Joey Pollizze and Scott Phillips discuss DePaul's recent win against Morgan State. We give our thoughts on some players who have been impressive and disappointing to start the season, and wrap up by talking about the start of Big East play.
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Joey Pollizze and Dan Stack recap the first month of the DePaul basketball season. We give our thoughts on freshmen Fabian Flores and Kruz McClure, and discuss the newly approved basketball facility.
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Joey Pollizze and Tom Gorski talk about DePaul's loss to Buffalo, preview the Northwestern game on Friday, and end the episode with a DePaul/Northwestern draft.
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Joey Pollizze and Scott Phillips react to DePaul's opening game victory over Chicago State. They also discuss the recent news of redshirt decisions, as well as looking ahead to Friday's game against Stonehill.
Welcome to the first episode of Blue Demons Banter for the 2025-2026 season. Joey Pollizze and Dan Stack discuss the upcoming season, where DePaul will finish in the Big East, and whether the Blue Demons are poised for another postseason appearance.
Joey and Jon gave their recap of how last season went. DePaul improved so much. They won multiple conference games, won doubled their total wins, swept an opponent for the first time since 2021, won a Big East Conference win, etc. Our team is brand new but we still have familiar faces.
DePaul recruiting was interesting this time around. Holtmann went for more physical and taller players. I love this approach because the Big East is filled with height. Grabbing more experience players was something I like Holtman doing. We have one more spot on our roster. So, it will be interesting who we give that spot to. DePaul summer practice will be in full effect soon. Joey and Jon will have more coverage throughout the summer! Subscribe and follow the podcast!
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DePaul men's basketball has entered playoff basketball. It is a weird sentence to say nowadays. DePaul had an amazing first season under Holtmann. Holtmann doubled their wins from last season, got the Blue Demons multiple Big East conference wins, and swept a team for the first time in conference play since 2021-2022.
Now, it is sad because we lost player to the portal. Jacob Meyer, Connor Enright, and JJ Traynor. JJ and Jacob wasn't surprising due to minutes. Connor entering the portal was shocking. Jon thinks he will go back to his old Drake coach at Indiana University. Crown tournament is a huge opportunity to turn this program around. Winner gets 300,000 in NIL money. Runner up gets 100,000 in NIL money. NCAA adding more scholarship spots gives DePaul a huge opportunity to make a splash on bigger players. Joey and Jon will be back hopefully after a Crown tournament victory. Let's go Blue Demons and attack the portal!
Dan Stack and I hopped on the podcast Sunday. We gave our thoughts about how DePaul has been playing the past couple games. DePaul has created momentum going into the Big East tournament. They play Georgetown to start off their Big East tournament. We have to prepare for hunting rebounds and setting up great shots. Undersized hasn't damage our moral at all. Isaiah and Troy were rebounding the ball a lot during Sunday. The chance of us winning in the Big East tournament is small, but there's hope. Georgetown has done it before. It's all about who plays good within the moment. Holtmann has been in these positions before. Let's get a win blue demons. Huge game tomorrow in the magical garden baby!
What can we say about Villanova? This wasn't a bad loss at all. Defensively we played well, but the Blue Demons couldn't shoot the ball. DePaul shot 41% from the field and 19% from three.
Eric Dixon, best player for Villanova, didn't have a good game against the Blue Demons. A huge plus for the Blue Demons that were able to contain him. Only bad thing is Villanova hit their shots and out rebounded DePaul by six. DePaul forced more turnovers on Villanova. We couldn't create those opportunities in baskets. One thing as a fan we can look at is this stat right here. Eric Dixon performance against DePaul was his worse all season. Lowest points scored in the whole season and worse shooting performance all season.
We got to the free throw line but couldn't convert. The shots we took weren't bad shots. They weren't going down at all. We shot 40% from the free throw line. Overall, this game wasn't a disappointing loss. With everything being bad offensively for DePaul; the score was only a 10 point deficit. The journey doesn't get easier from here. We have to keep up the effort defensively and make shots.
It's hard for a team like DePaul to be without starting guard Connor Enright. Spacing will be challenge for the offense because he opened up the floor so much for shooters. Next man up mentality for the Blue Demons. Next episode will air on Spotify and Apple Music next Wednesday.
