DePaul Blue Demons: 3 Points on Loss at George Washington

DePaul’s lack of discipline buried it early in a 81-68 loss at George Washington on Thursday. Facing a team that returns several starters with NCAA Tournament experience, the young DePaul squad was overwhelmed. Mental mistakes effectively ended the game by halftime, but a late run allowed the Blue Demons to make the score look a lot closer than the game was. Here are three keys that led to the 13 point loss.

1. Poor Shot Selection

After trading baskets early, the wheels fell off for DePaul when Myke Henry committed his second foul. With the Blue Demons’ leading scorer on the bench, George Washington quickly stretched its lead out to five points. Falling behind by more than a possession seemed to send DePaul into a panic.

The Blue Demons’ guards stopped making any attempt to look inside, instead settling for deep 3-pointers. DePaul shot 3-for-12 from beyond the 3-point line in the first half, and fell behind by 20 points. Highly touted sophomore center Tommy Hamilton IV, who entered tonight’s contest averaging 15 points per game, didn’t make his first field goal until the 14:24 mark in the second half.

2. Turnovers

Turnovers plagued DePaul all night. The team committed 19 turnovers, five more than its season average. On the opposite end of the court, DePaul only generated 15 despite utilizing a full-court press for most of the second half. George Washington used minimal pressure, but managed to effectively trap DePaul players in uncomfortable positions to generate turnovers.

Several Blue Demon turnovers came off of botched transition opportunities. The team would collect a defensive rebound or force a turnover of its own, only to lob a pass out of reach of the player waiting for an easy transition bucket. After falling behind, DePaul sped up its pace in an effort to make up the deficit as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, this wound up digging the Blue Demons into a bigger hole.

3. Failure to Protect the Paint

It’s unusual for a team to spend most of the night losing by 20 despite allowing just three made 3-point attempts. DePaul did just that, largely because George Washington players spent the night taking easy shots, finishing the night shooting 57.1% from the field. George Washington guard Patricio Garino shot 8-for-9 on the night. Seven of those shots were layups that came after Garino beat his man and nobody provided help defense.

More from Big East

• Big East Basketball: Ranking all head coaches going into 2023-24 season
• St. John’s Basketball: Top-100 commit Jaiden Glover part of future guard core
• Xavier Basketball: Impact of potential losses of Zach Freemantle and Jerome Hunter
• UConn Basketball: Projected starting lineup and depth chart for 2023-24 season
• Villanova Basketball: Projected starting lineup and depth chart for 2023-24 season

Even when DePaul did its job of keeping the driving guards from getting off a good shot, the team struggled to box out George Washington’s bigs. The Blue Demons allowed 11 offensive rebounds. George Washington forward Kevin Larsen, who collected four of the Colonials’ offensive boards, converted three of them into layups while going 1-for-2 from the line after being fouled on the fourth. DePaul’s young post players tried to secure rebounds using their athleticism, rather than basketball fundamentals, and paid for it by allowing easy second-chance opportunities.

Outlook

DePaul fans came into tonight feeling optimistic following a 6-1 start, but a veteran George Washington squad showed that the Blue Demons are still a long way from being an NCAA Tournament team. While the team has some nice talent, Big East play will be a huge struggle without eliminating most of the mental mistakes that were on display tonight. If early returns are any indication, conference play will have the Blue Demons facing The loss would’ve been even uglier if not for a late run by DePaul and an atrocious 14-for-27 free throw shooting night from George Washington.