There was Drake Diener, DePaul’s freshman guard, flying headfirst over the press table at the west end of the United Center. And there was Imari Sawyer, the enigmatic point guard, jumping over the scorer’s table set up along the north sideline.
The Blue Demons, who so often look lethargic, deflected passes with active hands and pursued loose balls like hungry predators on the prowl. The same Blue Demons who so often look unschooled, smartly mixed defenses and effectively employed a trapping zone press that thoroughly disrupted the offense that had carried Missouri to a No. 10 ranking.
Those same Blue Demons who often look weak-willed exhibited spines of steel and refused to buckle under the flurries the visitors threw at them.
All of this added up to a stunning 63-62 win Saturday over Missouri’s highly regarded Tigers (9-3).
This was a well-earned victory, not a fluke, and throughout it the Demons demonstrated numerous traits rarely associated with them.
“Our defense and our effort. We played hard and defense won the game for us,” said sophomore forward Andre Brown, who combined 18 points and nine rebounds.
“We were the aggressor,” coach Pat Kennedy said. “For our kids to be the aggressor against a team that was once ranked as high as No. 2 . . . To impose our will on a game like that, I’m extremely proud of the kids.”
Sawyer returned the compliment.
“Coach has got us believing in one another,” he said. “Last year we really didn’t believe in each other. This year we’re playing as one.”
They most certainly did against the Tigers, who floundered early against the Blue Demons’ 1-2-2 press and array of defenses: straight man-to-man, matchup zone, triangle-and-two, box-and-one.
They utilized all those and more, and the frequent changes held Missouri to 29.7 percent shooting in the first half as DePaul took an eight-point halftime lead.
“For the majority of the game, I thought Missouri was confused by what we did,” Kennedy said.
“I agree,” Missouri coach Quin Snyder said.
Missouri center Arthur Johnson had a monster day, ending with 20 points, 18 rebounds and four blocks.
Brown’s 18 points and Quemont Greer’s 12 led the Blue Demons, but this one was not about offensive numbers as much as it was the work Greer did as the defender chasing Tigers star Kareem Rush. Greer held the preseason All-American to 15 points on 5-for-18 shooting. Even as Missouri roared back to tie the game 47-47 with 11:41 left, neither Rush nor the offense he leads could find a rhythm.
“Multiple defenses cause you to adjust . . . and we weren’t sure whether to attack or pull it out,” Snyder said.
DePaul was helped by its poise, something that frequently abandoned the Demons in the past when a game hung in the balance. Instead of unraveling they calmly composed themselves, ran out to a seven-point lead with 3:54 left and then composed themselves again in the final, frenetic 37.3 seconds.
The Demons began with Sawyer making one of two free throws to push his team’s lead up to four points. Then two free throws by Lance Williams built the Blue Demons’ lead to six before a desperation three-pointer by Missouri’s Rickey Paulding that bounced in off the glass and halved the lead with 11.9 seconds left.
A free throw by Sam Hoskin made it a four-point game, but another desperation three-pointer off the glass by Clarence Gilbert pulled the Tigers within 63-62 with 2.5 seconds left.
Finally a smart inbounds pass from Greer to Sawyer secured the Blue Demons’ fourth straight win.
“We’re up there. Our confidence is real high,” Greer said. “We’ve got to keep playing hard every game. If we play hard like we did this one, we should win pretty much the rest of them.”
“Whoa,” the suddenly mature Sawyer said. “One at a time. One at a time.”
