DePaul University Athletics
Thursday, November 15
Wintrust Arena
8:00 P.M. CT
DePaul University
vs
Penn State
Blue Demons Welcome Penn State to Wintrust Arena for Gavitt Tipoff Games
11/14/2018 3:58:00 PM | MEN'S BASKETBALL
DePaul and Penn State meet for second time in annual series between the BIG EAST and Big Ten Conferences
CHICAGO – DePaul concludes its season-opening three-game homestand with a Thursday night game against Penn State. The Blue Demons opened the 2018-19 season and the second year of the Wintrust Arena era with a pair of impressive wins over Bethune-Cookman (80-58) and Morgan State (91-63). The Blue Demons and Nittany Lions are scheduled for an 8 p.m. start at Wintrust Arena. The game is part of the annual Gavitt Tipoff Games between programs from the BIG EAST and Big Ten Conferences.
Thursday's game will be nationally-televised on FS1 with Alex Faust (play-by-play) and Doug Gottlieb (analyst) handling the television duties. The game can also be seen online and on mobile devices with FOX Sports Go. DePaul's radio tandem of Zach Zaidman (play-by-play) and Dave Corzine (analyst) can be heard on WSCR 670 AM as well as online on DePaul All-Access at www.depaulbluedemons.com. Live stats can also be found at www.depaulbluedemons.com while in-game scoring updates can be followed on Twitter at @DePaulHoops.
Penn State is 2-0 early in the season with wins over North Florida and Jacksonville State. A year ago, the Nittany Lions won the NIT and posted a 26-13 overall record and 9-9 mark in the Big Ten. DePaul head coach Dave Leitao is in his seventh season at DePaul and his fourth since returning to the program after leading the Blue Demons three postseasons in three years from 2002-05. Overall, the 2018-19 campaign is Leitao's 13th as a head coach at the collegiate level. Penn State is led by Patrick Chambers who is in his eighth season leading the Nittany Lions.
Need to Know
Demon Doings: Notes following DePaul's 91-63 win over Morgan State on Nov. 12:
Quickly Out of the Gate: The 22-point win over Bethune-Cookman and the 28-point margin of victory against Morgan State marked two occurrences that haven't happened since the start of the 1999-2000 season for the Blue Demons:
The Opponent - Penn State Nittany Lions: Penn State is 2-0 early in the 2018-19 season with home wins against North Florida (87-72) on Nov. 9 and Jacksonville State (76-61) on Nov. 12... Lamar Stevens leads the team with 23.5 points and 9.5 rebounds per game... Rasir Bolton adds 19.0 points per game with a team-high six three-pointers... four players are averaging at least 12 points per game... a year ago, the Nittany Lions won the NIT and posted an overall record of 26-13 with a Big Ten record of 9-9... Patrick Chambers is in his eighth season at Penn State.
The Series: DePaul has won six of seven meetings between the programs... the Blue Demons won the first six games before Penn State claimed the last meeting in November 2015... prior to 2015, the last game was a 78-61 DePaul win on Dec. 12, 1984.
The Last Meeting: Myke Henry led three DePaul players in double-figures with 17 points and nine rebounds in a 68-62 loss for DePaul at Penn State on Nov. 17, 2015... Penn State jumped to a 11-2 lead less than six minutes into the game. DePaul chipped away and Henry tied the game at 23-23 on a rebound and putback with 4:30 to go in the first half... the Blue Demons moved to within three points on seven occasions in the second half, but could get no closer.
Up Next: Nov. 24 at Notre Dame
Thursday's game will be nationally-televised on FS1 with Alex Faust (play-by-play) and Doug Gottlieb (analyst) handling the television duties. The game can also be seen online and on mobile devices with FOX Sports Go. DePaul's radio tandem of Zach Zaidman (play-by-play) and Dave Corzine (analyst) can be heard on WSCR 670 AM as well as online on DePaul All-Access at www.depaulbluedemons.com. Live stats can also be found at www.depaulbluedemons.com while in-game scoring updates can be followed on Twitter at @DePaulHoops.
Penn State is 2-0 early in the season with wins over North Florida and Jacksonville State. A year ago, the Nittany Lions won the NIT and posted a 26-13 overall record and 9-9 mark in the Big Ten. DePaul head coach Dave Leitao is in his seventh season at DePaul and his fourth since returning to the program after leading the Blue Demons three postseasons in three years from 2002-05. Overall, the 2018-19 campaign is Leitao's 13th as a head coach at the collegiate level. Penn State is led by Patrick Chambers who is in his eighth season leading the Nittany Lions.
