BIG EAST GAME PREVIEW: FORMER C-USA RIVALS MEET IN CHICAGO

January 17, 2009


The stumbling, bumbling DePaul Blue Demons take on former Conference USA rival Cincinnati at Allstate Arena on Saturday afternoon. DePaul returns to action after having a week off to absorb the embarrassing 80-58 loss to South Florida from last week. Jerry Wainwright’s seat is hot enough to thaw the city of Chicago currently besieged by bitter cold weather.

The Bearcats earned their first conference win as they rallied from a 16-point first half deficit to beat Rutgers on Wednesday. The Bearcats defense finally found a conference opponent they could slow down and got a victory in a game where they missed 18 consecutive shots at one point.

Devin Hill, DePaul Looking for First Conference Win (Chicago Tribune)
UC’s Williams Flashes Potential (Cincinnati Enquirer)

Cincinnati’s first conference win was hardly a thing of beauty as the Bearcats rallied from a large early hole, one they put themselves into against Rutgers on Wednesday. UC coach Mick Cronin holes it is the first building block for his club.

“It’s always nice to win a game when you miss 18 consecutive shots,” Cronin remarked in this week’s Big East coach’s conference call. “It was a character builder for our team.”

A key development that must continue to present itself is the added offense that Mike Williams has provided of late. Williams has averaged 18 points a game in the last three games, helping to support junior Deonta Vaughn, who has averaged 21 in the same timeframe, and give UC a needed second offensive weapon to prevent teams from putting all their attention on Vaughn.

DePaul is led by the sophomore duo of Dar Tucker and Mac Koshwal. Tucker does his damage attacking the basket on slashing driving while Koshwal is a horse in the paint that will also get up and down the court.

The Blue Demons are not helped by inconsistent point guard play and the lack of consistency from the rest of the roster for Tucker and Koshwal and the Blue Demons are 1-point underdogs on their home court in this one.


NBE Blogger Prediction:

Cincinnati 68
DePaul 63