DePaul basketball wins their sixth game in a row, defeating the Northern Illinois Huskies 98-52.
Sophomore guard Layden Blocker made a return to Wintrust Arena after missing the previous game against Eastern Illinois with a thigh contusion.
In his return, he scored a team leading 21 points and logging in eight rebounds, two assists, and one steal. He also shot 8-13 (61.5%) overall and 3-5 (60%) from beyond the arc. This led to him winning the Jay Goedert Memorial Award, which is given to the best player in every game between the Blue Demons and Huskies.
Redshirt junior guard Conor Enright was a key player in multiple categories. He scored 13 points, seven rebounds, four assists, and one steal. This came while shooting 5-6 (83.3%) from the field and 3-3 (100%) from long distance shots.
Graduate transfer guard Isaiah Rivera struggled, only scoring five points while shooting 2-7 (28.5%) overall and 0-4 (0%) from the three-point line.
After this win, DePaul basketball improves to a 6-0 record, still on top of the Big East. Meanwhile, the Huskies drop to 2-4, still among the worst in the Mid-American Conference (MAC).
This 98-52 victory also marks the highest scoring game for the Blue Demons in regulation since Feb. 27, 2022, when the team defeated the St. John’s Red Storm 99-94 in the 2021-2022 season.
Takeaway #1: The team improved in attacking the basket from last time
Against the Eastern Illinois Panthers, the DePaul basketball only scored 16 points in the paint, most of, if not all of their scoring came from beyond the arc.
This time around, the team flipped the switch, outscoring the Huskies in the paint 42-18, with most of the contributions coming from graduate transfer forward David Skogman and junior forward N.J. Benson. Skogman himself was attacking the basket with heavy aggression, scoring seven points and 11 rebounds. He forced the opponents to foul him in the paint which led to three of his seven points coming from the charity strike.
26 of the team’s points in the paint came from the first half alone, with Benson getting six points and five rebounds in the first half.
When asked about the team’s performance in the paint, DePaul basketball head coach Chris Holtmann talked about the change in focus during practice. ”
Takeaway #2: It’s good to have Layden Blocker back
With Blocker back in the rotation, DePaul basketball got back to more of their fast paced offense we’ve seen them utilize before the game against Eastern Illinois.
Sure the box score looks nice, but what it doesn’t tell you is how he commanded the offense. Throughout the game, whenever he had the ball, the offense kicked it into overdrive and the pace suddenly got faster than earlier points in the game let alone the offensive drives.
There were also multiple moments where he indirectly or directly forced a turnover, such as when he leaped out for a steal and then ran down the court for a coast-to-coast layup or kicking it out to the corner to sophomore guard Jacob Meyer for a three. Meyer ended the night with 14 points and four rebounds while shooting 5-10 (50%) from the field and 4-5 (80%) from long range.
When asked about the recovery process, Blocker described it as good.
“It was very good,” Blocker said during the postgame press conference. “You know, as soon as I got injured during the game I went to the back and I got right on, like, the machines and stuff and ice just to keep the swelling down. Basically, I took a lot of this week, actually, just to recover in, you know my knee right. And it’s been a pretty good recovery process.”
Takeaway #3: Some minor improvements, but continue to clean up the turnovers
Parts of their turnovers came after the Huskies implemented a full court press during various parts of the game. When asked about their ability to fight the press, Holtmann said that he and the coaching staff need to spend some time working on the fundamentals of that aspect.
“I think that’s something we’ve got to get better at, for sure,” Holtmann said. “Attacking the press, I think that’s the biggest thing is we’ve got to get better at attacking the press. We had two passes that we didn’t meet that they stole. I just think that some of the fundamental stuff right now we’ve got to spend sometime working on that as a coaching staff.”
Previously against the Panthers, DePaul basketball allowed 17 turnovers which led to 21 points off of turnovers for their opponents. This time, the Blue Demons cleaned it up a bit, only allowing 11 turnovers which led to 14 points for the Huskies.
Benson and Enright were the only players on the team to have more than one turnover, each man having a pair. A stark difference to the Panthers game where four Blue Demons had three turnovers with Skogman, Enright, Rivera, and Troy D’Amico having a trio each.
There’s only one game left at home before their first road game against the Texas Tech Red Raiders, and this feels like a return to form for DePaul basketball compared to their previous game.
Next up for DePaul (6-0): vs. Valparaiso (2-2) — Nov. 29 at 12:30 p.m. CST (1:30 pm. EST)
Next up for Northern Illinois (2-4): vs. Valparaiso (2-2) — Nov. 27 at 3 p.m. CST (4 p.m. EST)