Marquette trailed by four points in the final minute of regulation, but somehow found a way to not only force overtime, but get the win in the end. DePaul has struggled all season long, and has now lost five games in a row, and seven of their last eight. The Blue Demons fell to 9-9 (0-7) as the Golden Eagles 15-2 (6-0) remain the lone undefeated team in conference play.
Overtime
A combined 34 points were scored in added time as Marquette got the job done, 85-83. DePaul hasn’t scored 83 points since their last win, 84-65 over Loyola Maryland back on December 28th. Marquette, a team who prides themselves on their defense, hasn’t given up 83 points all season long. Their previous most was 81 in a loss to now #2 Iowa State.
David Joplin got the party started in overtime, knocking down his first two three pointers. He finished with a team high 30 points, almost double what Kam Jones had with his 18. Both Joplin and Jones led the team in minutes with 42, the only players to eclipse the standard 40-minute mark.
Bench Points
While DePaul only plays eight players, they had a difference maker come off of the bench. Isaiah Rivera, who averages just 10.6 points per game, played 17 minutes and finished with 20 points. Only CJ Gunn, who started and played a team high 39 minutes, scored more (21). This marked Rivera’s highest point total on the season since the team’s first game of the season where he put in 25 with his season high 38 minutes. Rivera has started 12 of DePaul’s 18 games, but was one of two key bench players for the Blue Demons.
Layden Blocker has started just seven games for DePaul, and averages under 7 points per game. He met that average in the loss to Marquette, but had his most rebounds in ten days and most assists in a month. It wasn’t the scoring that made Blocker so efficient, it was him contributing five of the teams 22 assists, with no one passing the ball more other than Conor Enright’s 11. Enright finished the game with both 11 assists and 11 points, doing all of that by matching Gunn’s 39 minutes on the court.
Five players came off the bench for Marquette, but neither of them scored a single point. Tre Norman had a bench high 14 minutes, with none of the other four players played more than ten minutes. Together, the five players were 0-5 from the field. Zaide Lowery was the only bench player to not attempt a shot.
Rebound Differential
Troy D’Amico has started all but one game for DePaul, but he’s not a scoring threat. The 6’7 senior had a game high 10 rebounds, which was also a season high for him. D’Amico hadn’t recorded more than six rebounds in a game prior to the loss to Marquette. In fact, he only recorded ten rebounds in his last three games combined. The big man had just two points, his lowest total since January 4th when the entire team struggled against Villanova.
With D’Amico leading the way with ten rebounds, NJ Benson added eight (four offensive and four defensive), while Rivera and Gunn had seven each. No Marquette player had more than six rebounds. Kam Jones doesn’t usually lead the team in that department, but his poor shooting night was saved by his rebound total and his season high 11 assists. Marquette was ultimately outrebounded 46-31.
Poor Shooting Percentage
In terms of free throws and three pointers, it was an off night for the Golden Eagles. The team shot 14-24 from the charity stripe, a huge ten-point swing considering they only won by two points and needed extra time to do so. Jones was off, a career worst 1-10 three-point shooting night. The senior kept throwing up threes but finished the night 8-21 from the field. His field goal percentage continues to be down. Jones has not shot higher than 50% since December 7th and hasn’t even shot 40% or higher in his last three games.
Again, Jones had 11 assists on the night. He still shot the ball a ton, but was able to become a facilitator and let his teammates make a difference. On three different occasions he had ten assists, but 11 is a season high. Joplin finished the night 7-13 from three-point range, with seven of those attempts coming in overtime. The three pointers saved him, because Joplin was just 5-11 from the charity stripe. Chase Ross picked up the scraps, going 8-10 from the line.
Rematch with Xavier
Marquette has a few days to rest before they host Xavier this Saturday, January 18th. The last time the two teams played was back on December 21st. Marquette was ranked #9 in the nation, and barely defeated the Musketeers, 72-70. Their defense gave up 48 points to Xavier in the second half, a huge number knowing how well this defense can be. Xavier is riding a two-game winning streak, 77-63 over DePaul, and 69-63 over Villanova. With their 3-4 conference record, Xavier will look to improve to .500 in the Big East and hand Marquette their first conference loss, along with snapping the Golden Eagles six game winning streak.
