Blue Demons Host Rockhurst in Exhibition Game

Thursday, November 1

Wintrust Arena

7:00 P.M. CT

DePaul University

Rockhurst

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Blue Demons Host Rockhurst in Exhibition Game

10/31/2018 11:13:00 AM | MEN'S BASKETBALL

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DePaul preps for next week's season opener with Thursday night contest

CHICAGO - DePaul plays its lone exhibition game of the 2018-19 preseason on Thursday night against Rockhurst. The Blue Demons and Hawks are scheduled for a 7 p.m. start at Wintrust Arena.

Rockhurst head coach Drew Diener is a cousin of DePaul freshman John Diener. Drew Diener was a member of Dave Leitao's staff at DePaul during the 2004-05 season. Thursday is the second meeting in exhibition play between the programs. DePaul defeated Rockhurst, 79-53, in a preseason game at McGrath-Phillips Arena on Nov. 4, 2016. Eli Cain score two points with two rebound, two assists in 15 minutes while Devin Gage scored five points in 16 minutes. Rockhurst is located in Kansas City is a member of the Great Lakes Valley Conference.

Following the exhibition game, DePaul opens the 2018-19 season on Wednesday, Nov. 7 against Bethune-Cookman. Start time is 6:30 p.m at Wintrust Arena.

What's Back: Entering the 2018-19 season, DePaul returns nine players including two starters from a year ago. Headlining the returners are seniors Eli Cain and Max Strus. Strus led the Blue Demons last season with 16.8 points per game while Cain averaged 11.7 points and a team-high 4.7 assists per contest.

Cain and Strus represent two of the top three scorers returning from last season. Overall, the Blue Demons return just under 50 percent of the scoring and nearly 50 percent of the rebounding from last season. Cain and Strus represented just under 40 percent of the scoring last season combined with a total of 885 points between the two players.

What's New: A total of nine newcomers are on the 2018-19 DePaul roster including two graduate transfers, one now-eligible transfer, five freshmen and a transfer sitting out the season. The freshmen class includes Flynn Cameron, John Diener, George Maslennikov, Josh Ozanne and Mick Sullivan while the graduate transfers are Femi Olujobi and Lyrik Shreiner. Cameron joined the program in January, but did not play in any games last season. Olujobi joins the team after completing his undergraduate degree at North Carolina A&T where he averaged 16.3 points and 7.7 rebounds per game last season. Shreiner is a two-year graduate transfer after averaging 9.0 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.0 assists at Cal State Northridge last season.
Jalen Coleman-Lands is now eligible to play after sitting out the 2017-18 season while incoming transfer Darious Hall will sit out the 2018-19 season under NCAA guidelines after playing his freshman year at Arkansas.

Production Returns: With senior guards Eli Cain and Max Strus returning combined with the exit of 19 of the BIG EAST's top 30 scorers from last season, DePaul's production on the wings will be among the tops in the league.
With only 11 of the top 30 scorers returning from 2017-18, just three teams feature more than one top offensive threat from a year ago. St. John's has three players that ranked in the top 30 while DePaul and Marquette each had two players among the top point producers.

Strus finished last season ranked 11th with 16.8 points per game and is ranked fourth among the top returning scorers. The senior is the only BIG EAST returning player that ranked in the top 15 last season in scoring (11th - 16.8 ppg), rebounding (14th - 5.6 rpg) and steals (9th - 1.3 spg). Strus was also in the top 15 in eighth with 2.6 three's per game.

Noting the Blue Demons: The men's basketball program is 1,448-1,006 (.590) all-time... the Blue Demons have knocked down at least one three-pointer in 770 straight games... DePaul's last game without a three was over 25 years ago on Feb. 16, 1993 against UAB at Allstate Arena... the current streak started against Notre Dame on Feb. 21, 1993... DePaul played every home game under the same roof in 2017-18 for the first time since the 2009-10 season... over the last eight seasons (since start of 2010-11 season), DePaul is 17-5 against Chicagoland opponents (Chicago State, UIC, Loyola-Chicago, Northern Illinois, Northwestern)... in the last 18 seasons (since the start of 2000-01 season), the record against locals is 31-11... the Blue Demons will play three local opponents in 2018-19 marking the seventh time in the last nine seasons with three locals on the schedule.

Wintrust Arena Set for Year Two: The new home of DePaul basketball opened its doors in the 2017-18 in Chicago's McCormick Square neighborhood. The 10,387-seat facility near McCormick Place in the South Loop area of the city is a joint project between the City of Chicago, the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, and DePaul University. It features state-of-art amenities for the DePaul men's and women's basketball programs as well as fans in attendance with over 400 club seats and 22 suites.

The arena was honored with the prestigious American Architecture Award that also included U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. In December 2017, the facility hosted both the No. 1-ranked women's and men's teams in the country as the Connecticut women visited Wintrust Arena on Dec. 8 followed by the Villanova men's team on Dec. 27. Upcoming major basketball events at the facility include the 2019 BIG EAST Women's Basketball Tournament, the 2019 NCAA Women's Basketball Regional and when the 2020 NBA All-Star Game visits Chicago, Wintrust Arena will host the NBA All-Star Celebrity Game and Rising Stars and All-Star Game practices.