CHICAGO _ DePaul students _ rowdy and hollering for most of the night Tuesday, holding up fatheads of player Charlie Moore and musician Chance the Rapper _ eagerly (and literally) embraced the players as they exited the court.
"Keep it up." "Love that energy." "Way to go!"
A fan in a blue DePaul jersey enthusiastically wrapped senior guard Jalen Coleman-Lands in a hug.
Dave Leitao headed toward the locker room ahead of the players with his head bowed until a fan yelled, "Leitao, fist bump," and the coach obliged.
The warmth felt at Wintrust Arena after the Blue Demons defeated Marquette 69-68 in their regular-season home finale begged the question: What would this place have been like had the Demons continued playing like they had in the nonconference part of their schedule?
Even Leitao had an early-season flashback.
"(It was) 32-32 at halftime," Leitao said. "I could hear them. We got down a couple times. When we got those stops, made key baskets, we could hear them. I got a split-second notion late in the game. This is what it felt like for those games we had earlier (in the season) when our crowd was a big part of our wins."
Regardless of the outcome of their regular-season finale Saturday at Providence, the Blue Demons (15-15, 3-14) will finish in last place in the Big East for the fourth straight season.
What does one make of a team that has five Quad 1 wins but only three conference wins?
Five wins in that important Quad 1 category puts the Blue Demons alongside Gonzaga, Florida State and Illinois. It's more than Dayton or Louisville has accumulated.
DePaul stacked some of those impressive nonconference victories at Iowa, at Minnesota and against Texas Tech.
High hopes are rare in Lincoln Park, but fans had reason to dream through most of December. The Blue Demons won their first nine games and 12 of their first 13.
But then Big East play started. And DePaul became DePaul.
The Blue Demons lost eight straight in an ugly stretch that included 12 of 13 defeats.
Leitao is 63-97 overall and 19-70 in Big East play in the fifth season of his second stint at DePaul. (He coached the Blue Demons from 2002-2005, guiding them to their last NCAA Tournament appearance in 2004.)
He mentioned the word "resiliency" several times after Tuesday's victory. DePaul struggled from the floor _ they shot just 30.4% overall and only 4 of 22 (18.2%) on 3-pointers _ but the Blue Demons drove aggressively, and it paid off with 35 free-throw attempts, of which they made 31.
DePaul also overcame playing without double-double machine Paul Reed, who is day to day with a hip injury.
Moore led five Blue Demons in double figures with 15 points despite missing 12 of 15 shots overall and 6 of 7 3-pointers. Romeo Weems added 13.
The Golden Eagles (18-11, 8-9) have their own problems, losing five of six after a hot start.
Leitao credited the DePaul defense, which forced 16 turnovers.
"Early on we were really, really good," he said. "It's one of the things I got a little disappointed about (during the losing streak) is we didn't have the same energy and resiliency defensively, and when the offense wasn't working the defense broke down."
Leitao said he has been thinking about wild conference-tournament performances that launched bottom-rung teams into the NCAA Tournament.
He recalled Dennis Felton's 2008 Georgia team that finished the regular season at 4-12 in the SEC but won four straight games to claim the conference tournament championship and advance to the NCAA Tournament.
"Those kinds of things happen, but you have to make them happen," Leitao said. "We have to remain resilient. We've got to remain positive. We've got to understand it's out there for us."
It's another losing Big East season for DePaul. The only bright side? It's not over yet.
"We can't do anything about yesterday," Leitao said. "We can just be better tomorrow."
