CHICAGO _ As DePaul awaited officially beginning a new era in Wintrust Arena on Saturday afternoon, a legend from the past walked through the tunnel and onto the court.
Mark Aguirre delivered the game ball to midcourt.
The Blue Demons hope to finally close the gap between its past glory and a new beginning in the South Loop after 37 years in the outdated Allstate Arena in Rosemont.
In front of a hearty crowd in the arena that wasn't quite at its 10,387-seat capacity, DePaul challenged No. 14 Notre Dame but the Irish eventually pulled away for a 72-58 victory. It was a familiar feeling for DePaul, which has played competitively against some of college basketball's upper echelon teams but was still unable to pull off an upset.
Bonzie Colson, Notre Dame's preseason first -team All-American player, had a quiet double-double with 18 points and 13 rebounds. But it was sophomore T.J. Gibbs who took over.
Gibbs scored 21 points as a starter on Saturday, making 4 of 7 3-pointers. As a freshman last season, he averaged merely 4.7 points in 15 minutes per game.
The Irish had struggled to hit 3s early (3 of 15 in the first half) but drilled 9 of 12 after the half.
The Blue Demons tied the game 22-22 with less than five minutes to play in the first half, and they trailed 29-28 three minutes into the second half. Back-to-back missed dunks by Max Strus were answered with consecutive 3-pointers by the Irish.
Strus, making his debut as a transfer from Lewis, hit just 3 of 13 shots for 11 points. DePaul was led by 14 points apiece from Tre'Darius McCallum and Eli Cain.
The season opener for both teams was the first meeting between them since 2012-13 season.
