Irish hold off Demons
The future was staring DePaul in the face Sunday late in the second half of a comeback attempt against Notre Dame.
Assuming the future is about next season.
The immediate future looks ominous for the Blue Demons after a 98-91 loss to No. 17 Notre Dame, which secured a first-round bye in the Big East tournament in New York.
''We shot ourselves in the foot again, and I put that on me,'' Draelon Burns said after his last home game. ''The freshmen stepped up for us, but it didn't go our way in the end.''
It hasn't all season for a DePaul team (10-18, 5-11) that finds itself in a three-way battle to win the final spot in the conference tournament March 12 with only two games left. The Demons, who've won just once in the last 10 games, have road games left at Cincinnati and Pittsburgh this week.
DePaul had a one-game tourney advantage over St. John's and Providence going into Sunday's matinee at Allstate Arena, but Providence won in overtime at Cincinnati, leaving all three with identical records. If it stays that way, DePaul will win the spot through the tiebreaker process. But if the Demons wind up in a two-way tie, they'll have the advantage over only Providence.
Providence has games left at No. 15 Connecticut on Thursday and at home against Villanova on Saturday. St. John's is at Notre Dame on Wednesday and at West Virginia on Saturday.
''We need to talk and put in everyone's head [to see] if we want it as badly as I do,'' Burns said.
DePaul trailed by 28 points before coach Jerry Wainwright turned to his younger players midway through the second half to take over for seniors Burns (nine points), Cliff Clinkscales (eight assists), Karron Clarke (one point, three rebounds) and Wesley Green (eight points, three rebounds). Freshman guard Dar Tucker ignited a comeback try with 28 points, including six three-pointers, and freshman forward Mac Koshwal added 23 points and 10 rebounds.
''Our young crew played without inhibition in the second half, and you never want them to lose that enthusiasm,'' Wainwright said. ''Our kids have great talent -- they just have to work harder. I feel good about where we're headed, but we have to get better and have to get bigger. We've lost too much inside.''
That was apparent against the Fighting Irish (22-6, 12-4), who complement 6-7 sophomore star Luke Harangody (24 points, nine rebounds, three blocks) with 6-9 senior Rob Kurz (21 points, seven rebounds, three blocks) and 6-10 junior Luke Zeller (13 points off the bench) in the post. Kurz and Zeller are the rare big men who can shoot from three-point range as well, and they combined to go 7-for-9 from beyond the arc as the Irish delighted their many fans among the 16,934 (DePaul's largest crowd of the season).
''I thought we did about as good a job as we could on Harangody and we chased Kurz, but good teams find other players to step up,'' Wainwright said. ''I believe Rob Kurz is the most underrated player in the Big East. They're a legitimate top-15 team, and we just don't have enough now to beat them.''
It's the fourth 20-victory campaign for Irish coach Mike Brey, now in his eighth season.
''It's great because we clinch a [first-round] bye for the second year in a row, and in this league, that's something to be proud of,'' he said. ''It was going to be a tough game, and it was probably good for us to have to work.''
But it's the Demons who have their work cut out now.
'''Those four seniors meant a lot to our program, and they were part of two transitions,'' Wainwright said. ''Hopefully we can do something on the road to get them to New York.''
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