February 3, 2026; Chicago, Illinois, USA; DePaul Blue Demons head coach Chris Holtmann directs his team against the St. John’s Red Storm during the first half at Wintrust Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Image DePaul has won only one league game since joining the Big East in 2005.
The Blue Demons finished in last place in the Big East 10 times in their first 20 years, sharing the basement the other two times.
Against that backdrop, there will be more going on than the record suggests when DePaul (16-14, 8-11) takes on Butler (15-15, 6-13) in the regular season finale Saturday morning in Chicago.
If the Blue Demons win, they will earn the No. 5 seed and a first-round bye in the Big East tournament. They have never said goodbye or been given such a high seed. They also completed the school’s first winning season since 2018-19.
“This program was good once,” said DePaul guard Brandon Maclin, one of four Senior Day honorees. “And then it fell from a good place. We have to rebuild it and I believe we are the foundation to get the program right back to where it needs to be.”
Second-year coach Chris Holtmann, one of 20 finalists for the Jim Phelan Award for national coach of the year, has rebuilt the Blue Demons through defensive effort and unselfishness.
According to KenPom, DePaul ranked 39th in defensive efficiency (100.6 points allowed per 100 possessions) and 27th in assists per field goal (60.8%) in Friday action.
One of the areas of concern? The Blue Demons may be tired because they have played so hard to get to where they are. They went just 2 of 16 from 3-point range in Wednesday’s 19-point home loss to Villanova.
“There are players who have logged a lot of minutes throughout the season, and I think we are catching up to some extent,” Holtmann said. “We have to find a way to keep them fresh, which is why I had some of those guys on the bench a little bit longer (Wednesday night).”
“The clean look that we have, the clean look that some of our employees have that they’re missing is a little bit unique.”
Butler enter Saturday after a similarly disappointing Wednesday result at home. The Bulldogs suffered a 17-point loss to Creighton while hitting just 4 of 24 from 3-point range. Coach Thad Matta said it was a new low for his team, which has dropped eight of its last 10 games.
“It was one of those games where we didn’t have it,” Matta said after the 76-57 loss to Creighton. “The thing that bothers me the most is sitting at home and watching the game at night. Wow, there’s a team that’s trained. They’ve trained. I said to my wife, ‘We haven’t done that yet. We’ve kept fighting. We’ve kept scratching. We’ve kept clawing.'”
Individually, Butler’s Michael Ajayi (16.4 ppg, 11.1 rpg) and Finley Bizjack (17.0 ppg) and DePaul’s CJ Gunn (13.5 ppg) and NJ Benson (11.3 ppg, 7.5 rpg) all have one final opportunity to improve their Big East credentials and put up numbers.
–Field level media
