After surrendering second-half leads in six of its previous seven losses, it was looking like deja vu all over again for DePaul on Saturday at No. 21 Xavier.
A 13-point lead before the break had turned into a five-point deficit afterward. But the Blue Demons found a way, even with just seven scholarship players available, to flip their familiar script in a 69-65 upset of the Musketeers.
Wednesday in Chicago, DePaul (11-10, 2-9 Big East) will host a team looking for a breakthrough of its own. Georgetown (6-15, 0-10) has lost a program-record 11 straight games.
DePaul’s victory over Xavier came despite the continued absence of Big East scoring leader Javon Freeman-Liberty (21.1 points per game), who has missed five games with a groin injury, and Javan Johnson, who has a hand injury.
The shortfall in the backcourt gave reserve Courvoisier McCauley a greater role and he delivered 21 points, including seven in a 13-0 run in the second half that gave the Blue Demons the lead for good.
“We have to score the basketball and not individually or one-on-one,” DePaul coach Tony Stubblefield said. “Sharing the ball, executing the ball, passing the ball to the open guy. That’s the way we really can be successful.”
By Tuesday, there was no update on the status of Freeman-Liberty, who tweeted on Sunday his return would be “real soon, I promise.”
The Hoyas’ latest loss came Sunday against No. 15 Providence. Aminu Mohammed scored 18 points but the rest of the Hoyas went a combined 9 of 38 (23.7 percent) from the floor, including 3 of 21 (14.3 percent) on 3-pointers. They also committed 19 turnovers.
Georgetown led early in the second half but surrendered a career shooting performance to Providence’s Jared Bynum (32 points), who oddly enough played high school basketball 20 minutes away at Georgetown Prep.
“We’re going through a tough time,” said Georgetown coach Patrick Ewing. “They have to stay focused. At some point we have to get our first Big East win and after that we’ll take it from there.”
Georgetown won the lone meeting last year, 68-60, and leads the series 33-11.
– Field Level Media
