DePaul falls at home to Western Carolina
DePaul's relentless variety of defensive pressures will make life brutal for opponents.
They won't make up for the Blue Demons' own basic ills.
DePaul's inability to control the defensive boards and to hit open shots led to a 21-point, second-half deficit and an eventual 69-64 loss to Western Carolina on Tuesday night before an estimated 3,000 at Allstate Arena.
DePaul (1-1), which never led in Oliver Purnell's first loss at the school, shot just 15 percent on 3-pointers and 63 percent at the free-throw line.
And of Western Carolina's 44 missed shots, the Demons allowed the Catamounts to regain possession on 17 of them.
“We got the defensive stops,” said DePaul junior guard Jeremiah Kelly. “We just didn't finish with the rebounding.”
DePaul got beat by 14 rebounds overall, which overrode the fact the Demons forced Western Carolina (1-1) into 17 turnovers and 39 percent shooting from the field.
What went wrong?
“Not a focus on blocking out every single time and not a focus on the fact that five guys have to rebound every time for us,” Purnell said. “Several times we just saw one or two guys standing or drifting away down the floor.
“Any time you've got 5 against 3, 5 against 2, percentage-wise they're going to come up with a lot of them.”
Purnell didn't hesitate to sit Demons who didn't follow through on the boards.
After senior starter Mike Stovall allowed an offensive rebound that became a 3-point play on Western Carolina's first possession of the second half, Purnell let him sit for nearly 10 minutes.
Freshman forward Cleveland Melvin, despite carving out 5 points, 3 rebounds, 2 steals and 1 block in his team-low 10 minutes, also sat because he didn't hit the defensive glass.
On the plus side, freshman point guard Brandon Young posted a team-high 16 points, 5 assists and 3 steals as he seized control in the second half.
“I was trying to force some things in the beginning,” said Young, who spun at least six or seven times on drives to the hoop. “In the second half, I settled myself down and made plays and made the right plays and not go for the home run every time.”
DePaul trailed by 21 points with 16 minutes left, but Young's aggressive drives to the basket and a steal on the press enabled him to reel off 6 points in a row and pull the Demons within 60-55 with 3:00 left.
DePaul had a chance to get closer on its next possession, but Young's layup was blocked by 6-foot-4 Harouna Mutombo the nephew of former NBA center Dikembe Mutombo.
Mutombo led the Catamounts with 17 points. DePaul center Krys Faber contributed 10 points, 1 off his career high.