PROVIDENCE, R.I. – If DePaul is going to make the kind of jump in the Big East they may be capable of this season, they’ll have to finish games better than they did on Saturday night at Providence. The Blue Demons may have won the game, but they went from dominating the early minutes of the second half to a so-so stretch in the final minutes where at one point Providence got the lead back into single digits and made the final score of 83-73 look respectable.
The first half was a tight ballgame, played within a nine-point window until the final seconds. Then it was all DePaul for the first ten minutes of the second half as they scored the first six points and eventually ran the lead as high as 22. Then they relaxed, and after both teams were stuck for a while, Providence got a rally going to eventually get within single digits and make it a ballgame.
“We were getting a little comfortable and relaxing out there,” said forward Cleveland Melvin. “We’ve just got to be ready for the next game, because if we’re up like that teams are going to press us and try to get back into the game.”
While the Blue Demons acknowledged the need to finish better, they also took the positive of a win, especially since they bounced back from a tough 73-72 home loss to Seton Hall in the Big East opener several nights earlier, one they should have had. Head coach Oliver Purnell was happy that they were able to turn the page from that game.
“We don’t want to get too critical when you get a solid, sound, not-in-doubt win,” said Purnell.
DePaul has clearly taken on a Big East identity to go with playing as Purnell likes to. They press and trap, and against Providence they forced 23 turnovers, but they also played a very physical game against Providence. The Blue Demons go nine deep, the kind of depth needed to play the way Purnell wants to, and all nine have started a game this season.
Only one senior on DePaul plays significant minutes, so this team is certainly on its way toward a potentially good jump next year. The core of this team is the junior trio of Melvin, Young and Kirk, with the former two spending the first two years together in Rosemont and Kirk transferring in from Miami. They have gone from seven wins in Purnell’s first season to 12 last season, and Saturday night’s win was their tenth of this season. The next step is translating that into finishing outside of the cellar in the Big East, where they have been the past two seasons, and making a jump.
The signs they can do that appear to be there. DePaul is now 4-0 in true road games, a sign of how this team is maturing. None have come against NCAA Tournament locks, but a few haven’t been against bad teams, either, and it’s not a bad start before they have to take on tougher teams in conference play.
“There’s no way that that group, as freshmen, could win four in a row on the road at Arizona State, at Auburn, at Providence,” said Purnell. “They didn’t understand what it took. This group does have an understanding, led by that core group.”
Purnell said he often talks to those core players to address the team, so it’s clear he sees them as the ones who should lead this team. Melvin, who bounced back from a couple of bad games to score a game-high 23 points on 10-18 shooting and grab nine rebounds on Saturday, said growing into that role is an ongoing process for all of them.
Besides the three core players, Purnell is trying to find two more consistent players to start. He’s used seven different starting lineups through the first 15 games, with Melvin and Young starting all 15 and Kirk starting 14. Injuries have played a role, as Jamee Crockett missed four games with a knee injury and Charles McKinney also missed a game.
DePaul is showing signs of making a move up, with some of them present on Saturday night. Purnell noted that they ended the first half well and picked up right where they left off in the second half. If they are going to make a good leap out of the cellar, however, they must finish better than they did on Saturday, because some teams might make them pay and they might not be able to build up such a big lead against them.
