Blue Demons Head Back on Road

CHICAGO – In a return to conference play, the DePaul men's basketball team is set to go on the road to face (RV) St. John's, Tuesday, Dec. 17. The game is slated for a 5:30 CT tip from Carnesecca Arena, as DePaul will make its debut this season on Peacock with Noah Eagle and Donny Marshall on the call. Zach Zaidman and Dave Corzine will have DePaul's radio broadcast on Sirius XM, 670 The Score and the DePaul Blue Demons app.

LAST TIME OUT
After back-to-back loses, DePaul (8-2, 0-1 BIG EAST) rebounded with a 91-72 victory over Wichita State on Saturday. Jacob Meyer earned his second-consecutive start, scoring a game-high 23 points while CJ Gunn had a career day off the bench. Gunn shot 4-of-6 from three-point range for a personal best 22 points. As a team, DePaul made a program record for threes in a regulation game with 17.

SCOUTING DEPAUL
The Blue Demons three-point percentage continues to rise, as DePaul enters Tuesday's game shooting 40.4 percent from deep while averaging nearly 13 made three-pointers per game. Both numbers rank top-15 nationally in addition to the Blue Demons nearly 20 assists per game.

DePaul's bench continues to be a huge factor for the team, as its non-starters average 36 points per game. On Saturday against Wichita State, Gunn and Benson led the charge from the bench as Benson added nine points, six rebounds and two blocks. DePaul's bench scoring ranks 11^th nationally and has outscored its opponents bench in nine of its 10 games this season.

THE SERIES
St. John's leads the all-time series 32-22, including an 18-11 advantage for games played at St. John's. The Blue Demons last win against St. John's came on Feb. 27, 2022 in Chicago while DePaul will look for its first road victory against the Red Storm since Feb. 20, 2021.

Chris Holtmann is 5-1 all-time against St. John's, but will face them for the first time since 2016-17. Holtmann and Rick Pitino have faced off on the sidelines just once before, in Holtmann's first-year as a head coach at Gardner-Webb.

SCOUTING ST. JOHN'S
With a three-game win streak entering conference play, St. John's (8-2) continues to receive votes in the AP Top 25 and the USA Today Coaches poll. The Red Storm's last three wins came against Bryant, Kansas State and Harvard.

RJ Luis Jr. is the leading scorer for the Red Storm, averaging 16.9 points per game. Zuby Ejiofor adds 14.4 points per game, while making his statement on the defensive end. Ejiofor averages 2.30 blocks per game, ranking 17th nationally and helping St. John's rank seventh in blocks per game as a team.

St. John's is 20-5 in two seasons under Rick Pitino as head coach, including a perfect 7-0 thus far this season.

UP NEXT
DePaul returns to Illinois where they will take the trip to Evanston on Saturday, Dec. 21 to take on Northwestern. The game is scheduled for a 3 p.m. tip on Big Ten Network.

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Players Mentioned

CJ Gunn

Jacob Meyer