DePaul University Athletics
Saturday, November 24
Notre Dame, Ind.
11:00 A.M. CT
DePaul University
at
Notre Dame
Season's First Road Trip Takes DePaul to Notre Dame
11/23/2018 7:14:00 AM | MEN'S BASKETBALL
Blue Demons and Irish meet for 106th time on Saturday at Purcell Pavilion
CHICAGO - DePaul hits the road for the first time this season with a Saturday matinee at Notre Dame. The Blue Demons are playing for the first time since an overtime win against Penn State on Nov. 15 and are looking to start the season at 4-0. DePaul opened the 2018-19 season and the second year of the Wintrust Arena era with three wins over Bethune-Cookman (80-58), Morgan State (91-63) and Penn State (72-70, OT). The Blue Demons and Fighting Irish are scheduled for a Noon ET start at Purcell Pavilion.
Saturday's game will be televised on ACC Network Extra which is available at WatchESPN.com or the WatchESPN app. Tony Simeone (play-by-play), Mike Lightfoot (analyst) and Holden Perrelli (reporter) are handling the television duties. 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.
Notre Dame is 4-1 early in the season with recent wins over William & Mary and Duquesne. 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. Notre Dame is led by Mike Brey who is in his 19th season leading the Irish.
Need to Know
A year ago, DePaul hosted Notre Dame to open Wintrust Arena and the visitors spoiled the opening by a score of 72-58. Notre Dame's Bonzie Colson is credited with the first point scored by any player at Wintrust Arena with a free throw 31 seconds into the game while Devin Gage tallied the first points for a DePaul player on a jumper with 17:15 left in the first half.
The Opponent - Notre Dame Fighting Irish: Notre Dame is 4-1 early in the 2018-19 season... the Irish have won two straight over William & Mary and Duquesne following a loss to Radford... John Mooney leads the team with 14.0 points and 9.0 rebounds per game... T.J. Gibbs adds 11.8 points per game with a team-high 18 assists... a year ago, the Irish posted an overall record of 21-15 with an ACC record of 8-10... Mike Brey is in his 19th season at Notre Dame.
The Series: The Notre Dame series is the second-longest in program history DePaul... Saturday is the 106th meeting between the programs... DePaul's longest series is with Marquette at 123 games... the Irish hold a 61-44 advantage in the series with 10 straight wins... Saturday is teh first visit to Notre Dame since an 82-78 loss in overtime on Feb. 12, 2013... the first meeting between the programs was Feb. 24, 1912 with a 58-11 win for the Irish on their home floor.. a year ago, Notre Dame knocked off DePaul, 72-58, in the inaugural game at Wintrust Arena.
Strus Named BIG EAST Player of the Week: DePaul senior guard Max Strus was recognized by the conference office on Nov. 19 with BIG EAST Player of the Week honors. Strus led DePaul to a pair of wins over Morgan State and Penn State while averaging 23.0 points, 9.0 rebounds and 2.5 assists. He shot .457 (16-35) overall and .421 (8-19) from three-point range while going 6-for-8 from the free throw line. The senior is the first BIG EAST Player of the Week for DePaul since Draelon Burns in December 2007.
Strus opened the week with 25 points and nine rebounds against Morgan State while going 5-of-8 from behind the arc and adding three assists and a blocked shot. He followed that effort with 21 points and nine rebounds against Penn State. He played 43 minutes in the overtime win over the Nittany Lions and added two assists and a steal while scoring 15 of his 21 points after halftime.
Demon Doings: Notes following DePaul's 72-70 overtime win over Penn State on Nov. 15:
Up Next: Nov. 28 vs. Cleveland State at Wintrust Arena
Saturday's game will be televised on ACC Network Extra which is available at WatchESPN.com or the WatchESPN app. Tony Simeone (play-by-play), Mike Lightfoot (analyst) and Holden Perrelli (reporter) are handling the television duties. 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.
Notre Dame is 4-1 early in the season with recent wins over William & Mary and Duquesne. 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. Notre Dame is led by Mike Brey who is in his 19th season leading the Irish.
Need to Know
- DePaul goes on the road for the first time this season with a Saturday afternoon game at Notre Dame. The Blue Demons have opened the season with three straight wins at Wintrust Arena.
- DePaul and Notre Dame meet for the 106th time in a series that dates back to Feb. 1912. Notre Dame holds a 61-44 advantage in the series that includes a 72-58 decision in favor of the Irish last season in the first game at Wintrust Arena.
- Senior guard Max Strus was named BIG EAST Player of the Week on Monday after averaging 23.0 points, 9.0 rebounds and 2.5 assists in leading DePaul to a perfect 2-0 week with wins over Morgan State and Penn State.Â
- 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.
