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 "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair ..."- Charles Dickens Saturday afternoon's game at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont pitted the 10-13 University of South Florida Bulls against the 9-13 DePaul Blue Demons was indeed a tale of two cities, or opposing sides of the same coin. Heading into the game, star freshman center Mac Koshwal missed an academic commitment, so he did not start as usual. Starting in his place was another Chicagoland high school phenom: sophomore Will Walker. Whatever it was, the lineup change or college kids still hungover for the afternoon start, or whatever, things did not go DePaul's way in the first half. Led by senior center Kentrell Gransberry, one of the top rebounders in the nation and their leading scorer, freshman Dominque Jones, the Bulls started fast and furious. Jones was the first to strike, hitting a three a minute into the game, and USF would not trail for the whole half. The Bulls did a good job containing the DePaul offense, forcing them to shoot only 23.3% from the floor in the first. Gransberry in particular, shut down Koshwal. Mac only scored one point and missed five layups in the period as Gransberry refused to give him a clear look at the hoop. During post-game interviews, Gransberry said he focused on slowing down Koshwal in film sessions. He described his offensive game as similar to that of Kevin Garnett, in the sense that he is a "good face-up guy." USF coaches told him to stay in front of Mac, which he did all night, holding the '07 18th best recruit, according to rivals.com, to only five points. Clearly the Garnett comparison was referring only to KG's preference to face-up defenders. If they try to front him, Garnett still beats them using all the other tools in his nearly limitless offensive repertoire. Mac may be there some day, but it wasn't Saturday afternoon. Offensively, the Bulls were clicking. No one on DePaul could stop Gransberry. As he dominated the low post, the DePaul guards were forced to slack off their men to help. Gransberry then fed the open shooters, and Jones drained 75% of his threes. With five and a half minutes left in the half, USF was up by sixteen, when DePaul made a half-hearted run, cutting the lead to under ten with a minute to go. Solomon Bozeman responded with a three to end the period, and DePaul looked deflated and done. But I guess, that's why they play two halves of basketball. In the second period, the roles reversed. The second started on a good note as Koshwal finally made a lay-up. From there on DePaul steadily eroded USF's lead. The leader on the offensive end was sophomore Will Walker. After only scoring two points in the first, Walker made the most of his opportunity to start following Koshwal's transgression and poured in twenty in the second. He was raining threes on the Bulls, making four out of the five he attempted. Senior Draelon Burns also scored twenty in the half. As the crowd got more into it, a snowball effect took place, and before the Bulls knew it, the Demons had rolled all over their double-digit lead. DePaul outscored their opponent 48 to 29 in the half, doing lots of damage from long range, making seven threes. Wesley "Hollywood" Green even got into the act, putting up two very ill-advised threes of his own. While Green does shoot a surprising 46% for his career in the few threes he has taken, Saturday he unsurprisingly missed. Afterwards, coach Jerry Wainwright said "I nearly passed out" when he saw Wes square up from distance. He was not mad; however, noting it is always better not to be afraid, and just as with a long put, at least Hollywood got enough distance to give himself a chance. At the post-game press conference, reporters were eager to hear what exactly happened at half time. Was it a soul-lifting motivational speech? Or did he motivate with a tongue lashing that would make Vince Lombardi proud? He disappointed, saying everyone looks for these "Knute Rockne" speeches, but what it boils down to is guys have to "play better." Indeed. Despite shooting an abysmal 23% from the floor in the first, star of the game Walker told said to focus on the defensive side of the court. "Coach told us not to worry about offense, it will come." Come it did. As Saturday, it was the half of futility, it was the half of triumph ..DePaul steals this one 69-61 and improves to 10-13 overall, and 5-6 in the Big East Conference.
More Stories from CS Columnist Charlie Danoff
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