PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Early in Thursday night’s game, a Providence fan yelled to the DePaul bench a comment about winning a Big East game. The Blue Demons haven’t done that often, especially on the road, but on Thursday night they did just that with a 79-76 win over the struggling Friars, their first Big East road win since 2008.
The win breaks a couple of big streaks that the Blue Demons were on the wrong side of. They had lost 25 straight Big East games before Thursday night, and had lost 29 in a row on the road. They had not won a game at all in 2011.
Not only have the Blue Demons had a tough time winning, but they haven’t been close often. Only six of their losses have been decided by single digits, and on six occasions they have lost by 20 or more points.
This DePaul team entered the night winless in Big East play on the season, but if their performance in this game is any indication, it’s not from a lack of effort. This team looks scrappy, active at both ends and has a couple of young players to try to build around. They aren’t the most talented team around, and that’s something first-year head coach Oliver Purnell will attempt to rectify in time, but talent alone doesn’t win games, it only helps. Getting wins will help, too.
“It was good for our guys,” Purnell said. “They’ve been playing better and better for the last four or five ballgames, and it’s nice to have an affirming event like a win to show them that they’re actually playing better.”
The players’ reaction to Thursday night? They were a little happy, as you might imagine.
“It’s a party in there,” said junior guard Jeremiah Kelly. “We’ve worked so hard all year. We’ve got the right pieces and the right coach. We’ve been pushing and fighting, but didn’t close a lot of games. Not only did we get a win, but we got one on the road.”
The Blue Demons have a long way to go, as there is plenty of room for improvement at the end of the floor where effort counts the most. Opponents shoot nearly 49 percent from the floor against the Blue Demons, who are also out-rebounded by more than six per game. They are last in the Big East in both stat categories by far. The upshot is that they are forcing turnovers to the tune of 15.6 per game, but it hasn’t been enough to overcome the other deficiencies.
Cleveland Melvin and Brandon Young give Purnell a couple of players to build around. Young had 17 points on 7-12 shooting on Thursday, but also had nine turnovers. Melvin leads the team in scoring and is second in rebounding, and had 20 points on Thursday. He is an active combo forward who should be at home in Purnell’s system, playing a little like James Mays did for Purnell at Clemson.
“He’ll be that way on the ball,” the DePaul mentor said of Melvin. “He’s a freshman who’s going to be pretty good.”
Moses Morgan has also impressed at times, but played just 12 minutes on Thursday night. The veteran leader on the team is Kelly, who led the Blue Demons with 23 points and had six steals, and was in on most big plays down the stretch. Not known for his shooting, he was 4-7 from long range on the night, including a big three-pointer with 57 seconds left that put the Blue Demons up by four and set the stage for his four free throws to seal it in the final minute, although the Friars had a chance to win that was ended by a turnover.
“He was the leader out there tonight,” Purnell said of Kelly. “He was vocal, led with his play, led with his aggressiveness. He had six steals, so he led defensively as well.”
Purnell is known for pressing and trapping, and although it’s debatable whether or not he has the bodies to do it most effectively now, he has put that system in place. Players have been learning it, and they like it since it’s part of playing the game at a fast pace. The Blue Demons didn’t press much on Thursday because of the matchup, knowing that Providence also likes to press and can play at that speed. Purnell noted that the few times they did press, Providence broke it and scored, so there wasn’t much incentive to stay with it.
“The system is in,” said Purnell. “We felt like coming on the road against a team that’s as good in the open court as any in the league, we don’t want to give them a chance to get easy baskets early and get it going on their home court.”
The Blue Demons are showing signs that in a couple of years, they will be winning games. That’s how Purnell has done it in his career, with gradual improvement both by his players individually and by his teams on the bottom line. The young talent has promise, and as Kelly noted, they’ll need to take important steps next year to keep improving. Although it’s hardly a primary motivation, they will want to make sure opposing fans have no basis on which to yell out to them anything about winning Big East games.
