New coach Chris Holtmann has been tasked with rebuilding DePaul to the point where it can return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2004.
Northern Illinois coach Rashon Burno knows what it takes to steer DePaul to the NCAAs because he was the starting point guard on the 2000 team that made the tournament — the Blue Demons’ only other NCAA appearance since 1992.
Perhaps they can compare notes Saturday afternoon when Burno leads the Huskies (2-3) back to his alma mater as DePaul (5-0) hosts its sixth straight home game in Chicago.
Last season, Burno’s NIU squad helped accelerate DePaul’s need for a new coach — as the Huskies waltzed into Wintrust Arena and owned Tony Stubblefield’s Blue Demons by an 89-79 score on Nov. 25. The Huskies built a 24-point second-half lead before coasting to the finish line.
Can history repeat for NIU? There’s just one problem with using last year’s game as a potential barometer for Saturday’s rematch: Almost no players on this year’s teams were part of last year’s squads.
At DePaul, only assistant coach Paris Parham remains as Holtmann had the green light to bring in an all-new roster. UIC graduate transfer Isaiah Rivera (16.0 ppg, .485 3-point rate) and Coastal Carolina transfer Jacob Meyer (15.4 ppg, .406 on 3s) lead a balanced attack that focuses on getting half its shots from beyond the arc.
At NIU, Burno retained only two players who competed against DePaul last year — Ethan Butler and Oluwasegun Durosinmi — and they combined for three points in 26 minutes in that game. The Huskies’ main players used the transfer portal to join such programs as Kansas, Wisconsin, Penn State, Colorado State, James Madison, Georgia State and Niagara.
With every starting job open, Butler has jumped into the lineup and produced 11.6 points, 4.8 rebounds, 1.8 blocks and 1.4 steals per game. Transfers Quentin Jones (Cal Poly) and James Dent (Western Illinois) pace the Huskies with 14.4 and 14.0 points per game.
NIU is on a two-game losing streak, most recently a 75-48 home defeat at the hands of Elon on Wednesday.
Holtmann hopes to have Arkansas transfer Layden Blocker for Saturday’s game. Blocker missed Tuesday’s 78-69 win over Eastern Illinois with a quad injury. With the combo guard unavailable, point guard Conor Enright handed out a career-high 11 assists in a season-high 38 minutes.
“We need (Blocker),” Holtmann said. “I don’t want to play Conor 38 minutes.”
–Field Level Media
