Seton Hall had found a way to solve a dry spell before facing DePaul on Tuesday night, something that is as difficult in the Big East as reversing the flow of a river.
The Blue Demons’ hopes of finding a late-season shift from their own misfortunes were washed away at Allstate Arena as DePaul (8-17, 0-12) stayed on its downhill course with a 72-49 loss to Seton Hall (14-9, 5-6).
“When you win, you find ways to win,” Seton Hall coach Bobby Gonzalez said. “When you lose, you find ways to lose. That’s mental.”
And that seemed to be the case with DePaul.
Other than Dar Tucker’s 19 points and Mac Koshwal’s 11 points and 16 rebounds, the rest of the Blue Demons were noticeable only for errors in a game that Seton Hall controlled almost entirely.
Losing senior Jabari Currie for the season to a knee injury before the game was just one painful part of DePaul’s point guard play.
DePaul turned the ball over 13 times, including four times by starter Mike Bizoukas. The Pirates, who rank second in conference steals with an aggressive press, stole the ball eight times and converted DePaul’s turnovers into 17 points.
Bizoukas and Jeremiah Kelly, whom Wainwright called “bags of nerves,” combined at point guard for 1-of-11 shooting.
“We tried to pressure them and tried to make that a big thing in the game,” Gonzalez said.
Besides Tucker and Koshwal, the other Blue Demons shot 7 of 30 and only four others scored. No. 3 scorer Will Walker shot 3 of 7.
Seton Hall’s bench outscored DePaul’s 15-3, while four different Pirates scored in double digits led by Eugene Harvey’s 19 points.
“We have to figure out another way to score,” Wainwright said.
Seton Hall has won five in a row after starting conference play 0-6.
DePaul doesn’t have much time to change course, tying its worst conference start since 1995-96, when it was in Conference USA.
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sryan@tribune.com
