DePaul University Athletics
Men's Basketball Opens with Lincoln Park Victory
11/18/2008 12:00:00 AM | MEN'S BASKETBALL
DePaul 75 Albany 64
CHICAGO -- Dar Tucker scored 23 points and Will Walker added 19 to lead DePaul to a 75-64 victory over the University at Albany on Monday night at McGrath Arena.
Jabari Currie scored 11 points and Jeremiah Kelly added 10 points for DePaul (1-0), which jumped out to a 11-2 lead early and 43-28 at halftime.
A 3-pointer by Louis Barraza pulled Albany (0-2) to within 57-51 with 8:16 left in the game, but the Blue Demons held the Great Danes off, despite shooting 31 percent in the second half.
Mike Johnson led Albany with 16 points. Barraza added 13 points, including three 3-pointers, and Will Harris had 11.
Notable
- DePaul won its first season opener since the 2004-05 season.
- The Blue Demons are now 75-11 overall all-time in season openers and have won the last 68 of 70 home openers.
- DePaul held Albany's starting five to just 22 points.
- Dar Tucker has scored 20 or more points in three of his last four regular season games dating back to last season. It was the 10th time in his career that he has led DePaul in scoring.
- Mac Koshwal had a game-high 10 rebounds. It was the 22nd time in his young career that he has led the Blue demons in rebounding and the 11th time he's had double figure rebound totals.
- With the win, the Blue Demons improved to 1,349-790 all-time.
- The win against Albany tonight marks the first ever regular season win for DePaul at McGrath Arena.
- The Blue Demons are now 11-0 overall against America East Conference opponents.
- DePaul improved to 371-71 all-time in Lincoln Park and have won 60 of the last 63 games played there.
Quoteable
"I thought playing on campus was a real plus tonight. The large student turnout gave our guys a lot of energy to start the game and kept pushing them through in the second half." - DePaul head coach Jerry Wainwright.
Series Notes
- DePaul is 1-0 all-time against Albany.
Looking Ahead
- DePaul plays its first road game of the 2008-09 season when it travels to UIC on Saturday for a 7 p.m. (CST) game.