DePaul finds positives in blowout loss to Pittsburgh
When Jerry Wainwright went to New York for the Big East media days in October, he and other coaches sat around predicting life for the loaded league's lesser teams.
"A common theme was, 'Your team can really improve, but it's not going to show in the standings,' " Wainwright said recently.
"Now, that's not a resignation, that's a fact. But you (darn) well better improve."
No. 6 Pittsburgh came to Allstate Arena on Saturday afternoon and put a 92-69 Big East hurting on the Blue Demons before an announced crowd of 9,814 in Rosemont.
Pitt's pair of wide-derriere standouts - center DeJuan Blair and point guard Levance Fields - enjoyed career days as Blair piled up 32 points and 14 rebounds while Fields handed out 16 assists with just 1 turnover. But those monstrous numbers and 23-point victory margin obscured, in Wainwright's eyes, DePaul's continued improvement.
The Blue Demons (8-16, 0-11) built a 6-point lead late in the first half and played with a bit of a swagger - until Pittsburgh reeled off the first half's final 13 points in just 2:20.
"Obviously, we're at a point in time where the positives are far more important to us than the negatives," Wainwright said. "We've made really significant improvement, in all honesty."
During DePaul's early run, it enjoyed a mix of transition baskets for Dar Tucker (18 points) and Will Walker and set plays that featured center Mac Koshwal.
Koshwal (18 points, 5 assists) would either slash for layups or feed 7-foot-2 freshman Kene Obi (career-high 9 points) for easy shots.
"We were real excited about ourselves and having fun out there," Tucker said.
Then Pitt (21-2, 8-2) took over as the 5-foot-10, 195-pound Fields dominated play.
The senior from Brooklyn, N.Y., either scored or assisted on 10 of Pitt's 13 points that closed the first half, then he scored 4 points and handed out 6 assists in the first seven minutes of the second half as the Panthers pulled away.
"It really starts with Levance and ends with Levance," said Pitt coach Jamie Dixon. "He just really controlled the game, as anyone could see, and he just ran the show."
The 265-pound Blair, meanwhile, threw his weight around in the paint. Blair had 9 of Pittsburgh's 17 offensive rebounds as the visitors grabbed more than half of their misses.
Wainwright wasn't as miffed about his players' 42-25 rebounding deficit as their mental deficit at key junctures.
During Pitt's late first-half run, DePaul allowed two open 3-pointers because subs didn't know who they were guarding.
There were several other blown defensive assignments in the post as well, which led one DePaul fan to suggest to Wainwright that he try a box-and-one on Blair.
"Come on, please," Wainwright said. "Our guys gotta learn how to play. They've gotta learn how to 'fess up. They've gotta learn how to tough it out.
"The best way to do that is play against the best and compete and never lose the lesson. Never lose the lesson."