BIG EAST GAME PREVIEW: DEPAUL @ SOUTH FLORIDA

January 20, 2009


For the second time in 10 days, DePaul and South Florida will hoop up in a Big East conference match-up. The Blue Demons were humiliated on their home floor in the first meeting, a 80-58 loss to USF. They will try and find some revenge tonight as they try to get their first conference win of the season at the Sun Dome. Tip-off is scheduled for 9 PM.

Here are some pregame stories and previews found on the web today:

Blue Demons and Bulls Face off Tuesday Night (bluedemons.com)
USF Freshman Gus Gilchrist Showing Steady Improvement (St. Pete Times)
USF-DePaul Preview (St. Pete Times)

Just ten short days again, DePaul was thoroughly dominated in every aspect in a humbling 80-58 loss to South Florida. The Bulls came to chilly Chicago and heated up, shooting 52% from the floor and dominating DePaul on the backboards with a 42-24 rebounding edge.

Dominique Jones, who is coming off a 35-point outing in a loss at West Virginia, led USF with 22 points. Jesus Verdejo and Gus Gilchrist had good games on the offensive end and Chris Howard had a flawless floor game, scoring 12 points, handing out 10 assists without a turnover and added 5 rebounds for good measure.

A flawless floor game is something DePaul knows little off as their point guard struggled have continued into the fourth season under Jerry Wainwright. The Bulls rely on the talents of sophomores Dar Tucker and Mac Koshwal, but too often Koshwal is shut out by his own team with their lack of post-game concentration. Will Walker is a capable third scorer, but the Blue Demons are more prone to jack up ill-advised shots without an effort to run an offense.

A team with shooting woes, weak rebounding numbers and the tendency to get beat defensively is not a good formula to win on the road, and Depaul has shown they cant win at home with those shortcomings in the Big East. Still, with the Bulls being competitive in recent games against better clubs and their recent mauling of DePaul on the road, seeing just a 6 1/2 point spread on the game stands out. Still, DePaul needs to prove they can play with someone, especially on the road, where they are apt to lose by double digits more often than not.

NBE Blogger Prediction:

South Florida 66
DePaul 55