DePaul Basketball is starting to enter special territory as a team this season. The win over Texas Tech has only increased the noise for the Blue Demons.
DePaul Basketball in 2019-20 has a very different vibe around them as compared to recent Blue Demon squads. Winning often fixes most problems and this year’s Blue Demons look to officially be ushering in a new era of DePaul basketball or as head coach Dave Leitao cleverly remarked, exorcising “the demons of the past”.
The first half of Wednesday’s Texas Tech Red Raiders-DePaul Blue Demons matchup played out pretty much exactly how you would expect a slugfest between two top-50 defenses (via KenPom) to play out. In the opening half, both teams shot 36% from the field. Texas Tech shot 30% from 3-point range while DePaul basketball mustered a woeful 20% effort from 3. The Red Raiders’ edge in perimeter and free throw shooting (5-for-5) is ultimately what fueled their 3-point halftime lead.
DePaul basketball senior Jalen Coleman-Lands hit what appeared to be an impressive buzzer-beating 3-pointer at the end of the half that was promptly waved off by the referees. Though the shot didn’t count, it would ultimately be a sign of things to come.
The second half was more of the same, albeit with a bit more offensive pop. DePaul and Texas Tech again had near-identical field goal percentages. The Red Raiders and Blue Demons both shot 42% in the second half, but DePaul was able to take advantage of their stellar defense and some timely shot-making down the stretch of what turned out to be a thrilling game.
Texas Tech guard Davide Moretti—who had not missed a free throw all season—missed his second free throw on a two-shot foul call that led to the aforementioned Coleman-Lands coming up with a huge 3-point shot to send the game to OT.
Whether or not they knew it, the Blue Demons came into this game as 1.5 underdogs by many sportsbooks. This is despite Texas Tech being without arguably their best player in five-star freshman Jahmi’us Ramsey and DePaul having homecourt advantage and an 8-0 record.
One thing for certain, after a big win over a solid Red Raiders squad that has led to the best DePaul basketball start since the 1986-87 season (16-0), the ’20 Blue Demons have officially arrived. Here are our takeaways from DePaul’s comeback win.