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DePaul. started off guns blazing from the field. We went on a 10-0 run to begin the game. Forcing Seton Hall into uncomfortable shots they weren't able to make. As the game progress Seton Hall got more comfortable from the field. Both teams didn't shoot really good from the field, three, and free throw line. DePaul control the boards and handle a lot of second chance opportunities.
It was a good quality win by DePaul. We started slowing down in the second half. Getting obliterated by the press Seton Hall threw at us. Terrible news for DePaul fans, Connor Enright will be out for the remainder of the season. Huge loss for the Blue Demons because that is a loss of a main facilitator. DePaul has a big game against Villanova. Maintain momentum as we get closer to the Big East Tournament.
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Why should be I upset? We won ten games and won a conference game in the last two years. This season has been successful. Here's a couple of problems I have with that. We had multiple opportunities to beat good teams. Uconn, Marquette, Northwestern, Providence, Butler, Texas Tech, and more teams we have battled with throughout the season.
We could be sitting at 16 wins but it's ok. Big East tournament is coming up. Our focus needs to be on that. Also, we need to focus on the games ahead of us. It will help us build momentum going into March.
Our game plan aganist Seton Hall should be simple.
-start off strong
-force 12 or more turnovers
-hit shots
-create more opportunities with twos than threes
-open the floor
If we can achieve these goals, then we will be sitting perfect against Seton Hall.
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This one was brutal for us. We shot poorly from the field. Threes weren't coming down, we couldn't hit free throws, and Creighton scored a lot off our turnovers. We forced more turnovers on the Blue Jays. Everything wasn't bad from the Blue Demons. We rebounded on the offensive end really good and forced Creighton to turnovers. If we can't score, then it doesn't matter because those possessions are wasted. As Jon said on the podcast, " DePaul is right where they're suppose to be."
Remember, we only won three games last year. Chris Holtmann in his first year has won 10. We got our first Big East win in almost two years. Everything is falling into place for DePaul. Yes, our record isn't where we thought it was going to be, but that's ok. It's all about the process we take.
We play at Butler today. First game back for Holtmann inside the Big East, Butler has played teams close all season, DePaul has played top teams close, this game is going to come down to the last possession. DePaul has to come out and make shots. If we add our defensive abilities to the mix; we should win this game by four.
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Welcome to 2025!
We're glad to be here. It has been a blast so far. DePaul has collected their first Big East win in almost two years. DePaul almost beat Marquette in overtime, battled with Xavier, almost came back against Northwestern. The blue demons are right there every single game. Chris Holtmann has the Blue Demons in a great spot. Notching their first Big East win goes a long way for this team. It builds momentum through the next couple games.
So, where do we go from here? Well, we keep notching wins together. Creighton is going to be tough on Tuesday. Creighton just got a huge win against Uconn today. If we're able to out rebound and shoot smart shots we can win.
This episode recapped the last couple games we have. Let's keep winning and get the job done.
Go blue demons
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It was another tough loss. We couldn't get anything going. Everything was just stuck for the most part. Quick sparks from Connor Enright, but this was another game filled with run.
Northwestern went on a 20-0 run to start off the game. Scored off all 11 DePaul's turnovers. We started cutting back into the game, but then Northwestern hit us with another counter. Every run we started to have Northwestern had a bigger one. It reminded me of St. John. There was one difference between the two games.
We got beat by fundamentals. Again, this is okay because our record is still over .500. Which is still outstanding coming from the point we where at last year. Rebuilds take time to come together into one great season. January is important because we have nine Big East games. If we can start off 2025 strong, then we can beat any team on our way.
Northwestern was led by Brooks Barnhizer with 21 point, 12 rebounds, and 6 assists.
All eyes on New Year's Day as we play the big dogs. Uconn Huskies come into town. If we can win this game, 2025 should be a better half of DePaul basketball.
St John was too big, fast and strong for us. Rick Pitino said it himself.
" We played our best this year."
There was a little spark that had fans excited for a little bit. Then, DePaul would just get dismantled against St John's defense. We need to have games like these because it shows you're beatable. It also shows the competition in the Big East. We still have to play everyone else in the Big East. I'm not worried at all. If Providence beats St. John; that means we can compete against St. John on another night.
Layden Blocker played his best game of this season. He was the only answer. Attacking the paint, creating open looks, playing spectacular defense. Any person from 1-9 can give you a spark. That's what so good about this team. Reminder, this is the first year they're all playing with each other. 8-3 on the season. Yes, two losses coming from " good teams" but we still have a schedule to prove we can win. Northwestern saturday, then Uconn New Years day, Marquette, etc.
