DePaul Hosts Western Illinois Friday Night

CHICAGO – The DePaul men's basketball team welcomes Western Illinois back into Wintrust arena for a Friday evening matchup on FS2. Tip off is scheduled for 9 p.m. CT with Wayne Randazzo and Lavall Jordan on the broadcast call. The radio broadcast with Zach Zaidman and Dave Corzine can be heard on WSCR – 670 AM The Score.

DePaul (1-0) kicked off its 2022-23 season Monday evening with a 72-66 win against Loyola (Md.). Javan Johnson notched his first career double-double on his way to a game-high 24 points. Johnson added 10 boards on 4-of-8 three-point shooting.

Friday night's game is DePaul's Salute to Service game, honoring active-duty military members and veterans at the game. Service members can assist with the presentation of the flag for the National Anthem. All service members may also claim a complimentary ticket to the game here prior to game day.

SCOUTING DEPAUL
A team that features plenty of fresh faces, DePaul saw 46 percent of its scoring efforts in the opener come from newcomers. Included in that was graduate transfer Umoja Gibson who notched 12 points, six assists and five rebounds. Da'Sean Nelson joined Gibson in double-digits as he made his NCAA debut.

The Blue Demons electric offense helped them outpace Loyola (Md.) for the season-opening victory as DePaul outscored the Greyhounds 22-2 on fast break points. The victory was DePaul's fifth-straight season opening win.

SCOUTING WESTERN ILLINOIS
Western Illinois (2-0) is off to a solid start with wins against Illinois State and Rockford to open their campaign. The Leathernecks are lead by Alec Rosner who is averaging 18.5 points per game and recorded 25 in WIU's road win against Illinois State. Trenton Massner is averaging 9.5 assists per game.

Rob Jeter is in his third season at the helm of the Leatherneck program, where he helped them win 16 games last season and earn an appearance in the Basketball Classic Tournament. The postseason appearance was the first for WIU since 2013.

THE SERIES
DePaul leads Western Illinois, 2-1, in the all-time series. The teams met last season inside Wintrust Arena, where DePaul came away with an 84-80 win. All three meetings in the series history have taken place at home for the Blue Demons.

UP NEXT
DePaul travels to Minnesota for its first road game of the year. The two teams matchup as a part of the Gavitt Tipoff Games, an annual eight-game series played between the BIG EAST and Big Ten. The game will be broadcast on Big Ten Network with a 6 p.m. CT tip.

Season tickets and single-game tickets can be purchased at DePaulBlueDemons.com/Tickets.

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Players Mentioned

Umoja Gibson

Javan Johnson

Da'Sean Nelson