DePaul basketball got swept by the Xavier Musketeers in their regular season series after losing on the road 85-68 at the Cintas Center.
C.J. Gunn led the Blue Demons with 16 points, 3 rebounds, and 2 assists.
He shot 7-12 (58.3%) from the field, 2-2 from the line and 0-4 from beyond the arc.
Xavier was led by Zach Freemantle, who scored 19 points and 9 rebounds while shooting 7-11 (63.6%) overall, 4-4 at the line, and 1-2 (50%) from downtown. He capped off a monstrous performance from the Musketeers starting five.
Here are three key takeaways from the loss.
Takeaway #1: Inconsistent perimeter shooting
DePaul basketball’s shooting woes continued. Like their recent loss to Marquette, the Blue Demons have shot under 25% from downtown (DePaul shot 16.7% from beyond the arc while shooting 4-24 against the Golden Eagles). Against Xavier, the team shot 7-29 (24.1%) and saw multiple poor-quality shots.
The only player for the Blue Demons who scored more than once from long range was freshman forward Theo Pierre-Justin, who saw more playing time than normal.
Against Xavier, Pierre-Justin scored 8 points and 3 rebounds while shooting 3-7 (42.9%) from the floor and 2-6 (33.3%) from beyond the arc.
DePaul basketball’s shooting slumps have continued for weeks on end and these last few games have seen them struggle mightily from downtown.
In last year’s team with former head coach and now Oregon Ducks assistant Tony Stubblefield, the roster saw several players who were some of the best perimeter shooters available in the transfer portal at that time. Like now, the team suffered shooting woes as the conference schedule continued toward the homestretch.
This is an ongoing issue that still is a work in progress to fix.
Takeaway #2: The Five Musketeers
All but 10 of the team’s 85 points against DePaul basketball came from the starting lineup for Xavier. Freemantle led the way, and he was joined by Dailyn Swain (17 points), Ryan Conwell (14 points), Dayvion McKnight (14 points), and Marcus Foster (11 points).
The team could do no wrong, scoring at will from everywhere except beyond the three-point line. The Musketeers’ starting lineup shot 27-42 (64.3%) overall and 14-20 (70%) from the line.
However, they did struggle from the distance, shooting a combined 3-9 (33.3%). Collectively, the Musketeers shot 4-15 (26.7%) from downtown against DePaul basketball.
Takeaway #3: DePaul basketball fared mostly well at the glass
Despite losing N.J. Benson for today’s game, the Blue Demons performed well in the rebounding battle. Overall, the team was only outrebounded 29-30 by Xavier.
Offensively, DePaul basketball tripled the production at the glass against the Musketeers, outrebounding them 9-3 offensively. The team saw good hustle and effort from J.J. Traynor, Layden Blocker, and Isaiah Rivera who each collected a pair of offensive rebounds.
Defensively, the team needs to work on protecting the rim. Against the Musketeers, the Blue Demons collected 20 rebounds compared to Xavier’s 27 boards defensively.
David Skogman performed the best on the defensive glass for DePaul, collecting a quartet of defensive rebounds.
The Musketeers dominated the defensive boards with Freemantle (8 defensive rebounds) and Swain (6 defensive rebounds) leading the way.
This loss was a stinger for the Blue Demons, however, there were positives to be seen in this game. They’ll take those, as well as improvements made during practice onto their next opponents in the schedule.
Next up for DePaul basketball (11-15, 2-13): vs. St. John’s (21-4, 12-2) – Feb. 19 at 8 p.m. CST
Next up for Xavier basketball (16-10, 8-7): v.s Butler (11-13, 4-9) – Feb. 18 at 7 p.m. CST