Our starting lineup has to see one of these players. Cj Gunn, Layden Blocker, or NJ Benson. When we attack the paint, we win basketball games. All three player can achieve that. When we hit shots, we win game. Cj Gunn can do that from all three levels. I think these guys can bring more energy towards the starting lineup. Making us more dangerous as a whole. Listen, we've been struggling a lot, so a little change won't hurt right?
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Providence was a game of tic for tat. We get a stop, they get a stop. We score a basket, they score a basket. It was one of those games where both teams played outstanding defense. DePaul couldn't shoot from deep, neither could Providence. So, it came down the end where Providence prevailed. You could smell the disappoint everyone had. We didn't play bad defensively. I think that was our best defensive game we played. Scoring off turnovers, containing Jayden Pierre to his worst shooting performance of the year. We have to be more physical, attack the paint, hit our shots, and we win games.
As for the shockers, the second half everyone stole the show. CJ Gunn made a clear case why he should be dancing with the stars. He collected 22 points and went 4-6 from the three point line. It was the stamp the Blue Demons needed against a great Wichita State squad. We have a tough stretch of games coming up. St. John, Northwestern, Uconn, etc. We have to establish our paint presence and stay consistent shooting. From here on out every game is going to feel like a playoff game.
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Yes, DePaul did collect their first loss this season, but there's a lot to take from this game.
Texas Tech defense is stellar. Shut DePaul offense down for the first 5 minutes of the first half. DePaul couldn't convert anything from the field. Texas Tech went on a 14-0 run to start off the game. Our bench players came in and stole the show. Jacob Meyer gave us an early shock, then NJ Benson came in and played great.
We had a lot of good things happen in that game against Texas Tech. At halftime we were only down by one point. We just couldn't hit our shots. Fading away from the three is going to be a key of emphasis in my eyes. We must find an offense that is balance towards our strengths. I'm not saying don't shoot threes but we can them down, if we're not hitting them. We're excited for Providence because it will show a lot of improvements from Texas Tech. This is a perfect game we needed at this point. Let's go beat them Tuesday.
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You don't get to wake up often and interview an athletic director of a Big East basketball school. Today, we got to interview DeWayne Peevy. It was a pleasure talking to DeWayne! We talked about the future of basketball with NIL and transfer portal. Peevy loves winning. That has been part of the culture he's building at DePaul University. A unique story he told us came in his first year. DePaul men's basketball went 15-15. In his eyes he thought it was good. For DePaul, it was like a historical season because we haven't been great in quite some time. Seeing the success we're having early this year has people jumping for joy.
Peevy was also excited about his son committing for football. It has been a pleasure for him being so close to family. So, he can enjoy those games every chance he gets.
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The beauty of all of this is where undefeated. Last year, we weren't doing so hot at this point. Yes, our competition has been weak, but we're destroying most of our opponents.
We played great in the first half against Northern Illinois University. Braedyn Martinez said that Connor Enright said this in his press conference.
" We have to play a full 40 minutes." I couldn't agree more. We haven't seen that yet from this DePaul basketball squad. If we can dominate for a full 40 minutes, we can win a lot of more games in December, January, March, and April.
Overall, we have big games coming up. We play Valparaiso Friday, then on the road vs Texas Tech. Developing those good habits now will help us in the long run. Let's stay undefeated and keep playing DePaul basketball!
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The brain behind our undefeated operation! Chris Holtmann, head coach of DePaul basketball, joined the show today!
Coach Holtmann discussed a lot about his transitions to DePaul, Chicago, and bringing the right people to the program. He has a unique way of scouting players that I haven't heard before. He looks for talent that will be inside the program for multiple years. To help chemistry build within the team.
Coach has did his due diligence on scouting the right staff. A lot of experience on this staff. Which brings a lot of basketball knowledge to a team like DePaul. One thing I enjoyed hearing from Coach Holtmann was the ability to look at a stretch day by day versus month by month. It helps your players process how to get better within the days, versus all together.
After Holtmann made his departure, Joey and I gave our breakdown on the Eastern Illinois victory last night. You will have a special treat coming your way! Our breakdown from Duquesne and Northern Illinois episodes will be coming soon! Can't wait to drop those episodes.
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