Lance Williams and Rashon Burno entered DePaul four years ago as part of a heralded class that was showered with superlatives and surrounded by expectations. Briefly, in the long ago, they were there as its reality brushed up against its reputation, but when their Blue Demons careers closed Friday night, they and their team were far from the spotlight.
Cordell Henry and Jon Harris, Oluoma Nnamaka and David Diggs entered Marquette four years ago as part of class that went unpublicized and virtually ignored. But inexorably, as time passed, they helped lead their team back toward respectability, and when they made their last regular-season appearances for the Golden Eagles on Friday night, they were on center stage.
This was their show at the Bradley Center, where 18,788 showed up for Senior Night, but it was sophomore Dwyane Wade (16 points) who led Marquette to a 72-53 victory that was rife with significance.
The victory pushed its overall record to 24-5, which will keep it solidly in the national rankings, where it was No. 9 before losing Tuesday night at East Carolina.
And it gave the Golden Eagles a perfect 16-0 record at Bradley, the first time it finished unbeaten in that building since it opened for the 1988-89 season. And, most important, it pushed their Conference USA record to 13-3 and kept alive hopes of sharing the league title, which they will do if Memphis defeats Cincinnati on Sunday.
This was, then, an evening filled with significance, and so it was no wonder that the Blue Demons (9-19, 2-14) confronted an emotional scene when it started. But, surprisingly, the Golden Eagles came out looking lethargic, and it was DePaul that opened with purpose and a hop in its step.
The Blue Demons, often unsightly on offense, just riddled one of the nation’s best defenses for nine minutes, and that helped them build an eight-point lead. But then came one of their more characteristic interludes, one filled with turnovers and air balls. Over the next five minutes Marquette went 8-of-10 from the field while DePaul went 0-of-7 with two air balls and four turnovers.
The Blue Demons would not quit, not even with the Golden Eagles suddenly soaring and up eight, and they went in at halftime down only seven. But they not only never led again. They did not ever threaten to take the lead again.
Williams, in his final game, led his team with 12 points, and Andre Brown chipped in 10. But Marquette, once it roused itself, was just too talented and too tough-minded, and relentlessly the Golden Eagles pulled away while holding DePaul to 29.6 percent shooting.
That number provided a fitting end to the Blue Demons’ dismal season, and provided too the best testament to why Marquette’s will continue.
