DePaul trying to put a complete game together
Talent and mindset.
In his postgame media conference at the Allstate Arena on Tuesday night, DePaul coach Oliver Purnell touched on the two virtues and related how important they are in the Big East Conference.
At times the Blue Demons flashed some skills that worried Georgetown. But whenever DePaul did make a push and started playing with confidence, the 10th-ranked Hoyas quickly answered.
That's the main reason why the Blue Demons lost to Georgetown 83-75.
“We're just not playing well enough for long enough,” Purnell said. “There are good spurts out there where you see good things happening. But we've got to play better than that, and we can play better.”
DePaul (10-8, 1-5) lost its fourth straight game, but the Demons did play better than they did in the previous three — all on the road.
While losing at Villanova, Seton Hall and Louisville, DePaul fell behind 18-5, 10-0 and 10-2, respectively. The Demons hung with the Hoyas (5-2, 15-3) in the first half and trailed 37-31 at the break.
In the second half, a 10-2 run capped by Winston Morgan's 3-pointer cut Georgetown's lead to 48-46 with 13:51 to play. Leaning on their decided size advantage, the Hoyas countered with a 12-2 run of their own, and the Blue Demons hung their heads.
“It's real tough,” Morgan said after scoring a career-high 17 points while hitting 5 shots from behind the 3-point line. “We did a good job of guarding their sets, but we didn't get the rebounds or the loose balls.”
Georgetown outrebounded DePaul 47-25 and held a 17-10 edge on the offensive glass.
Big men Hollis Thompson and Henry Sims combined for 30 points, and forward Otto Porter pulled down 15 rebounds. Hoyas guard Jason Clark led all scorers with 31 points.
“In a couple areas, I thought we really struggled, didn't give ourselves a chance to win the ballgame,” Purnell said. “One was obviously rebounding. We have to come up with more big rebounds. Then I thought we turned the ball over.
“We only turned the ball over 11 times, but six or seven of them gave them layups from the top. Throwing the ball away at the top (of the key) is like a pick-6 in football.
“And our shot selection could have been better. When we attacked the zone, I thought we got really good looks. When we took bad shots, a lot of times those are like turnovers.”
Brandon Young had a rough night, going 6-for-16. And point guard Worrel Clahar, who made his first start of the season, was 2-for-7. Young and Clahar continually tried driving into the teeth of the Hoyas' back line and were easily turned away.