Preview: Chicago State at DePaul

[December 17, 2016]  Two months into the season and Dave Leitao is still waiting for DePaul to put two halves of basketball together, something he hopes will finally happen Saturday against visiting Chicago State in the Las Vegas Classic. After starting poorly and playing well in the second half for most of the season, the Blue Demons did the opposite Wednesday in falling to city rival Illinois-Chicago.

"I'm not really happy or pleased with what happened," Leitao told the media after the 80-75 loss. "As I've told the guys, I think you reap what you sow. This has been a regularity for us." DePaul got plenty of points, including career-highs from Eli Cain and Billy Garrett, Jr., and won the rebounding battle, but committed 16 turnovers. If the Blue Demons are ever to put it all together for one game, this would be the one as they have won all 14 prior meetings with the Cougars. Despite having a docket littered with blowouts, the Cougars are no pushovers as they gave Northwestern all it could handle Wednesday before dropping their third straight game 68-64.

TV: 2 p.m. ET, Fox Sports 1

ABOUT CHICAGO STATE (3-7): Fred Sims, Jr. has been a typical young player for the Cougars, scoring as many as 30 points when his shot is falling and as few as six when it isn't. Overall, the sophomore guard from Chicago is putting up 18.3 points per game and has combined with Trayvon Palmer to give coach Tracy Dildy a solid backcourt. Though listed at 6-6, the senior Palmer is averaging nine rebounds to go with his 14.8 points per game.

ABOUT DEPAUL (5-4): Cain was in need of a bounce-back game, particularly from a shooters perspective, and he seemed to get it against UIC. Certainly, the career-high 27 points is a positive, but the 11-of-20 effort from the field and 4-of-7 from 3-point range, where he had made only two of his last 18 shots, was the most important factor. Unfortunately, the 53 combined points for Cain and Garrett shows a widening scoring gap on the DePaul roster.

TIP-INS

1. DePaul dropped games to Northwestern and UIC by 21 combined points while Chicago State has done the same by 20.

2. DePaul's Joe Hanel had a career-high 12 rebounds against UIC and the junior appears to have moved ahead of Darrick Wood, who played a total of eight minutes without scoring in the last two games.

3. With 12 made free throws against UIC, Garrett improved his career total to 465, moving him past Mark Aguirre into third place on the team's all-time list.

PREDICTION: DePaul 68, Chicago State 64

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