Need to Know
- The Blue Demons host the Penn State Nittany Lions on Thursday night at Wintrust Arena. The contest is part of the annual Gavitt Tipoff Games between the BIG EAST and Big Ten Conferences.
- DePaul and Penn State meet for the second time in the event. The first year of the series saw Penn State hold off DePaul, 68-62, at the Bryce Jordan Center in November 2015. Overall, DePaul has won six of seven all-time meetings between the programs.
- Senior guard Max Strus was named second team preseason All-BIG EAST in a vote of the league's head coaches. He was one of 10 players named to the first and second teams.
- The DePaul roster features nine newcomers including two graduate transfers, one now-eligible transfer, five freshmen and a transfer sitting out this season.
- Two starters return among the nine players back from a year ago. Overall, the Blue Demons return just under 50 percent of the scoring and rebounding from last season.
- DePaul is playing its second season at Wintrust Arena in Chicago's South Loop. The award-winning facility features 10,387 seats including 22 suites and 479 premium club seats. The state-of-art facility also holds NBA-level locker rooms and training facilities for the DePaul men's and women's basketball programs.
- Head coach Dave Leitao begins his fourth season of his second stint at DePaul. He led the program from 2002-05 before returning in March 2015.
Demon Doings: Notes following DePaul's 91-63 win over Morgan State on Nov. 12:
- Eli Cain and Max Strus combined for 46 points, 17 rebounds and nine assists to lead the Blue Demons... a 17-2 run in the first half opened up the game and DePaul led by as many as 35 points in the second half.
- DePaul is 2-0 to start the season for the first time since the 2014-15 season.
- Eli Cain passed the 1,200-point plateau and finished the game with 1,213 points... he is ranked No. 31 on DePaul's all-time scoring list... Cain also reached the 300-assist plateau... he is the 11th player in program history to record at least 1,200 points and 300 assists.
- Devin Gage totaled career highs of 13 point and nine assists.
- Max Strus recorded his second straight 25-point game... he has totaled 14 career games of at least 20 points and scored in double-figures in 28 of 33 career games at DePaul.
- The game was the second meeting between the programs... the series is tied 1-1.
Quickly Out of the Gate: The 22-point win over Bethune-Cookman and the 28-point margin of victory against Morgan State marked two occurrences that haven't happened since the start of the 1999-2000 season for the Blue Demons:
- DePaul opened the season with back-to-back wins by at least 20 points for the first time since season-opening wins over Howard (105-61) and American-Puerto Rico (114-69) to start the 1999-00 season. The game against American-Puerto Rico was DePaul's opener in the San Juan Shootout.
- The combined margin of victory of 50 points in two games this season is the most in back-to-back games since the 1999-00 team combined for a margin of 89 points in the games against Howard and American-Puerto Rico.
The Opponent - Penn State Nittany Lions: Penn State is 2-0 early in the 2018-19 season with home wins against North Florida (87-72) on Nov. 9 and Jacksonville State (76-61) on Nov. 12... Lamar Stevens leads the team with 23.5 points and 9.5 rebounds per game... Rasir Bolton adds 19.0 points per game with a team-high six three-pointers... four players are averaging at least 12 points per game... a year ago, the Nittany Lions won the NIT and posted an overall record of 26-13 with a Big Ten record of 9-9... Patrick Chambers is in his eighth season at Penn State.
The Series: DePaul has won six of seven meetings between the programs... the Blue Demons won the first six games before Penn State claimed the last meeting in November 2015... prior to 2015, the last game was a 78-61 DePaul win on Dec. 12, 1984.
The Last Meeting: Myke Henry led three DePaul players in double-figures with 17 points and nine rebounds in a 68-62 loss for DePaul at Penn State on Nov. 17, 2015... Penn State jumped to a 11-2 lead less than six minutes into the game. DePaul chipped away and Henry tied the game at 23-23 on a rebound and putback with 4:30 to go in the first half... the Blue Demons moved to within three points on seven occasions in the second half, but could get no closer.
Up Next: Nov. 24 at Notre Dame
- The game will be televised on ACC Network Extra and can be heard in Chicago on WSCR (670 AM).
- Notre Dame leads the series, 61-44, with this season's matchup marking the 106th meeting between the programs.
- The Irish posted a 72-58 decision in the first game at Wintrust Arena in November 2017.
- Notre Dame is 2-0 this season and hosts Radford on Nov. 14, William & Mary on Nov. 17 and Duquesne on Nov. 20 before playing the Blue Demons.
- The Irish went 21-15 overall and 8-10 in the ACC in 2017-18.
- Notre Dame lost to Penn State in the second round of the NIT.
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