What now?

Men’s lackluster season comes to a disheartening end

By Tom Gorski Sports Editor

It’s back to the drawing board as DePaul flew back from New York facing disappointment and heartbreak after its season came to a disheartening end, losing 89-84 to Xavier in the quarterfinals of the Big East Tournament on March 9.

For a roster in the midst of an overhaul, where does the program go from here?

“I’m proud of these guys and their fight and being a resilient bunch,” head coach Tony Stubblefield said. “These guys went through a lot of adversity throughout the course of this year, and they could have gave into it a lot, dealing with all the injuries that we had and things that happened to our team. It wasn’t what we envisioned it to be over the course of the summer and even in the fall, but these guys really stuck with it.

Injuries are the story of the 2022-23 season as Stubblefield had a completely healthy team for just four games, two of which being in the Big East Tournament against Seton Hall and Xavier.

Junior guard Caleb Murphy suffered a wrist injury prior to the season that side-

MBB, continued from back page battle.

“I thought we played well enough to win the game,” Stubblefield said. “I think the biggest discrepancy was we won in a lot of areas but we didn’t get to the [free throw] line enough. They shot 27 free throws and we shot seven. There’s a difference of 20 free throws there. Just didn’t get to the line enough and that’s one area where we got beat.”

The first half may have been DePaul’s strongest of the season, shooting nine of 10 to open the game and take a 21-14 lead. The Blue Demons’ lead reached as high as 13 points, which resulted in the team heading into halftime with an improbable 49-40 advantage.

DePaul had nearly a flawless performance offensively in the first half, shooting 69% from the field and 70% from three.

“We were really focused on getting lined him for months. Senior center Nick Ongenda also suffered a wrist/hand injury that required surgery days before the team’s opener against Loyola (MD).

Ongenda missed a majority of the year but made his return during the final stretch of the regular season, having a significant impact on DePaul’s two tournament games. Ongenda’s game winning block against Seton Hall may go down as one of the program’s most dramatic finishes in recent memory.

As of now, the team has two recruits committed for the upcoming season, which include 7-foot three-star center Babacar Mbengue and JUCO transfer forward Keyondre Young from Triton College.

Babacar was ranked as the No. 19 center in the 2023 class by 247sports.com and is a native of Senegal, where he played with the national team in the 2020 FIBA U18 African Championship.

“Babacar [Mbengue] is a really talented young player with an incredible amount of potential,” Stubblefield said. “He has developed a lot over the last year or so and we are looking forward to getting him on campus and continuing his growth. He is a strong physical presence inside and has stops more than anything because we were playing good offensively,” Johnson said of the team’s first half performance. “We were just trying to buckle down and get stops.” a desire to keep learning.”

Gibson was the star of the first half for the Blue Demons against Xavier, scoring 13 points, highlighted by five 3-pointers. Before fouling out, Gibson ended his final collegiate game with 22 points and six assists, while shooting four for six from beyond the arc and a plus minus of six.

Gibson finished his accomplished collegiate career with 428 3-pointers, ranking 15th in NCAA Division I basketball history.

Xavier bounced back in the second half, outscoring DePaul 49-35 while holding the Demons to a 17% shooting performance from beyond the arc. Around the 16-minute mark, the Musketeers went on a 5-0 run that set the tone for the remainder of the game and found a way to force Gibson into foul trouble for the Blue Demons.

Young played in 25 games this past season for Triton with 16 starts, averaging 10.7 points, 4.9 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game, while shooting 40.1% from the field and 31% from beyond the arc. His best performance of the season was on Feb. 2 against Harry S. Truman College where he scored 25 points and made seven 3-pointers.

“We’re really excited to add Keyondre [Young] next season,” Stubblefield said. “Our staff really values the experience junior college players can bring to our roster and Keyondre is no different.”

Stubblefield and his staff are in line to have a busy offseason as graduate guard Umoja Gibson, graduate forward Javan Johnson, senior’s Eral Penn, Yor Anei, Philmon Gebrewhit and potentially Nick Ongenda are all set to depart.

Ongenda has an extra year of eligibility, but it is unclear if he will return.

Gibson and Johnson were the heart and soul of the Blue Demons this past season and replacing them will be no easy task. Based on how the roster is constructed at this moment, logic suggests that junior guard Murphy and freshman guard Zion Cruz are set to have a bigger role

Even though Xavier only led for two and a half minutes, the team would not go away as DePaul struggled to finish off the Musketeers. A 14-2 run, led by Jones running the offense in crunch time, finished the game for Xavier and put a nail in the coffin of DePaul’s season.

“We just kind of went straight set play, and we called [Jones’] and number quite a bit, not just because of his scoring but, number one, he can get fouled,” Xavier head coach Sean Miller said. “Number two, he’s a very good decision-maker. He can pass the ball and I thought the shots he was getting and we were getting going to him really set us apart and in my mind that was the difference in the game down the stretch.

Xavier’s comeback win over DePaul spoke to the group’s resilience — the team’s nine point halftime deficit was its largest of the season.

“We’re thrilled to still be alive,” Miller said. “I thought that DePaul played a great game. Could have easily lost that heading into next season. game three, five, 10 times over. But I think the resiliency of our group, the experience of these guys sticking with it and finishing the game that, quite frankly, wasn’t going well for us throughout, it’s a difficult task.”

Jalen Terry and Murphy are the favorites to start in the backcourt in 2023-24, but as a four-star recruit, Cruz could find a spot in the rotation if he takes a step forward in his development.

Junior Da’Sean Nelson is the logical replacement to take over for Johnson at small forward, but a lot could change once the roster is finalized. The coaching staff has a long offseason ahead with plenty of decisions that could make or break the team heading into the new year from a schematic standpoint.

After finishing the season with a 1023 overall record and an abysmal 3-17 Big East record, the lack of growth with a veteran-led team was concerning, but Stubblefield has an opportunity to start a youth movement and grow a core that can develop together as a group.

It’s difficult to say if it will come to fruition, but for the first time in Stubblfield’s coaching career at DePaul, the pressure will be on and if the team does not see a sign of growth of the program moving forward, jobs could potentially be at risk. The time to win is now, not tomorrow, and the fan base, administration and coaching staff are well-aware.

DePaul’s season did not go as planned, but finding a way to win a tournament game could be seen as a step in the right direction for the program.

Stubblefield is the only coach in program history to win a Big East tournament game their first two seasons as head coach.

“By no means am I happy with the year that we had,” Stubblefield said. “I do think we finished stronger, but I think it helped that we had our entire team. Obviously, I was happy with the outcome that we had [against Seton Hall]. I thought these guys put a great fight up for 40 minutes tonight against a very, very good basketball team, and we’ve got to build upon this and take this to the next level. That’s the reality of this.”