By SEAN BRENNAN
Special to
BIGEAST.com
Long before his Georgetowen Hoyas took the court for their BIG EAST Tournament opening-round game against DePaul, Hoyas coach Ed Cooley was asked his thoughts (predictions?) for this year’s edition of the annual Madison Square Garden party.
Never at a loss for words, Cooley was quick with his answer.
“Somebody is going to surprise somebody in the BIG EAST Tournament,” Cooley said. “Something crazy is going to happen.”
Cooley looked to be dead on with his prediction when DePaul, a program that has, well, struggled in the BIG EAST for seasons on end, was sitting atop a 15-point lead over Cooley’s Hoyas in the first half. Keep in mind that the Blue Demons had swept the season series from Georgetown in the regular-season and won their most conference games this year (four) since the 2021-22 season. All this from a team that went 3-29 overall last season and a painful 0-20 in BIG EAST play.
So holding a 15-point lead on the Hoyas with just over 8:00 left before halftime? That most definitely qualifies as “something crazy.” Could it be that the Blue Demons could do the unthinkable and knock off Georgetown for a third time this season?
Now that would be crazy, no?
Cooley may wish he wasn’t so accurate with this whole prediction thing as DePaul saw four players score in double figures, led by NJ Benson’s 18 points, and C.J. Gunn sank a crucial free throw with 10.4 seconds to play as the No. 10 Blue Demons knocked off No. 7 Georgetown, 71-67. DePaul (14-18) will now face No. 2 Creighton in Thursday’s quarterfinal round at 7 p.m. The Bluejays swept the Blue Demons during the regular season.
Benson, who was questionable for the Demons’ game with the Hoyas, certainly didn’t look like a player who had missed a good chunk of time since mid-February with a hand injury, scoring 18 points in just 18 minutes of game action.
“It was great to have NJ back,” DePaul coach Chris Holtmann said. “In an era right now where kids sometimes don’t always play when they don’t feel full strength, it was really refreshing to have a guy that was begging to play the last two weeks. I’m proud of him.”
To put things in perspective for DePaul, a win in the BIG EAST Tournament for the Blue Demons is right up there with Bigfoot sightings in the Rockies. They don’t occur often. In fact, since the realignment of the BIG EAST for the 2013-14 season the Demons were just 2-10 in tournament play. Until Wednesday night, that is.
Sure they blew that early 15-point lead as the Hoyas stormed back in the final 8:00 of the first half to not only catch DePaul, but pass them as Georgetown took a 40-38 lead at the intermission. And frankly when the Hoyas scored the first five points of the second half to take a 45-38 lead, it looked like this one would end like so many others have in the past for DePaul.
But Holtmann’s squad just wouldn’t fold that tent and when Isaiah Rivera knocked down a three-pointer with 13:21 to play, the game was knotted at 51-51. And the Blue Demons would never trail again. In fact, DePaul built a nine-point lead (65-56) with just over 6:00 to play on a three-point play by JJ Traynor. The Demons buckled a time or two down the stretch as Georgetown pulled within 70-67 on a three-point play by Micah Parsons, who finished with a game-high 26 points. But that would be as close as the Hoyas would get and a third straight loss to the Blue Demons ended their run at the BIG EAST Tournament. Layden Blocker added 16 points and Gunn and Troy D’Amico notched 11 points apiece for DePaul.
“It was a slight chance for me to be able to even come back and play (yesterday),” Benson said. “I’m thankful to even be in that situation.”
Cooley must be wishing Benson took just one more game off instead of menacing his Hoyas.
“Benson, to me, was the X factor in today's game,” Cooley said. “I thought their guards physically just ISO’d us and kind of bullied us. For them to beat us three times, it was just a bad matchup for us. Obviously I’m very, very disappointed in losing three times to them this year.”