Don’t let the hustle and bustle of the Texas Tech football offseason take away from the fact that there is a basketball season still rolling in high gear. The Grand McCasland-led Red Raiders have enjoyed a 6-1 start to the season, with their lone loss coming to Saint Joseph’s during the team’s trip to Brooklyn nearly two weeks ago.
Now Tech is set to face another significant step up in competition, a high-major foe rolling into Lubbock in the form of DePaul. A 3-29 team a year ago, the Blue Demons’ revamped squad has more than doubled the program’s win total, sitting at a cool 7-0 entering Wednesday night’s contest.
This has been in large part to the coaching of first-year man Chris Holtmann, who was named the head coach at DePaul in March after seven seasons as the leader of Ohio State. The undefeated start is quite remarkable, given the fact that the Blue Demons did not return a single player who was on the roster a season ago. DePaul currently sits ranked No. 99 in KenPom.com’s rankings, two spots ahead of Syracuse and several spots behind Saint Joseph’s, the Red Raiders’ two best tests from prior games in the season.
DePaul currently sits as the second-highest scoring team in the Big East, averaging a collective 88 points per game. On the flip side, the Blue Demons are also in the upper half of defensive points allowed per game, sitting at third in the conference giving up 64 points per game, behind UConn and Marquette.
Guarding the perimeter will continue to be a focal point for the Red Raiders, who have struggled to do so all season, regardless of the opposition. What is most impressive about DePaul is its ability to make it rain from deep. Five Blue Demons average at least 43 percent from beyond the arc and as a whole the team averages 41 percent from the three-point line.
This is spearheaded by fifth-year senior Isaiah Rivera, a transfer who spent time at Colorado State in the first three seasons of his collegiate career before returning to his native state of Illinois to UIC. Rivera is one of three DePaul players to have started in all seven games. A 6-foot-5 guard, Rivera averages 14.9 points per game.
DePaul’s blowout wins have allowed bench players to shine, as well, and guard Jacob Meyer has been the primary beneficiary of this. Meyer, a transfer from Coastal Carolina, averages 14.7 points per game while also narrowly leading the team in three-point attempts with 44. DePaul’s reserves average 38 points per game, while Meyer will be looking to extend his streak of 22 consecutive games in double digits.
Projected Starting Lineup
No. 2 - Layden Blocker, 6-foot-2 guard. Sophomore guard who played at Sunrise Christian Academy his junior and senior seasons in high school, and was the No. 24 recruit in the 2023 class per Rivals. Transfer from Arkansas.
No. 4 - Conor Enright, 6-foot-2 guard. Former teammate of Tech guard Kevin Overton. Started in all 33 games alongside Overton and was part of Missouri Valley Conference championship winning teams in 2023 and 2024.
No. 1 - Isaiah Rivera, 6-foot-5 guard. Leading scorer and veteran guard who transferred in from UIC after one season there. Has only played more than 30 minutes in two games this season, in large part due to the blowout nature in most of DePaul’s games.
No. 0 - Troy D’amico, 6-foot-7 forward. Spent three years at Southern Illinois before transferring to DePaul, following coach Bryan Mullins who joined the Blue Demons’ staff. Best free throw shooter on the team who averages 94.7 percent from the stripe. Has shot 11-25 from the three-point line this season.
No. 42 - David Skogman, 6-foot-11 forward. Big man who leads the team in rebounds by a wide margin, snagging 7.1 per game. 9-19 from three this season makes Skogman a viable stretch big option.
