Big East Basketball Power Rankings: Seton Hall, Villanova leap ahead

DePaul picked up its first win of conference play in dominating fashion as it defended its home court with a 13-point victory over Butler. This was a very impressive result as the Blue Demons got to the free-throw line at will and put together arguably their best shooting performance of the season with 25-for-32 (78.1%) at the charity stripe and 10-for-17 (58.8%) from three. Butler simply had no answer for their hot shooting and aggressive takes to the rim.

With that said, though, the Blue Demons then turned around and suffered a 15-point loss to Creighton. Inconsistency has really hurt DePaul throughout the past two weeks and that explains why the team now sits at just 1-5 in conference play. NCAA Tournament hopes are still alive for the Blue Demons thanks to their high-quality wins but four of their next six games will come on the road.

The big key for DePaul moving forward will be regaining its prowess on the defensive end of the floor. The team ranked quite highly in adjusted defensive efficiency through the first two months of the season but is exhibiting the second-worst mark in the Big East since the beginning of conference play. Teams are working possessions late into the shot-clock and consistently finding great looks.

Even though the Blue Demons rank tops in the conference in block rate (18.1%), they are sending their opponents to the free-throw line a lot, giving up a ton of 3-pointers, and are allowing assists on 65.7% of made field goals.