Teams #83 and #84 - Western Illinois and DePaul

On Saturday November 20th, 2022, I took a road trip down to Chicago to see the Western Illinois Leathernecks take on the DePaul Blue Demons. The matchup was a battle of two 3-0 teams. Both teams have had a couple of impressive wins to start the season. Western Illinois opened the season by going to Lincoln, Nebraska winning. DePaul was coming off a big win Thursday against Rutgers. Western Illinois has four starters averaging in double figures and was a very senior heavy team. DePaul is much in a rebuilding phase but their early season success has certainly given their fans some hope. They are lead by senior Javon Freeman-Liberty who came into the game averaging 20+. 

The first half had a very good pace. Back and forth with the biggest lead of the half being three points for either side. I was very impressed with the ball movement of Western Illinois. They always seemed to find the open man and normally got a very good look. Big man, Luka Barisic, was a major problem for DePaul in the 1st half. Barisic made many impressive low post shots but also stepped outside and hit a couple of threes early on. Both teams played very aggressive in the 1st half. Nick Ongenda and Luka Barisic was a very fun matchup to watch for much of the 1st half, as a majority of the offense went through these two for their respective teams. At halftime, the score was tied at 36 as Javon Freeman-Liberty made a tough drive with two seconds left in the first half.

The start of the second half was much like the first half. More back and forth action with little to no separation between the teams. To my surprise, it was actually Western Illinois who started to take control of the game. Western Illinois would lead the first ten minutes of the second half by five to six points. Colton Sandage and Trenton Massner moved the ball well for Western Illinois during this stretch and helped their teammates get good looks. I didn't think DePaul played particularly bad during this stretch. The biggest problem for DePaul was it seemed for a long stretches, they felt they had to take every shot with 25 on the shot clock. This led to some easy Western Illinois baskets. The turning point in the game was with about six minutes to go. Colton Sandage had been commanding the offense for Western Illinois for much of the game. With about seven minutes to go Western Illinois switched it up and let Trenton Massner handle the ball more and played Colton Sandage. This lead to Western Illinois settling for many threes late in the shot clock. At this time, Javon Freeman-Liberty hit fire. In a minute span, Freeman-Liberty scored eight straight points to give DePaul a 65-61 lead with 5:42 to go. The decision to take the ball out of Sandage's hands late is what I believe cost Western Illinois this game. From that point, on in the game Western Illinois never lead again. DePaul would lead much of the end of the game by ten point and would go on to win 84-80 surviving a last minute Western Illinois run during the foul fest. Javon Freeman-Liberty was the leading scorer for DePaul with 33 points. 27 of which he scored in the 2nd half. Luka Barisic was the leading scorer for Western Illinois with 21 points. 

Overall, I came away impressed with both teams. Although,I do not think you will see either team in the NCAA Tournament this season, they very well could be a team that knocks someone out. DePaul seems to have found a very good coach in Tony Stubblefield. Stubblefield certainly seems to have DePaul on the right track and I would expect them to make the NCAA Tournament very soon. Javon Freeman-Liberty will likely make the 1st or 2nd Team All Big East this season. Guy is certainly the real deal. As for Western Illinois, I was very surprised to see them predicted so low in the Summit. They were predicted to finish 6th. Most believe the Summit once again runs through Oral Roberts as they still have Max Abmas. I could certainly see Western Illinois giving some teams some issues. They shoot ball well and seemed to play as a team. Luka Barisic looks like someone who could make 1st or 2nd Team All Summit League. I certainly think he could play in the Euro League in the future.

My next scheduled game is Alcorn State against Milwaukee.