Men's Basketball Final Exhibition Tune-Up Saturday

Exhibition Game #2

DePaul (1-0)* vs. Trinity Christian (1-2)#

Saturday, November 12, 2005 – 8:00 p.m.

DePaul Athletic Center – Chicago, Illinois

* - 2005-06 exhibition record

# = 2005-06 regular season record

Previewing DePaul

DePaul returns 37.3-percent of its scoring and 53.8-percent of its rebounding from the 2004-05 squad that won 20 games and reached the second round of the NIT in 2004-05. DePaul has eight retuning letterwinners including the lone senior on the squad Marlon Brumfield. Brumfield was one of two Blue Demons to start all 31 games last season (LeVar Seals was the other). Brumfield is the leading returning rebounder after averaging 6.4 per game in 2004-05. The leading returning scorer is junior Sammy Mejia who averaged 11.8 points while sophomore Cliff Clinkscales is back after leading the squad with 104 assists a year ago.

No Mejia

DePaul will be without the services of junior guard Sammy Mejia tonight. He is back in New York after the death of his grandmother on Thursday.

Previewing Trinity Christian

Trinity Christian is already 1-2 on the season having defeated Grace Bible College 64-47 on November 4. The Trolls’ two losses have come against Cornerstone University (68-63) on November 5 and Saint Xavier (76-73) in overtime on November 9. Lawrence Weller is Trinity’s top player averaging 18 points and eight rebounds a game.

Last Time Out

DePaul opened the 2005-06 exhibition portion of the season with an 85-63 win over St. Edward’s last Saturday at the DePaul Athletic Center. Sammy Mejia led the Blue Demons with 20 points while Wilson Chandler added 13 points and 10 rebounds. Lorenzo Thompson scored 10 of his 12 points in the first half.

New Face on the Bench

On April 28, Jerry Wainwright became the 11th head coach in DePaul history. He comes to the Blue Demons after spending the previous three years as the head coach at Richmond. Prior to coaching the Spiders he was the head coach at UNC-Wilmington. In his 11 years as a head coach he is 184-144 and has taken six of his teams to postseason play (three NCAA Tournaments, three NIT’s). He has never faced Trinity Christian.

Exhibitionist

DePaul is a perfect 11-0 in exhibition play at the DePaul Athletic Center since the building opened in 2000. The Blue Demons defeated St. Edward’s 85-63 last Saturday in their most recent exhibition action.

Last Meeting

This is the first ever meeting between DePaul and Trinity Christian. This contest will not count on either school’s all-time records.

For Real

The Blue Demons open the regular season on Saturday, November 19 when Bradley comes to the Allstate Arena at 1 p.m. The contest will be broadcast on WSCR (670 AM).

It’s Big

The 2005-06 season marks DePaul’s debut in the BIG EAST Conference. The BIG EAST Conference includes Cincinnati, Connecticut, DePaul, Georgetown, Louisville, Marquette, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Providence, Rutgers, St. John’s, Seton Hall, South Florida, Syracuse, Villanova and West Virginia. DePaul’s BIG EAST debut will be on January 4 at Cincinnati. The initial BIG EAST home game will be January 7 when Notre Dame comes to the Allstate Arena.

Sammy!

Junior guard Sammy Mejia enters the 2005-06 season ranked 20th in DePaul history with 239 assists. Mejia is also the Blue Demons’ leading returning scorer after averaging 11.8 points per outing as a sophomore.

Cliff Dishes

Sophomore guard Cliff Clinkscales finished third in Conference USA in assist-to-turnover ratio and was 12th in assists during his freshman season. His assist total (104) was the fifth-best ever by a DePaul freshman.

Welcome Aboard

DePaul will have six new faces on the floor this season. Freshmen Wilson Chandler, Jabari Currie, Rashad Woods and Drew Gladstone join sophomore Karron Clarke and senior Jeremy Jones. Gladstone and Jones are walk-ons while Clarke sat out last season after transferring from Miami (Fla.).

Lights, Camera, Action

DePaul will have a minimum of 11 games on television this season. The Blue Demons will appear five times on ESPN, four times ESPN+ and once each on ESPNU and College Sports Television. Additional televised games may be announced in the coming days.

On The Air

For the ninth consecutive season, DePaul will have its games broadcasts on WSCR (670 AM) and it’s family of stations in the Chicagoland area.

DePaul University Athletics

Men's Basketball Final Exhibition Tune-Up Saturday

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