Late shot helps American top DePaul 62-57
There are 347 schools in Division I college basketball.
Depending on which computer formula you prefer, American showed up on Wednesday night at Allstate Arena as either the nation's 335th- or 339th-best team.
The Eagles left Rosemont in much better shape after handing DePaul a stunning 62-57 loss before approximately 1,500 fans too apathetic to register their disapproval.
The Blue Demons had little to say either.
"At the end of the game, people were just quiet," said Demons senior guard Will Walker. "Mad we let one go. Every game's an NCAA game. We know later on we're going to think about this one.
"We told ourselves we weren't going to let this happen this year, but it happened."
Just like last year against Morgan State and the year before against North Carolina A&T, the Blue Demons (6-4) suffered a crushing nonconference homecourt loss that makes no sense on paper.
Folks around the nation won't understand how a Big East team lost to a 1-8 Patriot League team - especially based on video of the team American fielded for its first nine games.
"If they had watched us, I can't imagine they would be too concerned," said American coach Jeff Jones. "We just flat weren't very good."
But 6-foot-10 junior forward Vlad Moldoveanu, a transfer from George Mason, made his debut Wednesday.
His stats at George Mason (2.3 points and 2.1 rebounds) didn't suggest anything special in the offing.
But in 28 minutes off the bench, the Romanian junior national-team standout piled up 26 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists.
Moloeveanu showed some rust when he banked home his first two 3-point attempts - he offered a Jordanesque shrug after the second one - but that gave him and the Eagles (2-8) all the confidence they could stand.
American built an 8-point lead by halftime. The Demons rallied for a few tenuous leads as they pounded the ball inside to Devin Hill (16 points), but Moldoneavu scored 7 points in a row down the stretch.
Walker (13 points) nailed a 3-pointer with 2:49 left to give DePaul a 57-56 edge, but American's Nick Hendry answered with a 3-pointer.
The Demons never scored again and had so few options on offense, walk-on transfer Jimmy Drew fired up a 3-pointer coming out of a timeout when they trailed by 4 with 20 seconds left.
Drew, for those not up on DePaul's latest news, is a walk-on transfer from lowly Southeast Missouri State who was cleared to play by the NCAA on Monday.
"We have no balance in our offense right now," said DePaul coach Jerry Wainwright. "You can't give up 62 points and lose. Not when you get 56 shots and (commit) 5 turnovers."