# 2019–20 DePaul Blue Demons men's basketball team

The 2019–20 DePaul Blue Demons men's basketball team represented DePaul University during the 2019–20 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. They were led by fifth-year (eighth overall with DePaul) head coach Dave Leitao and played their home games at Wintrust Arena in Chicago as members of the Big East Conference. The Demons finished the season 16–16, 3–15 in Big East play to finish in last place. They defeated Xavier in the first round of the Big East tournament before the remaining tournament was canceled due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

## Previous season

The Blue Demons finished the 2018–19 season 19–17, 7–11 in Big East play to finish in a three-way tie for last place. As the No. 10 seed in the Big East tournament, they lost in the first round to St. John's. They received a bid to the College Basketball Invitational where they defeated Central Michigan, Longwood, and Coastal Carolina to advance to the championship series against South Florida. There, in a best-of-three series, they lost to South Florida two games to one.

## Offseason
### Departures

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Reason for departure |
| Eli Cain | 11 | G | 6'6" | 200 | Senior | Willingboro, NJ | Graduated |
| Carte'Are Gordon | 15 | F | 6'9" | 230 | RS Freshman | Saint Louis, MO | Transferred to Northwest Florida State |
| George Maslennikov | 22 | F | 6'10" | 234 | Freshman | Odesa, Ukraine | Transferred |
| Femi Olujobi | 25 | F | 6'8" | 233 | RS Senior | Long Island, NY | Graduated |
| Max Strus | 31 | G | 6'6" | 205 | RS Senior | Hickory Hills, IL | Graduated |
| John Diener | 33 | G | 6'5" | 203 | Freshman | Cedarburg, WI | Transferred to UC San Diego |

### Incoming transfers

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Previous School |
| Charlie Moore | 11 | G | 5'11 | 180 | RS Junior | Chicago, IL | Kansas |

### 2019 recruiting class

US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| Romeo Weems PF | New Haven, MI | New Haven HS | 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) | 215 lb (98 kg) | May 22, 2018 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN grade: 88 ||||||
| Markese Jacobs PG | Chicago, IL | Uplift Community HS | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) | 170 lb (77 kg) | Oct 7, 2018 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN grade: 88 ||||||
| Nick Ongenda C | Mississauga, ON | Southwest Christian (AR) | 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) | 200 lb (91 kg) | Jul 1, 2019 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN grade: 82 ||||||
| Oscar Lopez SG | Garden Grove, CA | Veritas Prep | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) | 210 lb (95 kg) | Oct 3, 2018 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN grade: NR ||||||
| Overall recruiting rankings: ||||||
| Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "2019 DePaul Signees". Rivals.com. Retrieved October 30, 2019. "2019 DePaul Signees". ESPN.com. Retrieved October 30, 2019. "2019 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved October 30, 2019. ||||||

## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | High points | High rebounds | High assists | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Exhibition |||||||||
| October 29, 2019* 7:30 pm | | Marian (WI) | W 110–22 | – | 19 – Reed | 8 – Tied | 7 – Moore | Wintrust Arena Chicago, IL |
| Non-conference regular season |||||||||
| November 5, 2019* 8:00 pm, FS2 | | Alcorn State | W 72–54 | 1-0 | 17 – Reed | 11 – Reed | 5 – Moore | Wintrust Arena (3,483) Chicago, IL |
| November 6, 2019* 7:30 pm, FS2 | | Chicago | W 84–55 | 2–0 | 17 – Moore | 6 – Moore | 7 – Tied | Wintrust Arena (3,436) Chicago, IL |
| November 8, 2019* 7:00 pm, FS2 | | Fairleigh Dickinson | W 70–59 | 3–0 | 27 – Moore | 11 – Reed | 4 – Tied | Wintrust Arena (3,945) Chicago, IL |
| November 11, 2019* 7:00 pm, FS1 | | at Iowa Gavitt Tipoff Games | W 93–78 | 4–0 | 25 – Reed | 12 – Reed | 5 – Tied | Carver-Hawkeye Arena (9,961) Iowa City, IA |
| November 16, 2019* 12:00 pm, FSN/WCIU-TV | | Cornell | W 75–54 | 5–0 | 18 – Reed | 12 – Red | 4 – Weems | Wintrust Arena (3,837) Chicago, IL |
| November 23, 2019* 11:00 am, ACCNX | | at Boston College | W 72–67 | 6–0 | 24 – Moore | 10 – Tied | 8 – Moore | Conte Forum (4,560) Chestnut Hill, MA |
| November 26, 2019* 7:00 pm, FS1 | | Central Michigan | W 88–75 | 7–0 | 23 – Reed | 11 – Tied | 13 – Moore | Wintrust Arena (4,097) Chicago, IL |
| November 29, 2019* 2:00 pm, FS1 | | at Minnesota | W 73–68 | 8–0 | 21 – Moore | 9 – Reed | 12 – Moore | Williams Arena (10,260) Minneapolis, MN |
| December 4, 2019* 7:30 pm, FS1 | | Texas Tech Big East/Big 12 Battle | W 65–60 $^{OT}$ | 9–0 | 18 – Tied | 8 – Hall | 10 – Moore | Wintrust Arena (5,493) Chicago, IL |
| December 8, 2019* 4:00 pm, FS1 | | Buffalo | L 69-74 | 9–1 | 17 – Coleman-Lands | 18 – Reed | 6 – Moore | Wintrust Arena (4,419) Chicago, IL |
| December 14, 2019* 1:00 pm, FS1 | | UIC | W 86–65 | 10–1 | 26 – Moore | 12 – Reed | 5 – Moore | Wintrust Arena (4,620) Chicago, IL |
| December 18, 2019* 6:00 pm, ESPN3 | | at Cleveland State | W 73–65 | 11–1 | 19 – Reed | 10 – Reed | 4 – Coleman-Lands | Wolstein Center (991) Cleveland, OH |
| December 21, 2019* 7:30 pm, CBSSN | | Northwestern | W 83–78 | 12–1 | 25 – Moore | 12 – Reed | 10 – Moore | Wintrust Arena (6,357) Chicago, IL |
| Big East regular season |||||||||
| December 30, 2019 7:30 pm, FS1 | | Seton Hall | L 66–74 | 12–2 (0–1) | 17 – Reed | 11 – Butz | 4 – Moore | Wintrust Arena (6,364) Chicago, IL |
| January 4, 2020 2:00 pm, FS1 | | Providence | L 65–66 | 12–3 (0–2) | 24 – Reed | 15 – Reed | 5 – Moore | Wintrust Arena (4,945) Chicago, IL |
| January 11, 2020 11:00 am, FSN/WCIU-TV | | at St. John's | L 67–74 | 12–4 (0–3) | 17 – Butz | 12 – Reed | 12 – Moore | Madison Square Garden (6,636) New York City, NY |
| January 14, 2020 7:30 pm, FS1 | | at No. 14 Villanova | L 75–79 $^{OT}$ | 12–5 (0–4) | 29 – Moore | 15 – Reed | 6 – Moore | Finneran Pavilion (6,501) Villanova, PA |
| January 18, 2020 12:00 pm, FSN/WCIU-TV | | No. 5 Butler | W 79–66 | 13–5 (1–4) | 23 – Reed | 9 – Reed | 8 – Moore | Wintrust Arena (8,967) Chicago, IL |
| January 22, 2020 8:00 pm, CBSSN | | Creighton | L 68–83 | 13–6 (1–5) | 22 – Reed | 12 – Reed | 7 – Moore | Wintrust Arena (4,535) Chicago, IL |
| January 25, 2020 1:00 pm, FS1 | | St. John's | L 66–79 | 13–7 (1–6) | 20 – Moore | 12 – Reed | 5 – Moore | Wintrust Arena (5,950) Chicago, IL |
| January 29, 2020 5:30 pm, FS1 | | at No. 10 Seton Hall | L 57–64 | 13–8 (1–7) | 14 – Moore | 7 – Reed | 4 – Moore | Prudential Center (9,302) Newark, NJ |
| February 1, 2020 1:00 pm, FSN/WCIU-TV | | at Marquette | L 72–76 | 13–9 (1–8) | 21 – Moore | 7 – Reed | 8 – Moore | Fiserv Forum (17,781) Milwaukee, WI |
| February 4, 2020 8:00 pm, FS1 | | Xavier | L 59–67 | 13–10 (1–9) | 18 – Reed | 9 – Reed | 8 – Moore | Wintrust Arena (4,526) Chicago, IL |
| February 8, 2020 11:00 am, FSN/WCIU-TV | | at Georgetown | L 72–76 | 13–11 (1–10) | 17 – Coleman-Lands | 13 – Reed | 9 – Moore | Capital One Arena (10,308) Washington, D.C. |
| February 15, 2020 6:30 pm, FS1 | | at No. 23 Creighton | L 64–93 | 13–12 (1–11) | 20 – Moore | 5 – Weems | 5 – Moore | CHI Health Center Omaha (17,865) Omaha, NE |
| February 19, 2020 8:00 pm, CBSSN | | No. 12 Villanova | L 71–91 | 13–13 (1–12) | 17 – Coleman-Lands | 7 – Reed | 4 – Lopez Jr. | Wintrust Arena (5,451) Chicago, IL |
| February 22, 2020 8:00 pm, FS1 | | Georgetown | W 74–68 | 14–13 (2–12) | 20 – Moore | 10 – Reed | 7 – Moore | Wintrust Arena (6,045) Chicago, IL |
| February 25, 2020 6:00 pm, CBSSN | | at Xavier | L 67–78 | 14–14 (2–13) | 16 – Weems | 16 – Reed | 4 – Lopez Jr. | Cintas Center (10,224) Cincinnati, OH |
| February 29, 2020 5:30 pm, FS1 | | at Butler | L 42–60 | 14–15 (2–14) | 8 – Tied | 9 – Butz | 2 – Hall | Hinkle Fieldhouse (9,233) Indianapolis, IN |
| March 3, 2020 7:00 pm, FS1 | | Marquette | W 69–68 | 15–15 (3–14) | 15 – Moore | 11 – Weems | 3 – Moore | Wintrust Arena (6,901) Chicago, IL |
| March 7, 2020 5:30 pm, FS1 | | at Providence | L 55–93 | 15–16 (3–15) | 14 – Moore | 6 – Tied | 6 – Moore | Dunkin' Donuts Center (12,103) Providence, RI |
| Big East tournament |||||||||
| March 11, 2020 8:30 pm, FS1 | (10) | vs. (7) Xavier First round | W 71–67 | 16–16 | 23 – Reed | 12 – Reed | 9 – Moore | Madison Square Garden (17,534) New York City, NY |
| Canceled |||||||||
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time. |||||||||
Source:

## Ranking

Ranking movements Legend: RV = Received votes :
| | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week |
| Poll | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | Final |
| AP | | | | | | RV | RV | RV | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Coaches | | | | | RV | RV | RV | RV | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
*AP does not release post-NCAA Tournament rankings