BIG EAST GAME PREVIEW: SHU LOOKS TO EXTEND WIN STREAK AT DEPAUL

February 10, 2009


Will DePaul win a Big East game this season? Tonight might be their best opportunity when Seton Hall visits Allstate Arena. If the Blue Demons were to play the Pirates, this might be the best time to do so. Seton Hall is coming off a hard-fought road win over rival Rutgers, 65-60, on Sunday and has a quick turnaround to play DePaul. SHU is not a deep team, playing six players for the most part, and this will be their third game in a six-day span.

DePaul is coming off a 92-69 home loss to Pittsburgh. At times, the Blue Demons looked ok, but they could not sustain good play for stretches and had no answer in the paint for DeJuan Blair.


Here are some pregame stories and previews on tonight’s game found on the web:

DePaul’s Jabari Currie Done for the Season (Chicago Tribune)
Blue Demons Still Searching for Big East Win (Courier News)

So, will DePaul win a Big East game this season? The odds of a team, with some talent like the Blue Demons, going 0-18 in the Big East are long, but if anyone can do it, DePaul looks like a perfect candidate. They are already well on their way, being swept by USF in a home and away series and losing to Rutgers and St. John’s by double digits. They have lost their last four games by an average of 20 points, including the last two at home, by 15 to Marquette and 23 to Pittsburgh on Saturday. Now, Seton Hall, who has won four in a row, will pay a visit as DePaul looks to salvage something in this three-game home stand.

Seton Hall, a 2 ½-point favorite on the road, started Big East play 0-6, but has turned the ship around winning four straight. While the wins have come against the bottom of the Big East with two over Rutgers (1-10 in the Big East) and victories against St. John’s (3-8) and Georgetown (4-7), teams with a combined conference mark of 9-35, SHU seems to have separated themselves from that pack. Now, they look to make 0-11 DePaul their next victim.

Everyone knows SHU is not deep, especially in the frontcourt where gimpy John Garcia guts his way through games, but DePaul is not very deep either. The starting line-up for SHU is definitely talented, sometimes inconsistent and prone to curious decision-making and shot selection, but they love to pull teams into a playground-type of frenzied play. DePaul’s biggest problem, one stretching Jerry Wainwright’s entire tenure in Lincoln Park, has been the inability of their point guards to control the pace and dictate the game. If they fail to do so tonight, they could be run out of their own building, once again.

DePaul has some talent, led by sophomore’s Dar Tucker and Mac Koshwal, but the drop-off to the rest of the team is steep. Outside of Will Walker, their top duo has little help at all. That line-up can not get it done in the Big East.

Seton Hall, playing better, is a 2 1/2-point favorite on the road…’nuff said.

NBE Blogger Preview:

Seton Hall 76
DePaul 67