Assertiveness does not have to be selfish. It can be resourceful, timely and even required.
In the decisive minutes of a DePaul victory that easily could have slipped away Saturday, Quentin Richardson made his evaluation every trip down the floor. He preferred to keep it simple.
“I just basically look at their chances and my chances,” said Richardson, whopaused and smiled. “I may be biased.”
That will just have to be part of Richardson’s role if DePaul is going to regain the long-lost feeling of its glory days. The Blue Demons’ 77-75 victory over North Carolina-Charlotte at Allstate Arena was secured only after Richardson scored 21 of his season-high 32 points in the last 9 minutes 12 seconds.
His game-winning score, following a second consecutive offensive rebound with 47 seconds to play, allowed the Demons (11-3) to equal their best start in 13 years. Richardson made 13 of 18 shots, 4 of 7 beyond the three-point line, and had 10 rebounds.
“He’s got a knack for where he needs to be,” UNC Charlotte coach Bobby Lutz said.
Richardson was the difference in a game of subtle significance for the Demons. UNC Charlotte (7-7) was playing its seventh consecutive road game, a stretch that includes a 27-point loss at Cincinnati.
DePaul had not defeated the 49ers in six previous regular-season Conference USA games. The Demons had not built a 2-0 conference start since 1993-94. At this point in a season of high expectations, with Rashon Burno and Lance Williams continuing to play as they recover from injuries, UNC Charlotte–not Cincinnati–was the means of measuring DePaul’s progress.
Burno’s 14 assists were one fewer than Kenny Patterson’s DePaul record and the third-highest total in Conference USA’s five seasons. Freshman center Steven Hunter blocked six shots and contested Diego Guevara’s attempt to tie the game with 14 seconds to play. Bobby Simmons scored 19 points, with eight rebounds and four assists.
But the DePaul bench was outscored 29-6. The Demons, who had averaged a 12-rebound margin in their first 13 games, were limited to a 37-33 advantage over the 49ers. Paul McPherson’s defense held Charlotte’s Jobey Thomas to six of his 17 points after halftime, but McPherson made just 2 of 10 shots.
DePaul struggled against a rapidly shifting series of 49er defenses–box-and-one, triangle-and-two, 1-3 zone with a chaser. For much of the afternoon, James Zimmerman, a 49ers forward who scored 15 points, fought through Demon screens in an attempt to complicate Richardson’s effort.
At one time DePaul’s collective struggle inspired scattered boos from the crowd of 9,347. The Demons trailed by 10 points in the first half, and by seven with 9:48 to play.
They had responded to the altered defenses by changing their offensive approach, a ploy that led them to become tentative.
“Our guys started thinking too much about, `OK, we need to try to do this or try to do that,”‘ coach Pat Kennedy said. “We got out of any kind of rhythm and we started relying on perimeter shots.”
In the final minutes, Kennedy decided his team would operate within one offensive set. Richardson would work along the baseline, an area that remains a comfort zone in his sophomore season.
“That’s something I don’t think I’ll ever lose,” Richardson said.
An existence along the baseline may not be the way Richardson earns his living at the next level, but that’s a discussion for another day. DePaul took advantage of its superior size and searched for seams in the defense.
Two jumpers by Burno, the second a three-point shot following Richardson’s steal, tied the score 68-68. But the Demons scored on just one of their next seven possessions. When Guevara’s three-point shot put the 49ers ahead by five with 3:21 to go, a DePaul defeat was a possibility.
That is until Richardson scored his team’s final seven points: a three-point shot, a drive at the end of a break and the game-winning put-back. Kennedy was surprised by the point total.
“I’m so used to watching him, some of it goes unnoticed,” he said.
Assertiveness does not have to be obvious either.