A year ago, DePaul hosted Notre Dame to open Wintrust Arena and the visitors spoiled the opening by a score of 72-58. Notre Dame's Bonzie Colson is credited with the first point scored by any player at Wintrust Arena with a free throw 31 seconds into the game while Devin Gage tallied the first points for a DePaul player on a jumper with 17:15 left in the first half.
The Opponent - Notre Dame Fighting Irish: Notre Dame is 4-1 early in the 2018-19 season... the Irish have won two straight over William & Mary and Duquesne following a loss to Radford... John Mooney leads the team with 14.0 points and 9.0 rebounds per game... T.J. Gibbs adds 11.8 points per game with a team-high 18 assists... a year ago, the Irish posted an overall record of 21-15 with an ACC record of 8-10... Mike Brey is in his 19th season at Notre Dame.
The Series: The Notre Dame series is the second-longest in program history DePaul... Saturday is the 106th meeting between the programs... DePaul's longest series is with Marquette at 123 games... the Irish hold a 61-44 advantage in the series with 10 straight wins... Saturday is teh first visit to Notre Dame since an 82-78 loss in overtime on Feb. 12, 2013... the first meeting between the programs was Feb. 24, 1912 with a 58-11 win for the Irish on their home floor.. a year ago, Notre Dame knocked off DePaul, 72-58, in the inaugural game at Wintrust Arena.
Strus Named BIG EAST Player of the Week: DePaul senior guard Max Strus was recognized by the conference office on Nov. 19 with BIG EAST Player of the Week honors. Strus led DePaul to a pair of wins over Morgan State and Penn State while averaging 23.0 points, 9.0 rebounds and 2.5 assists. He shot .457 (16-35) overall and .421 (8-19) from three-point range while going 6-for-8 from the free throw line. The senior is the first BIG EAST Player of the Week for DePaul since Draelon Burns in December 2007.
Strus opened the week with 25 points and nine rebounds against Morgan State while going 5-of-8 from behind the arc and adding three assists and a blocked shot. He followed that effort with 21 points and nine rebounds against Penn State. He played 43 minutes in the overtime win over the Nittany Lions and added two assists and a steal while scoring 15 of his 21 points after halftime.
Demon Doings: Notes following DePaul's 72-70 overtime win over Penn State on Nov. 15:
- Max Strus scored 21 points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead DePaul past the Nittany Lions... Devin Gage finished with a career-high 14 points to go with four steals and three assists... Jaylen Butz grabbed a career-high 15 rebounds with eight points... Femi Olujobi added 13 points and four boards off the bench... Eli Cain finished with seven rebounds, six assists and five points.
- DePaul is 3-0 to start the season for the first time since the 2008-09 team won its first three games.
- DePaul trailed 11-0 to start the game and allowed a 10-0 run by Penn State to end the second half and send the game to overtime.
- The 11-point deficit that was erased in the first half was the largest since turning around a 15-point deficit against Drake on Nov. 30, 2016.
- The Blue Demons are now 1-3 in the Gavitt Tipoff Games... Thursday was the second meeting with Penn State in the event.
- Jaylen Butz pulled down a career-high 15 rebounds... it was his second career game with 10 or more rebounds... he is the first player to grab at least 15 rebounds since Cleveland Melvin totaled 15 rebounds at St. John's on Feb. 20, 2012.
- Eli Cain's five points moved him up to 29th on DePaul's all-time scoring list... he has 1,218 points.
- Devin Gage set a career-high in scoring for the second straight game with 14 points... previously against Morgan State he scored a then-career best 13 points.
- Max Strus has started the season with three straight 20-point games... he has scored in double-figures in 29 of 34 games at DePaul.
- DePaul leads the series with Penn State by a 7-1 margin.
Up Next: Nov. 28 vs. Cleveland State at Wintrust Arena
- The game will be televised on FS2 and can be heard in Chicago on WYLL (1160 AM).
- The Vikings are 2-3 this season and play at Ohio State on Friday and host Purdue Fort Wayne on Sunday before traveling to Chicago.
- Cleveland State won the only meeting between the two sides during the 1985-86 season... the Vikings recorded a 90-75 victory on Jan. 15, 1986 at the Rosemont Horizon.
- Cleveland State was 12-22 last season and 6-12 in Horizon League.
- Former DePaul director of basketball operations Bryan Tibaldi is an assistant coach with the Vikings. Tibaldi was on Dave Leitao's staff at DePaul from 2015-17.
Players Mentioned
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