Blue Demons may become first team in 15 years to go winless in league

In front of a crowd cozy enough everyone should have gone home with either a T-shirt or a moment of "Hug Cam" videoboard glory, DePaul kissed one of its few remaining chances to get a Big East win goodbye.

Despite following their offensive plan to the letter and holding Seton Hall's top scorer well below his usual numbers, the Blue Demons were thumped 72-49 on Tuesday night before perhaps 2,500 at Allstate Arena.

DePaul (8-17, 0-12) lost its 12th game in a row and stayed on pace to be the first team to go winless in Big East play since Miami went 0-18 in 1993-94.

Dar Tucker paced the Demons with 19 points while Mac Koshwal produced his eighth double-double with 11 points and 16 rebounds.

DePaul never led and trailed by 16 at halftime to a Seton Hall team that started league play 0-6.

"We didn't lose focus," Koshwal said. "But I think when things didn't go like we wanted them to go, we just (got) lackadaisical.

"Even though we're not in a good position, it should be like motivation: 'We're 0 and whatever, we should get a win.' It also hurts more when we don't get a win."

It's too simplistic to pin the verdict on one position, but Seton Hall junior point guard Eugene Harvey and freshman Jordan Theodore had their way with DePaul frosh Mike Bizoukas and Jeremiah Kelly.

Harvey led everyone with 19 points and 6 assists while Theodore had 11 points and 3 assists in a combined total of 59 minutes.

"The game was controlled by Eugene Harvey," said DePaul coach Jerry Wainwright. "They dance to his beat. He's everything you want in a point guard. Without question, he had us on a string all night."

With senior Jabari Currie out for the year with torn knee cartilage, Bizoukas and Kelly combined for 51 minutes and rolled up 3 points, 5 assists and 5 turnovers in that span.

"For Michael and Jeremiah, this is a really tough classroom for them," Wainwright said.

Junior guard Will Walker scored just 8 points as he focused on limiting the Pirates' Jeremy Hazell to 13 points (11 below his average) on 5-for-14 shooting.

On offense the Blue Demons, last in the Big East in 3-point shooting at 27 percent, mitigated that problem by taking a season-low nine 3-pointers. They made just 2.

Tucker, who came in averaging 61/2 3-point tries per game, attempted just 1 as he focused on attacking the basket.

Yet, somehow, DePaul wound up shooting just 33 percent for the night.

"We had any number of shots in the lane," Wainwright said. "Obviously it was a very painful offensive night."

To avoid tying the school's longest losing streak, DePaul must win Sunday at No. 5 Louisville.

After that, the Demons travel to No. 4 Pittsburgh on Feb. 21 before hosting No. 13 Villanova on Feb. 25.