Tucker, Demons avoid letdown

Maybe DePaul learned a lesson from its last game against a lesser opponent. Or maybe Southern University was even more than awful.

Most likely, it was a combination of the two in the Blue Demons' 83-46 romp over the Jaguars on Friday night at the Allstate Arena.

"Right now we're probably a little bigger and stronger. We probably have a little higher talent level than Southern," DePaul coach Jerry Wainwright said. "We're the better team - with no disrespect to Southern - and we played that way."

While winning their second straight, the Demons (6-4) avoided a letdown in the second half.

In Wednesday night's game against visiting Liberty, DePaul built a 20-point lead before the break and wound up squeaking out a 64-63 win on Dar Tucker's 2 free throws in the finals seconds.

The Blue Demons also squandered big leads in home games against Indiana State (a narrow win) and Morgan State (a revealing loss) in recent weeks.

This time around, DePaul mixed it up a bit even though Southern came in with losses to obscure schools such as Tougaloo and Talladega College.

"We changed the ritual," said Tucker, who led all scorers with 21 points. "We came out earlier for the second half because we wanted to keep it together, to get more wound up."

The strategy worked as the Demons continued building on their 46-24 halftime advantage.

Wainwright was pleased with the overall effort, and he was particularly impressed with Tucker.

Involved in a locker room incident after the disappointing loss to Morgan State, Tucker was held out of the starting lineup in DePaul's next game, a 72-54 loss at UCLA.

The sophomore forward has responded with back-to-back solid games, scoring a combined 36 points.

"He's made a big jump," Wainwright said. "I think he relaxed a little bit and he's letting the game come to him. Hopefully he can keep it going."

Tucker had plenty of help against the outmanned Jaguars.

Playing just 21 minutes, sophomore center Mac Koshwal delivered another double-double (14 points, 10 rebounds), junior Will Walker scored 19 points, and freshman Devin Hill did a little bit of everything with 8 points, 6 blocks, 5 steals and 4 rebounds.

At times this season, the Blue Demons have looked like a team that was stumbling through its first practice. Against Southern, they looked much more like a polished product.

"We were so together," Tucker said. "When you're passing the ball, scoring and playing good defense, it's hard to stop."