Blue Demons Fall in BIG EAST Game Against Connecticut

Monday, January 11

Chicago, Ill.

5:00 P.M. CT

DePaul University

1-4,0-4Big East

Connecticut

7-1,4-1Big East

UConn

DePaul

Blue Demons Fall in BIG EAST Game Against Connecticut

1/11/2021 8:13:00 PM | MEN'S BASKETBALL

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Darious Hall scores 10 points to lead DePaul

CHICAGO - A 13-2 Connecticut run in the final five and a half minutes was too much for DePaul to hold off the visiting Huskies on Monday night at Wintrust Arena. Darious Hall scored 10 points to lead the Blue Demons in the 60-53 loss.

Four Blue Demons scored eight or more points in the contest with Hall leading the way followed by Charlie Moore with nine and Nick Ongenda and Javon Freeman-Liberty with eight points apiece.

After shooting just 13 percent in the first nine minutes of the contest, the Blue Demons knocked down 10 of their next 15 attempts to narrow the Connecticut lead that was as large as 11 points early in the game.

A Hall three-pointer cut the deficit to one with 36 seconds remaining in the first stanza before two Connecticut free throws in the final second gave the Huskies the 33-30 edge heading into the break.

DePaul (1-4, 0-4 BIG EAST) saw a balanced first half with five different Blue Demons with four or more points. Hall, making his first start of the season, led the Blue Demons with eight points through the first 20 minutes. DePaul outrebounded the Huskies 23-15 in the first half.

DePaul started the second half on an 8-0 run, making four of their first five shots to force an early Connecticut timeout.

After a four-minute DePaul scoring drought, a corner three-pointer from Ray Salnave at 11:34 knotted the game at 42-42.

The two squads went bucket-for-bucket over the next three minutes with DePaul maintaining a 49-47 advantage into the under eight media timeout. Freeman-Liberty put the Blue Demons up four at 51-47 with 5:41 left to give DePaul its largest cushion of the game.

Over the final five minutes Connecticut (7-1, 4-1 BIG EAST) outscored DePaul by 11 points and held the Blue Demons to just a dunk by Ongenda.

Tyrese Martin led the Huskies with a game-high 18 points.

DePaul plays its third game in five days when the Blue Demons travel to Washington, D.C. to take on Georgetown on Wednesday evening. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m. CT on FS1 and 670 The Score.