IOWA CITY (AP) — DePaul’s Paul Reed was named the most improved player in the Big East last season.
Reed is still getting better by the day, leading the resurgent Blue Demons to their best start in over a decade.
Reed scored 25 points with 12 rebounds and DePaul blew past Iowa 93-78 on the road Monday to move to 4-0 for the first time since 2008-09.
Jalen Coleman-Lands had 17 points for the Blue Demons. They opened the game on a 19-2 run, went up 24 in just 13:16 and never looked back.
“I couldn’t be happier about the start. This was our fourth game in seven days and worrying about fatigue was concerning. But we didn’t really show it,” DePaul coach Dave Leitao said.
DePaul set off to a blistering pace on both sides of the ball, hitting 8-of-14 3s in the first half and its lead quickly stretched from 16 to 22 points. Markese Jacobs then buried a wide-open 3 to make it 40-16.
The Blue Demons also forced 12 turnovers in the first 20 minutes — constantly flummoxing an Iowa team that always seemed a step behind — in building a 53-30 lead.
“We have to recognize that there’s a difference between playing hard and competing,” Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said about his post-game address to the team. “We played hard. We didn’t compete.”
Iowa tried to throw a press defense and some zone at DePaul to open the second half, but it did little to stop the surging Demons.
Reed’s open 3 with 14:45 to go pushed DePaul ahead 65-41.
“He’s worked really hard (on his 3s). ...he’s always been really good at finishing around the basket and slicing his way,” DePaul coach Dave Leitao said of the 6-foot-9 Reed, who was 3 of 4 on 3s. “He’s a very natural and elite-level defender.”
CJ Fredrick scored 16 points and Luka Garza had 14 for Iowa (1-1), which turned the ball over 19 times and let the Blue Demons shoot 61.4 % from the floor and 11 of 20 on 3s.
The Hawkeyes entered play as a 9-point favorite. Instead, they needed a late 11-1 run to make the final score seem more respectable than it was.
“I don’t think we handled it well,” McCaffery said. “They were on fire. We sort of had this mindset that we were going to get it all back at once. You just can’t do that.”
Reed, a second-team preseason All-Big Ten pick, finished with his third double-double in four games. Devin Gage added 13 points on 6-of-6 shooting for DePaul.
THE BIG PICTURE
Iowa: The Hawkeyes looked slow, especially on defense, and they lacked length against the more athletic Blue Demons despite starting a pair of 6-foot-11 players. It’s still mid-November, so Monday’s loss might be later viewed as an aberration. But Iowa hadn’t looked that bad at home in a long time. “I’m not concerned that this team has problems that are not fixable,” McCaffery said.
ON IOWA
Jordan Bohannon had just three points in 16 minutes as he works his way back from hip surgery. ...Freshman Joe Toussiant showed some late fight, scoring all 13 of his points in the second half. ...Forward Ryan Kriener also had 13 points on 5-of-5 shooting. ...Jack Nunge, who started at forward, went scoreless while playing just 10 minutes.
LOSING FOSTER
The loss to DePaul capped a miserable Veteran’s Day for Iowa fans.
Four-star prep recruit 7-foot Xavier Foster, who plays at Oskaloosa High (Iowa) some 80 miles southeast of Iowa City, announced on Monday morning at a press conference at his school that he’ll play for Iowa State instead of the Hawkeyes next season. The Cyclones and Iowa were Foster’s final picks.
UP NEXT
Iowa hosts Oral Roberts on Friday.