jill Pizzotti has played around with their starting lineup. The only three players who have started every game are Jorie Allen, Meg Newman and Sumer Lee.
Next week, DePaul will play Villanova (Wednesday, Jan. 15) and Creighton (Saturday, Jan. 18).
Thank you for reading and don’t forget to subscribe.
Ryan Hinske & Peyton Hopp are the editors of Courtside Countdown.
Reporting contributed by Nick Palazzolo.
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