Next Thursday will mark the one-year anniversary of DePaul’s last Big East win.
Since a victory over Marquette on Jan. 20, 2010, the Blue Demons have lost 17 straight Big East games, including Wednesday’s 78-67 home loss to Seton Hall.
DePaul is 1-39 in its last 40 Big East games.
“There are moments of frustration for me and really I felt like a game like last night could’ve been a turning point for us because we had been playing progressively better in the Big East,” first-year head coach Oliver Purnell said on Thursday’s conference call.
“I felt like, ‘Boy, if we can get one right here we can really build some confidence and get something started.’ Well, we didn’t get it and that’s frustrating.”
The Blue Demons (6-10, 0-4 Big East) ran into the return of Pirates guard Jeremy Hazell, who scored 23 points in his first game in nearly two months after suffering a broken left wrist and a gunshot wound.
“He looked great,” Purnell said. “He just looked very at home and he was a settling influence for them, I thought.”
Longtime former coach Jerry Wainwright was fired a year ago Tuesday with the school mired in a 22-game regular-season losing streak in the Big East. Assistant Tracy Webster took over for the rest of the season on an interim basis, and the team finished 8-23 overall, 1-17 in the Big East.
Purnell made the surprising decision to leave Clemson for a seven-year deal at DePaul even after taking the Tigers to three straight NCAA tournament appearances, including a 21-11 season last year. He had signed a two-year extension in June and was reportedly making $1.6 million annually.
Before Clemson, Purnell turned around the program at Dayton, taking them to two NCAA tournaments. He also coached at Old Dominion and Radford for three years apiece, taking ODU to the tournament once. He has never won an NCAA tournament game.
At the time he left Clemson for DePaul, Clemson athletic director Dr. Terry Don Phillips said he was “shocked” at Purnell’s decision.
“I’m not sure I know what to say,” Phillips said. “I’m in a little bit of shock. … I’m as surprised as anyone.”
Now Purnell is coaching a DePaul team that lost its two top scorers from a year ago, center Mac Koshwal and guard Will Walker.
Purnell’s main challenge is to overcome the losing culture at the Chicago school. Two years ago, the program went 0-18 in the Big East.
“You go through a process of changing the culture,” he said. “You start with the things you talk to your team about, the things that you’re uncompromising on. You go out and recruit some better players as well to upgrade the talent level. And at the same time, teaching those guys those same principles, and the things you need to do in order to win. Things like being on time to execution to playing hard to the way you conduct yourself on and off the floor.”
One bright spot for DePaul has been freshman forward Cleveland Melvin of Baltimore, who had 21 against Seton Hall, leads the Demons in scoring (13.5 ppg) and has won two Rookie of the Week awards.
“He’s a talented young man, he’s really athletic,” Purnell said. “Now he’s starting to really get comfortable with what we’re doing offensively.”
The bad news for Purnell is that junior forward Devin Hill of Stamford, Conn., remains out with an injury.
“It’s still going to be a couple of weeks before he gets back,” Purnell said. “Obviously, we’re a little slim in the post there and we need a body back in there.”
The Big East is a brutal conference, with half the league currently ranked in the Top 25.
No one will take pity on Purnell and his troops.
Least of all Kemba Walker and No. 10 UConn, which is next up for the winless Demons.
