NEW YORK — DePaul captivated many in Madison Square Garden when it threatened Villanova before taking a 1-point loss in the 2023 Big East tournament and did the same last year when it took Creighton to double overtime in a quarterfinals loss.
DePaul accomplished more than moral victories this season, as proven by earning the sixth seed in this year’s tournament heading into Wednesday night’s first-round game against 11th-seeded Georgetown in New York City.
The teams split their regular-season series as DePaul earned a 56-50 road win on Jan. 6, then Georgetown got even with a 70-61 win on Jan. 28 in Chicago. The winner of this rubber match earns a quarterfinal date with third-seeded Villanova on Thursday.
The Blue Demons (16-15) finished over .500 for the first time since 2018-19. They also earned their highest Big East tournament seed since joining the league in 2005.
Despite the improvement, the Blue Demons capped their regular season with double-digit home losses against Villanova and Butler that prompted a players-only meeting. Presumably, much of the discussion revolved around offense as they did not score more than 72 points any of in their final 13 games.
C.J. Gunn averages 13.3 points this season, but he shot 34 of 106 (32.1%) over his final nine games. Layden Blocker, who scored 25 in last year’s tournament game against Creighton, averages 10.9 points this year while shooting 36% from the field. That includes two 1-of-11 showings in the last five games.
Senior big man NJ Benson finished by averaging 11.7 points and 7.6 rebounds. He had six double-doubles and ended the regular season with 24 points against Butler.
“There’s always excitement going into the conference tournament,” said DePaul coach Chris Holtmann. “Our guys are a pretty resilient group, and they’ve got a good way about them right now. They were disappointed they didn’t get the five seed and the bye. Being the six seed, I think they feel good about that.”
Georgetown’s second season under coach Ed Cooley ended with a 71-67 loss to DePaul in the opening round last year. The Hoyas (14-17) were picked sixth in the preseason poll, but finished under .500 for the fourth time in five seasons.
Georgetown lost seven straight before eking out an 80-79 victory over Providence on Saturday.
Georgetown lost 11 of 17 conference games by single digits, including a two-point loss to UConn on Jan. 17 and a three-point loss at St. John’s on March 3.
In Saturday’s win, 7-foot-1 senior Vince Iwuchukwu led the Hoyas with a career-high 25 points while Kayvaun Mulready added 12 after leading the team in scoring the previous two games.
“This game was clearly indicative, and we were fortunate today just to get a win, the win that we needed,” Cooley said. “Looking forward to going to New York and facing DePaul.”
The Hoyas are playing their fourth game since losing leading scorer KJ Lewis (14.9 ppg) to an ankle injury. They hope to see Malik Mack produce a similar showing to his 7-of-13 performance against St. John’s.
–Larry Fleisher, Field Level Media
