Demons turn over the lead in opener
OMAHA, Neb. -- The number glared at Jerry Wainwright from the box score in his hands, but the DePaul coach chose to look elsewhere.
DePaul's 23 turnovers Friday at Qwest Center seemed like the obvious cause for a 74-62 loss to Creighton, the team's third consecutive season-opening defeat to a Missouri Valley Conference foe.
Seven Blue Demons players committed multiple turnovers -- Jabari Currie, Wes Green and Mac Koshwal combined for 13 -- and Creighton converted the 23 giveaways into 23 points. A wave of miscues late in the first half helped Creighton (1-0) erase a 17-point deficit in only eight minutes.
The turnovers bothered Wainwright, but not as much as other things. Draelon Burns' 3-for-16 shooting performance hurt DePaul. So did the 15 offensive rebounds Creighton grabbed against the bigger Demons front line.
"Eight of those (turnovers) I'd like to eliminate," Wainwright said. "Fifteen are probably going to come with the territory.
"But Creighton won the game. I don't think we lost it."
DePaul players disagreed.
"It's nothing they did that beat us -- everything that happened, we did," Green said. "The turnovers, the travels, the carries. That's us. It's all us."
DePaul's frenetic pace didn't help, either. The Demons (0-1) successfully pushed the ball early, opening the game with a 20-4 run.
But once Creighton started making shots and applying its press, DePaul fell apart. Despite shooting 57.1 percent in the first half, DePaul led by only 6 at halftime.
"We played right along with what they wanted us to do," sophomore guard Will Walker said. "Keep rushing."
The Demons' 15 turnovers in the first half eclipsed their per-game average (11.7) from last season.
"Even if you have 10 (turnovers), you have 3 more baskets," Wainwright said. "The turnovers against the press, they always stand out. But our turnovers when we were attacking with the basketball -- 3-on-2s, 2-on-1s, travels, charges -- goodness gracious.
"There's probably 150, maybe even 200 teams, we play the same way tonight, we win by 15, even on the road. You can't do it against execution teams."
Creighton's execution was flawless in the second half. The Bluejays opened with a 7-0 run and took control behind dynamic freshman P'Allen Stinnett, who scored all 23 of his points after halftime, going 5-for-5 from 3-point range.
After missing their first seven 3-point attempts, the Bluejays swished 9 of their next 15. DePaul opened with 4 quick 3s but didn't connect for the final 31:02.
Wainwright liked Burns' shot selection, but the 6-foot-4 senior just couldn't make them.
The loss overshadowed several positive developments for DePaul. Koshwal showed glimpses of post dominance, grabbing 11 rebounds and sinking several reverse layups.
Fellow freshman Dar Tucker (8 points, 6 rebounds) also showed potential, and Walker led the Demons with 13 points in 17 minutes.