DePaul guard Drake Diener would like to get rid of the echo in his head. The repetitive trash talking is light-hearted and familial, but he still wants to banish it. When the next family reunion rolls around in Fond du Lac, Wis., he wants to be able to look his cousin Travis in the eye and say, “Gotcha.”
It is not overstating things to say DePaul considers Saturday’s Conference USA game against Marquette at Allstate Arena to be a revenge game. Revenge for a 70-62 loss in Milwaukee on Jan. 24. Revenge for another six straight losses dating to Feb. 16, 2000.
A sub-text of that streak is that Drake Diener, a 6-foot-5-inch junior shooting guard, never has beaten Travis, a 6-1 junior point guard, in a college game.
“I don’t want to go through another summer [hearing about it],” Drake Diener said. “It would be a big win.”
Diener is shooting 72.4 percent from three-point territory in his last six games, and his 51.1 percent season mark is third in the country.
“I think we all want it real bad,” he said of Saturday.
DePaul is 12-7. The Blue Demons have won five of their last six conference games, their best run since 1999, and are 5-3 in league play. The Golden Eagles (13-6, 4-4), coming off an NCAA Final Four season, are in danger of slipping below .500 in league play.
One dynamic that may alter the landscape: DePaul’s 6-9 center Andre Brown missed the first meeting with a knee injury. But in two games since his return, Brown has scored 19 and 24 points, and collected 8 and 12 rebounds.
“He’s one of the best forwards in America,” Marquette coach Tom Crean said. “He always has been a focal point.”
Marquette has been erratic since mid-January, losing league games to Southern Mississippi and Charlotte before rebounding against DePaul. During that game at the Bradley Center, the Blue Demons built a 12-point lead while shooting 70.6 percent from the field in the game’s first 13 1/2 minutes.
Travis Diener (16.8 ppg), bouncing back from a scary whiplash injury, was doubtful for the game but played 35 minutes and rallied the Golden Eagles. Last Saturday, Marquette upset host Louisville 77-70 when forward Steve Novak (12.6 ppg) scored 30 points. Marquette seemed rejuvenated by the victory, but then 8-11 Texas Christian upset the Eagles at home Tuesday night.
“Any time you don’t win, you’re going to be down,” Crean said. “The key is how quickly you can bounce back.”
Marquette is in no position to take anybody lightly and Crean, who has been sick much of the week, went out of his way to compliment the Blue Demons.
“Their starting five is on par with any team in the conference,” he said.
Then he added that he didn’t want to slight DePaul’s bench, either.
“They’re clicking on all cylinders,” he said.
