Turnovers kill DePaul in loss to Marquette

MILWAUKEE — Playing aggressive defense and being rewarded with easy baskets on the opposite end is the style of basketball first-year coach Oliver Purnell is trying to establish at DePaul.

Maybe he picked up a few pointers during Tuesday night's lopsided 94-64 loss to Big East rival Marquette at the Bradley Center.

While losing their sixth straight and 19th Big East game in a row dating back to last year, the Blue Demons bounced the ball around like a bad check and the Golden Eagles made them pay.

DePaul (6-12, 0-6) committed a season-high 22 turnovers and Marquette exploited the sloppy play with 40 points.

“The thing that got us in trouble from the start was turnovers,” Purnell said. “When you give up 40 points directly off turnovers, that makes it tough. We turned the ball over too many times and that led directly to baskets which you cannot defend.”

Nine different Blue Demons were guilty of turning the ball over, with center Krys Faber, guard Brandon Young and forward Tony Freeland picking up 4 each.

“You've got to take care of it,” Purnell said. “We ran into a very determined Marquette team tonight. I thought they were awfully good defensively and they were relentless on the offensive glass.”

DePaul was actually playing a solid game during the game's opening 10 minutes, and the Demons took a 20-15 lead on a basket by Jimmy Butler.

But that's when it all started coming apart.

Two straight turnovers seemed to wake the Eagles up, and Marquette (13-6, 4-2) closed the first half on a 31-9 run to take complete control of the game.

In addition to the 22 turnovers, the Golden Eagles took advantage of Faber picking up 3 fouls in the first 12 minutes, and that's why they outrebounded DePaul 41-32, with 18 coming on the offensive glass.

Purnell had a feeling it was going to be a tougher game than usual, considering Marquette couldn't hold an 18-point lead with 5:44 play at Louisville on Saturday.

“Once they got the lead (26-23), the momentum, they smelled blood,” Purnell said. “You could sense it and you could see it. They came in with a hard edge.”

Freshman Cleveland Melvin led the Blue Demons with 20 points and Drew added 12.