Blue Demons upset bid comes up short
At one point during DePaul’s upset bid of No. 15 Villanova on Saturday, four Blue Demons crashed to the floor in the lane to force a jump on a loose ball.
Blue Demons coach Oliver Purnell pumped both fists at his guys while the fans at Allstate Arena stood and roared at the effort.
At seven points during the upset bid, suddenly sensational junior guard Jeremiah Kelly drilled 3-pointers en route to his second career day in 48 hours.
At all points during the upset bid, DePaul looked just as worthy of a win as Villanova.
Then Wildcats senior guard Corey Fisher made his point. And his points.
The Cousy Award finalist swished a 3-pointer to send the Big East contest into overtime, then added 7 of his game-high 34 points in the extra session as Villanova held on for a 77-75 triumph at Allstate Arena.
Officially, DePaul (7-19, 1-13) failed to build on its rare Big East win Thursday night at Providence.
Unofficially, everyone in the gym knew better than to draw that conclusion.
“That (Providence win) really boosted our confidence and it showed today,” said DePaul freshman guard Moses Morgan. “We came up short, but we’re just proving to people that we can play with anybody in this league. We should have won this game, but we still have our confidence.”
DePaul fell short of its first win over a ranked team since a triumph over No. 17 Villanova on Jan, 3, 2008, though it appeared Kelly would will the Demons to a win.
The slender 6-foot-1 junior entered this week with no double-figure scoring efforts in Big East play this year.
He notched a career-high 23 points at Providence, then went beyond with 26 against Villanova (21-6, 9-5).
He drilled 7 of 13 3-point attempts — 1 off the DePaul record — including one off a nifty inbounds play with 20 seconds left in regulation that lifted the Demons to a 60-59 lead.
When Morgan (career-high 15 points) added 2 free throws with 13.5 seconds left to boost the margin to 62-59, DePaul could taste its first win over a Top 25 team in 28 tries.
Then Fisher brought the ball upcourt, rubbed off a high screen and nailed an open 3-pointer from the top of the key with six seconds left.
Purnell wanted his team to switch every screen, but DePaul freshman big man Cleveland Melvin hesitated to crowd Fisher on the switch and the senior made him pay.
“Our inexperience certainly showed there toward the end,” Purnell said. “We haven’t worked on that that much, so I’m not going to be hard on ‘Cleve’ on that. As a team, we didn’t execute it that well.”
Purnell saved his ire for the officials’ non-call near the end of overtime.
Fisher made 2 free throws with 16.5 seconds left to boost Villanova’s lead to 76-73.
As the Demons brought the ball upcourt, Purnell yelled so loudly for a timeout that the person in charge of DePaul’s stat-crew system turned off the clock in anticipation of Purnell getting his wish.
Instead, Purnell went ignored. Freshman Brandon Young missed an off-balance 3-point try with 10 seconds left and that was it.
“I just hate losing,” Kelly said. “Losing hurts. I just want to do whatever it takes for the team to win.”