In another day of missed opportunity, DePaul let looks-like-a-victory turn into oh-no-not-again.
Caribbean dreams did not end DePaul’s nightmarish ride Thursday when the Blue Demons lost a lead and fell to Mississippi 69-63 in the San Juan Shootout.
The Blue Demons have dropped four straight games. Many of them can be blamed on simple breakdowns and this loss was just a repeat example.
“I just knew we had it in the bag,” senior forward Karron Clarke said. “I don’t know what happened.”
Instead of missed free throws or a missed shot, DePaul (2-6) lost at the Mario Morales Coliseum by way of key defensive breakdowns at inopportune times and a lack of offensive execution down the stretch.
The Blue Demons failed to score a field goal in the last 8 minutes 38 seconds after taking a 51-48 lead.
They made only 6 of 22 shots in the second half and made only 31.6 percent of their field goals in the game.
And despite all of that, they still managed to trail by only a point to Ole Miss (9-0) with 1:36 remaining.
As in other losses this season, they had plenty of positives to point out but left another arena feeling the sting of one or two bad decisions.
“A couple of plays can decide a game,” coach Jerry Wainwright said. “We’re operating under Murphy’s Law.”
The Blue Demons’ most crucial error was missing a defensive assignment on a screen and letting Ole Miss guard Chris Warren nail a three-pointer for a 67-63 lead with 31.1 seconds left.
“That’s the game winner,” Wainwright said.
Dwayne Curtis made two free throws for the Rebels and DePaul missed its last three three-point attempts in the final 30 seconds.
Curtis, a Chicago native who played at Whitney Young, scored a game-high 21 points for the Rebels, making 7 of 12 shots.
A difference after this loss for the Blue Demons was they did not have to listen to their home crowd jeer them as they left the court. They played on a library-quiet court in front of about 100 fans, most of whom were players and coaches scouting from other teams in the three-day tournament.
Perhaps the biggest difference for DePaul, however, is that there will be no time to dwell on the errors.
The Blue Demons have less than 24 hours to forget about Mississippi and focus on another undefeated team from the South. They will face No. 15 Clemson (9-0) Friday in the Shootout.
“There’s a point where we have to stop the bleeding,” Wainwright said. “The thing now is will they be resilient enough to shake this? Our kids are hurting right now.”
DePaul held one of the most potent offenses in the country — the Rebels averaged nearly 90 points per game — to a season-low in points and allowed them to make only 34.3 percent of their shots.
The Blue Demons were unexpectedly lacking in the size department because 6-foot-10-inch center Matija Poscic didn’t play because of a hip pointer he suffered Wednesday at practice.
Wainwright said he isn’t sure if Poscic will be able to play in the rest of the tournament.
DePaul stuck to a 2-3 zone most of the game to try to compensate and it worked well for the most part.
“All of a sudden we got really small and really thin up front,” Wainwright said. “We decided to play zone. It kept us in there. We tried to slow the game a little.”
The Blue Demons kept up in rebounding with each team grabbing 45 apiece, but Kenny Williams pulled down 16 alone for Ole Miss.
Draelon Burns led the Blue Demons with 17 points, but was only 2 of 6 on field goals.
Clarke scored 11 points along with grabbing 11 rebounds.
“I think we improved and did some good things,” Wainwright said.
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sryan@tribune.com
