Blue Demons Not Looking to Slow Down After Seven Wins
DePaul travels to Minnesota on Friday before hosting Texas Tech next Wednesday at Wintrust Arena
Luke Murphy, Athletics Communications
11/27/2019
“It [the crowd] was great. I mean to have this fan base starting to pick up progressively, us doing our job by winning games and the fans come. I feel like it’s only going to keep elevating, picking up from here. I hope so, and it helps tremendously.”Jalen Coleman-Lands on the impact of the fans during Tuesday's comeback
CHICAGO - With excitement levels around DePaul basketball as high as they have been in over a decade, the Blue Demons turned in a second half comeback Tuesday evening that could be looked back upon as a defining moment if the team continues its winning ways in the weeks ahead. With their back against the wall and trailing by 18 points at the half, DePaul exploded in the second frame, outscoring Central Michigan by 31 points over the final 20 minutes to beat the Chippewas, 88-75, in front of a raucous Wintrust Arena crowd.
With the win, DePaul and Butler stand alone as the last two unbeaten teams in the BIG EAST at 7-0. Through seven games, DePaul has given fans real reason to be optimistic about the season as Paul Reed has emerged as one of the best players in the conference, Charlie Moore looks like a potential star running the point, Jaylen Butz has provided great rebounding and defense, and Jalen Coleman-Lands, Romeo Weems, Devin Gage and Darious Hall have all proven to be excellent contributors capable of turning in big games.
For this Blue Demon squad, a group that hangs its hat on defense, Tuesday night’s win was all about getting stops over the final 20 minutes. Moore talked postgame how after a sloppy start it was defense that got DePaul back into the contest.
“I think the first half we came out lackadaisical,” Moore said. “We didn’t have as much energy, and in the second half, coach and the coaching staff just told us, second half we have to come out with more energy and execute out there and we did that. That energy picked up in the second half and that led to some defensive stops and some [fast] breaks, and we got out in transition and that led us to a comeback.”
On the game four Blue Demons turned in special performances. Reed finished with 23 points and 11 rebounds, Moore posted 18 points and 13 assists and Butz added 15 points and 11 rebounds, while also shutting down Central Michigan’s best player David DiLeo. However, perhaps more than anything else, it was the Jalen Coleman-Lands game as the guard from Indianapolis knocked down a career-high six three-pointers en route to 21 points, including 18 points in 18 second half minutes.
After the win, Coach Leitao spoke on what he saw from Coleman-Lands in his best game as a Blue Demon to date.
“[I saw in him] confidence,” Coach Leitao said. “I think that before today he was trying to find a niche, trying to do a little bit more than the simplicity of who he is and what we’ve been talking about is play everything off your shot. I think what he was trying to do was be hesitant and put the ball on the floor and then think about where can I get a shot. Play off your shot, if you can catch and be open and in rhythm, shoot it. If not you can lift fake, you can put it on the floor, and then you can make a play. And I think he really did that simply today and then Charlie [Moore] found him a lot, other guys found him a lot and he felt real good and when shots go in it makes the game a whole lot easier, and he’s a guy that can put the ball in the basket as well as anybody.”
For the Blue Demons, Moore in a season full of highs also turned in one of his very best games at DePaul.
“He [Charlie Moore] is really, really, really good,” Leitao said. “And I think I’ve seen a lot, particularly out of that position and he made some plays and passes today like ‘oh, I didn’t know that one was coming’”.
“His balance was really, really good and this is the second game in a row that he played 40 minutes and didn’t come out today,” Leitao continued. “My staff was trying to give him a break on a TV timeout and I was like ‘no, I’m going to trust that he can handle the amount of minutes that he played today’ and obviously we don’t want to do that for long, long stretches and hopefully Devin [Gage] will be back, but he [Moore] was very, very special today.”
In a game full of unpredictable turns and runs, one thing stayed the same. The Blue Demons got yet another double-double for Reed, his sixth in seven games to begin the season. With his performance through a month, the junior big man has officially become a walking double-double. While the numbers he is putting up already put him in rarefied air, for Coach Leitao there is still room for more.
“He’s growing and growing and growing as a player [and] as a person,” Leitao said. “He works really hard at his game and he’s still developing. I marvel because he’s still a baby to not just this game, but to being at the forefront of being a player of his caliber and what he’s developing into and you can see it.”
In the next seven days, DePaul will face two stiff tests in Minnesota on Friday and then Texas Tech on Wednesday – a team that went to the finals in the NCAA tournament a year ago. Perhaps one of the most exciting parts of Tuesday’s win outside of the game itself was the home atmosphere at Wintrust Arena. For Coleman-Lands, he hopes this is just the beginning of a long season where DePaul’s crowd has plenty to cheer about.
“It [the crowd] was great,” Coleman-Lands. “I mean to have this fan base starting to pick up progressively, us doing our job by winning games and the fans come. I feel like it’s only going to keep elevating, picking up from here. I hope so, and it helps tremendously.”
