DePaul Closes Regular Season at Creighton Saturday Night

CHICAGO - DePaul plays the final game of the regular season on Saturday at Creighton. The final day of the regular season features five league games with implications throughout the day on BIG EAST Tournament seeding. Start time Saturday in Omaha is set for 7 p.m. The Blue Demons could finish the day as high as the No. 4 seed in next week's BIG EAST Tournament or as low the No. 10 seed.

Saturday's game will be televised on FS1 with Dave O'Brien (play-by-play) and Doug Gottlieb (analyst) handling the television duties. The game can also be seen online via the FOX Sports Go app and at foxsportsgo.com. 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. In-game updates can be followed on Twitter at @DePaulHoops.

Creighton is 17-13 overall this season and 8-9 in BIG EAST play. The Bluejays enter the game following a 76-70 win in overtime against Providence on Wednesday. The Blue Demons are 15-13 and 7-10 in the BIG EAST after Wednesday's 101-69 win against Georgetown. 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. Creighton is led by Greg McDermott who is in his ninth season leading the Bluejays and 25th season overall.

Demon Doings: Notes following DePaul's 101-69 win against Georgetown on Wednesday.

The 101-69 win improves DePaul to 15-13 and 7-10 in BIG EAST games... Georgetown drops to 18-12 and 8-9 in league play.
The 54-point first half was the most in a first half by DePaul since scoring 60 in the first half against Chicago State on Dec. 17, 2016.
DePaul's 12 home wins are the most since the 2006-07 team went 14-2 at home... the seven BIG EAST wins are the most since the same 2006-07 team went 9-7.
The Blue Demons matched their season low in turnovers with eight... DePaul also committed just eight miscues at Butler on Feb. 16.
Most points in a BIG EAST game since a 108-69 win against Syracuse on March 2, 2006.
Eli Cain scored at least 20 points for the fourth time this season (17th career)... Eli Cain moved into 11th on DePaul's all-time scoring list... Cain also moved into third on the all-time three-point field goal list.
Devin Gage dished out a career-high 10 assists.
Femi Olujobi reached double figures for the 21st time this season.
Paul Reed recorded his sixth double-double of the season (sixth career).
Max Strus has scored 73 points in the last two games while shooting .560 (14-25) from three-point range... Strus matched his own (tied with Draelon Burns) single-game record with eight three-pointers... he also moved into a tie for first with Drake Diener with his 85th three of the season... on the career list, Strus is now in fourth place all-time.
Georgetown holds a 31-10 advantage in the series... the two teams split the season series.

Sort Of, But Not Really: One of the oldest records in the DePaul record book is George Mikan's 53 points in a NIT game against Rhode Island on March 21, 1945. The closest any player has gotten to that mark was Stanley Brundy and Mark Aguirre with 47-point efforts once each in their careers.

Earlier this week Max Strus matched Mikan's 53-point output in a 40-minute span, but it was over two games against St. John's and Georgetown. Strus scored 36 in the second half against the Red Storm on Sunday before following that with 17 points in the first half against Georgetown on Wednesday.

More Strus Scoring: Over the last two games, Max Strus has totaled 73 points with games of 43 and 30 points against St. John's and Georgetown. He is the first player since Draelon Burns in Nov. 2007 to record back-to-back games with at least 30 points and just the eighth player in program history to accomplish the feat.

The last player with three straight games of at least 30 points scored was George Mikan at the end of the 1944-45 season when he posted games of 33 points against West Virginia, 53 against Rhode Island and 34 against Bowling Green State in March 1945. Only Mark Aguirre has posted back-to-back 30-plus games twice in a season which he did during the 1979-80 campaign.

It Could Happen: A three-pointer extends DePaul's streak to 799 straight games with a three... Femi Olujobi needs 24 points for 1,000 in his collegiate career... he scored 76 at Oakland (Mich.), 523 at North Carolina A&T and has 377 at DePaul... with two free throws, Eli Cain moves into 16th place on the all-time list... he also moves into 16th on the field goals chart with seven field goals... nine assists moves Cain up to eight on the all-time assist list... Max Strus needs one three-pointer for the program's single-season record... his 85 threes entering the game are tied with Drake Diener's total during the 2004-05 season.

Trendy: DePaul has outrebounded the opponent in 20 of 28 games... the Blue Demons are 15-5 in those games and 0-8 when getting outrebounded... in BIG EAST play, DePaul is 6-3 in weekend games (4-2 on Saturday, 2-1 on Sunday)... only Stanley Brundy has recorded a better season field goal percentage than Femi Olujobi's .627 (133-212) mark this season... in BIG EAST games, Paul Reed is 43-of-46 (.935) at the free throw line... over the last three games, Max Strus is averaging 32.7 points per game while shooting .579 (33-57) from the field, .500 (16-32) from three-point range and .941 (16-17) at free throw line.

Light It Up: The Blue Demons have turned in three BIG EAST games this season with at least 90 points including each of the last two games that saw DePaul finish with 92 points against St. John's and 101 against Georgetown. The Blue Demons also defeated Seton Hall in January by a score of 97-93.

Prior to this season, DePaul produced just five total conference games with 90 or more points and only the 2013-14 season produced multiple games. That season saw a pair of overtime games with 90 or more and a single 90-plus game occurred in 2017-18, 2007-08 and 2005-06. The 2005-06 game was DePaul's highest-scoring BIG EAST game with a 108-69 win over Syracuse on March 2, 2006.

DePaul Closes Regular Season at Creighton Saturday Night

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Eli Cain

Devin Gage

Femi Olujobi

Paul Reed

Max Strus

DePaul University Athletics

DePaul Closes Regular Season at Creighton Saturday Night

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Eli Cain

Devin Gage

Femi Olujobi

Paul Reed

Max Strus

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