DePaul Struggles against USF Zone

The Blue Demons struggled shooting from the outside in a 75-59 defeat at Allstate Arena on Sunday afternoon.

The Blue Demons were colder than the January temperatures outside.

DePaul (10-9, 1-6) shot a paltry 16.7% from beyond the arc. Sophomore guard Brandon Young went an uncharacteristic 0-13 from the field.

“I thought that our inability to score and make shots was probably a major downfall in the course of the game,” said DePaul coach Oliver Purnell. “Brandon obviously was not very good from the outside or going to the basket. Moses (Morgan) and Brandon struggled mightily.”

DePaul freshman Jamee Crockett poured in 17 points off the bench.

“It’s a team game,” said Crockett. “It’s not one person who carries us on their back. Yeah, (Brandon) had an off game, but that’s no excuse for us to lose.”

“I just felt we needed to give them some different looks,” said South Florida coach Stan Heath. “We went back and forth on two different zone defenses. I think at least it took the wind out of their sails a little bit. It stopped them from being so aggressive.”

USF (12-8, 5-2) was particularly strong on the interior. Gus Gilchrist led all scorers with a season-high 22 points. Jawanza Poland was a sparkplug adding 19 points off the bench.

The Bulls are a much improved team this season, USF’s Heath sees DePaul as being not that far behind.

“They are better,” Heath said of the Blue Demons. “They play very hard. The just need one more guy who can give them something scoring-wise and get things going. I think they are making progress, they are getting better players. They are getting talent. We had to go through the same thing.”

Cleveland Melvin scored 17 points and corralled seven rebounds in the losing effort for the Blue Demons.

The Blue Demons next go on the road to Rutgers on Wednesday night at 6 p.m. Central.

Box Score

Recruiting Notes:

- Chris Obekpa, a 6-9 senior center from Our Savior New American in New York and Durrell McDonald, a 6-2 senior combo guard from Henderson, Nevada were both on DePaul’s campus this weekend for official visits.