DePaul falls to Buffalo for first loss of 2019-20

For the first time since April’s College Basketball Invitational Final, the DePaul Blue Demons lost a college basketball game, falling 74-69 to the Buffalo Bulls Sunday afternoon at Wintrust Arena.

The game started with the teams trading the lead throughout the first half, before Buffalo’s Ronaldo Segu hit back to back threes to turn Buffalo’s one-point lead into a seven point lead, putting the Bulls up 37-30 going into the break. It was alarming, but fixable for DePaul, or so everyone thought.

Buffalo opened the second half with even more scoring, and by the first media timeout of the second frame, the Bulls had a 50-32 lead over the Blue Demons, as it seemed the game had gotten out of hand. To DePaul’s credit, much like in the Texas Tech game, they kept fighting. DePaul chipped away at the 18 point lead, getting it as low as four points with 1:42 to play, but the Blue Demons just couldn’t make it out of the hole as they took their first loss of the year.

The game really came down to a couple big things. First off, DePaul went 7-18 (.388) from the free throw line. When you lose a game by five points and leave 11 at the stripe like that, it’s not ideal. Leading scorer Charlie Moore struggled for the second straight game, recording just eight points, seven of which came in the first half. Moore went 0-8 from the field in the second half, and committed a season-high eight turnovers in the game.

Despite the loss, Paul Reed had another great game. Reed finished with 15 points, 18 rebounds, and five blocks, his seventh game this season with at least three blocks.

Jalen Coleman-Lands led DePaul with 17 points, while Jayvon Graves led Buffalo with 21.

DePaul will be back in action Saturday when they host Illinois-Chicago.