DePaul's pressure system an instant success
DePaul's summer conditioning workouts felt like torture at the time.
But when the Blue Demons needed less than 10 minutes to score the first 36 points of the Oliver Purnell era thanks to their kamikaze style at both ends of the floor everything was fabulous.
DePaul kept its full-court press on Chicago State for virtually the entire 40 minutes and rolled to a 114-81 triumph Sunday night before approximately 2,000 at McGrath Arena.
DePaul hadn't scored so many points since a 114-69 win over Division II American-Puerto Rico on Nov. 25, 1999.
The Blue Demons turned 30 turnovers into 40 points and produced more layups and dunks than other DePaul teams earned in a month.
“Pressure defense and pressure offense,” Purnell said. “That's us.”
DePaul (1-0) had 59 points at halftime. DePaul finished with 59 points in last year's opening-night win over Columbia.
Sophomore forward Tony Freeland led everyone with a career-high 21 points in just 17 minutes. He, like so many of his teammates, attacked Chicago State's ballhandlers as well as the rim with reckless abandon.
“I love it,” Freeland said. “We've got a lot of athletes on our team. We won't be effective if we're at a slower pace.
“If we get out and run, everybody's active and aggressive. We'll be jumping like y'all want to see us do.”
Senior swingman Mike Stovall delivered 19 points in 19 minutes while freshman big man Cleveland Melvin added 19 points in 16 minutes. They combined for 5 of the team's 7 dunks.
“I really like it because this is how I've been playing my whole life,” Stovall said, “even when I was in grammar school to high school to now. It really gets us into our offense and we get quick layups and just run our offense the right way.”
The DePaul players and fans weren't the only ones who enjoyed the new style.
First-year Chicago State coach Tracy Dildy welcomed the 94-foot frenzy because he wants his guys to learn to play the same way.
“That style did just what it was set out to do,” Dildy said. “It wears you down for 40 minutes. You can stay with it, you're going to get some baskets, but over the long haul it's going to wear you down. It's going to wear a lot of teams down.”
The Blue Demons have at least 15 different presses in their playbook, though they haven't been taught all of them and showed only two or three Sunday.
Using a 10-man rotation, Purnell shuttled guys in and out every few minutes to keep the pressure going.
“That's the best way to do it, make sure everybody going hard,” Freeland said. “When you're tired, that lets you know you're playing your hardest. If you're not tired, then you're not playing hard. You're just coasting.”