After missing out on the NCAA Tournament every season since the 2003-04 campaign, DePaul has gone all in to create a squad worthy of this year’s 76-team field.
The Blue Demons broke ground on a $50 million practice facility. They increased their NIL outlay significantly. They built a tougher non-conference slate that has included an 82-80 win against South Florida on Thursday and will continue with games against Northwestern, Purdue, Pitt, SMU and Saint Louis.
But another important piece in the NET Rankings puzzle is finding a way to punish Quad 4 foes. That will be the task on Monday night when DePaul (2-0) meets Alabama A&M (2-0) in Chicago.
Third-year Blue Demons coach Chris Holtmann has been trying to figure out DePaul’s best combinations as he mixes his three healthy returnees — Layden Blocker, Fabian Flores and Kruz McClure — with his six transfers.
In DePaul’s early wins over West Georgia and USF, the offense appeared to flow most easily with Arizona State transfer Noah Meeusen at the controls. He delivered 11 points, eight assists and seven rebounds off the bench against West Georgia, so he was rewarded with the start against USF and provided 13 points and seven assists. That’s 15 assists vs. one turnover in 65 minutes.
“We’re just a lot better when he’s been on the floor offensively,” Holtmann said. “He’s got to get better defensively.”
Meeusen’s move into the lineup sent McClure to the bench. But McClure still made an impact as he scored a team-high 18 points by living at the free-throw line (9 of 10). More importantly to Holtmann, who considered McClure a work in progress last season defensively, he helped slow USF’s hot shooters down the stretch.
“(Layden) and Kruz, those are the two guys right now we trust the most defensively on the perimeter,” Holtmann said.
Alabama A&M opened its season with a 33-point home win over NAIA Oakwood last Monday and a 103-47 victory Friday against Division III Mississippi University for Women. (The school has a male enrollment of about 20%.)
Alabama A&M coach Donte’ Jackson split the playing time relatively equally among 11 players in those games. Returnees Jalen Carruth, who is averaging 16 points per game, and Sami Pissis (15.5 ppg, 5 assists per game) lead the way while Coastal Carolina transfer Devin Brown averages 15 points, 10.5 rebounds, 1.5 blocks and 2.5 steals.
“We’re a lot bigger and a lot tougher,” Jackson told the Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook before season started. “I don’t know if we’ll shoot it and score it as good as we did in the past, but I think we’ll be able to defend it at a high level, which I love.”