DePaul’s Blue Demons have been searching all season for a team identity. They found it Saturday. It’s the best gift they could have received this holiday season.
“Our identity is defense,” said Tom Kleinschmidt, following the Demons’ 84-49 rout of Northwestern. “When we win, it’s because we play defense.”
The Demons (4-2) have now played three strong defensive games in a row, resulting in victories over Notre Dame, Maine and the Wildcats, who hit only 16 of 47 shots (.340) in Saturday’s wipeout before 7,290 Horizon fans.
The Wildcats also committed 23 turnovers, 13 coming off Blue Demons steals. Kleinschmidt had five steals along with a game-high 21 points.
“I’m glad my salary is protected by a contract,” said NU coach Ricky Byrdsong after the Cats’ record fell to 4-3. “I’ve never seen everything in our offense break down to the degree it did in this game.”
Byrdsong credited DePaul’s defense for contributing to his team’s awful shooting, especially the defense forwards Kleinschmidt and Will Macon played against NU forwards Cedric Neloms and Brian Chamberlain.
Neloms went 1 for 9 from the floor and scored nine points. Chamberlain hit 2 of 5, neither when Macon was guarding him, and settled for four points, one-third his average.
“Without a doubt those two did a tremendous job,” said Byrdsong. “Brian (Chamberlain) is our hardest worker. If he doesn’t score, it’s not because he isn’t trying. Give credit to Macon. Kleinschmidt did a super job against Cedric, too, in the first half.”
By halftime, the Demons had the game safely tucked away 46-22 and Kleinschmidt had one more steal, four, than the Demons had turnovers.
“Neloms really hurt us last season,” said Kleinschmidt, referring to his 24 points in NU’s 69-68 victory over DePaul in the National Invitation Tournament. “Our coaches said he was their best player and best athlete. I really worked hard against him and thought I did a decent job.”
Was there a revenge motive spurring the Demons because of the loss to NU in the NIT? Macon, who scored 12 points and led all rebounders with 13 Saturday, felt revenge was a big incentive.
“After the (NIT) game, they kind of rubbed our faces in it,” Macon recalled. “They said, `We’ve taken over Chicago.’ We wanted to show them we’re No. 1 in Chicago.”
Perhaps because it worked so hard on defense, DePaul hit only 8 of 35 three-pointers. The team’s best three outside shooters combined to go 5 for 26: Kleinschmidt 1 for 7, Brandon Cole 1 for 9, and Marcus Singer 3 for 10.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever had a team shoot 35 threes before,” said Meyer, “but Cole and Kleinschmidt and Singer were wide open, so I kept telling them to shoot it.”
Kleinschmidt spoke of the defense the Demons played Saturday.
“Our defense starts with our guards, Peter Patton and Brandon Cole,” said Kleinschmidt. “Macon is our emotional force. I can’t even get a rebound with Will in there. Will gets ’em all. Northwestern started with a box and one on me. That’s fine. I don’t care about my points. If they run a guard at me or double me, we’ll play 4 on 3 for 40 minutes.”
Only one Wildcat scored more than nine points, guard Craig Duerksen with 12.
