dePAUL GAME THREAD

[muskieman]

Saturday, January 11
Wintrust Arena Chicago, Ill.
4 p.m. ET

TV/Stream: FS1 with play-by-play from Noah Reed and analysis from Jordan Taylor.
Xavier Radio: 55KRC also available on the Varsity Network and on Sirius XM.

DePaul University Blue Demons, 9-7 overall and 0-5 in the BIG EAST. lAST GAME FOR DEPAUL WAS Wednesday, when they fell in overtime at Seton Hall 85-80. CJ Gunn led DePaul with 21 points, which included a career-high five made three-pointers and four rebounds. Troy D'Amico had one of his best games of the season, with 18 points with four made three-pointers. DePaul tallied 13 made three-pointers DePaul is 7-8 all-time against Xavier at home

3 out of the next 4 games are on the road, including tomorrow's game road then X plays Villanova at Cintas on Jan 14, then road trips to 2 teams that beat X at Cintas in Marquette on the 18th, and then St Johns on Jan 22 (My birthday) normally they win on my birthday and this year is a special one as the MM hits the 3 quarters mark and I want a W.

We could use Quincey's 43 points like last year in Chicago

[skyhops]

Coach Miller indicated changes are coming? What changes can possibly be made to make this situation better?

[Kevin Reilly]

Maybe Fletcher and Hugley play more. I believe Swain didn't start last game. Maybe Foster to the bench and Swain back in the line up. Maybe Conwell to the bench. He looked to me like he wasn't playing hard enough.

[Kevin Reilly]

Anyone know why Freemantle didn't start? The team doesn't look very motivated. Swain with two early fouls and poor defense. Poor start for us.

[Kevin Reilly]

We should be feeding Freemantle more. DePaul can't cover him. Swain is invisible. Conwell doesn't seem right. Maddox is looking good.

[muskieman]

[ChitownSteve]

Coach Miller indicated changes are coming? What changes can possibly be made to make this situation better?

Attended yesterday’s game with the family (daughter and son both X grads, wife and I DePaul grads). While daughter also now works for DePaul, all rooted for the Musketeers and granddaughter in her X cheerleader uniform. X fandom was well-represented at the Wintrust Arena. To date, yesterday was the 2nd largest crowd drawn for the Season at 5,711; 2068 more than the average preceding the game. Largest crowd was for UConn on New Year’s Day at 6,501.

As for the above question, one thing my son and I noticed is Coach Miller had a very short leash for mistakes. Specifically, Conwell, Hunter and Maddox were quickly benched after each made a mistake. While that may not be necessarily new to those of you who see X in person more often, the quickness in which he turned to the bench to call for substitutions was notable. Hunter left Dante hanging when he came to the bench and Dante made him come back and sit near him.

As for the another posted question on Freemantle not starting, all I can posit is that Hunter is a better match-up against Benson, the current starting Center for DePaul. Zach is a better match-up against Skogman, the previous starting Blue Demon Center, who saw action and is still hampered by a leg injury he sustained in late-December.

[longliveskip]

we did what we were supposed to do vs. these guys. yes, started a little slow but our defensive energy was really stellar up until about 3 minutes left. they had 40 points with like 3-4 min to go but game was out of reach so i get why we laid off a bit and they scored some points. we are who are offensively. we aren't going to score 80. we have to keep teams below 70 if we want to be in the game. we did that. otherwise, we have to have a tremendous night shooting the ball - like we did vs UConn - to be in the game. Hugley played his best game of the year, I thought. Freemantle is just Mr. Double Double.

have to get a full 40 minutes of defensive effort vs the top half of the BE to be competitive.

this week gonna be tough. Nova at home. Dixon is playing like a POY in the BE candidate. then at Marquette. gotta get one of them.

[skyhops]

Agree with Miller having a quick hook. A few times he yanked out Swain for not boxing out, which unfortunately happens way too often with Swain. Maddox seems to get the quick hook and then when he goes back in usually plays tight. I'll take the win against anyone at this point, but they just don't play composed in last five minutes of the game, which is concerning with McKnight being a veteran. Swain and Foster starting at the three and four is just not going to cut it vs good teams.

[Kevin Reilly]

Miller does have a quick hook. Not for everyone but for guys not playing defense. Not sure I agree that Hunter is a better option than Freemantle even for defense. Last year Miller showed little if any patience with Ousmane, Nzeh. Ducharme, Craft, and Ciani. No surprise they all left. Oh yeah Nemeiksa too.