Winning the season opener hasn’t been the problem at DePaul. When new head coach Chris Holtmann and his completely revamped roster pulled off an 80-78 overtime win over visiting Southern Indiana on Monday night, it represented the Blue Demons’ 15th opening win in the last 17 seasons.
Rather, the problem has been learning from each game, showing steady improvement and stringing together wins. The Blue Demons get the chance to put together their first two-game winning streak since Nov. 30-Dec. 3, 2022, when Prairie View A&M comes to Chicago on Thursday night.
During the offseason, Holtmann and his staff carefully constructed a roster that featured positional and eligibility balance. Yet the Southern Indiana box score suggested a heavy reliance on shooting guards and veterans while snapping the 20-game losing streak that closed out the 2023-24 season.
Sophomore shooting guard Jacob Meyer came off the bench to deliver 23 points in 33 minutes, including the game-tying 3-pointer from the wing with two seconds left in regulation and the game-winning free throws with two seconds left in OT. The lefty transfer averaged a team-leading 15.7 points per game as a freshman for Coastal Carolina.
“Well, it’s easy to have a lot of confidence in a kid that’s got that natural ability to score, and I think he’s taken ownership in other parts of his game that has needed to improve,” Holtmann told WeAreDePaul after the game. “He’s a natural-born scorer. He can roll out of bed and probably get double figures. It’s just how gifted he is.”
Meanwhile, Holtmann asked the three senior starters in his lineup — shooting guard Isaiah Rivera (25 points), pick-and-pop center David Skogman (13 points, 10 rebounds) and wing Troy D’Amico (team-high +14 plus/minus) — to handle 107 of the Demons’ 225 minutes.
Similar to the way DePaul changed 100 percent of its scholarship players after a 3-win season, Prairie View A&M returned no starters from last year’s 10-21 squad that finished 330th in the KenPom rankings — 26 spots below the Blue Demons. Tenth-year head coach Byron Smith rebuilt his roster by importing 13 transfers from all levels.
In the Panthers’ season-opening 111-90 victory over the Biblical Studies Ambassadors — a Division II National Christian College Athletic Association team led by former Houston great Michael Young — the roster’s only scholarship holdover led the way.
Sophomore guard Orlando Horton Jr. posted 28 points and six assists while Division III transfer Nick Anderson contributed 27 points and sixth-year New Mexico State transfer Tanahj Pettway added 24. The Panthers shot 62.1 percent from the field.