DePaul fell to Connecticut Saturday night, losing 81-69 at the All State Arena. It was a tale of two halves for DePaul, as they led 37-34 at halftime, but eventually succumbed to the offensive onslaught of Connecticut in the second half. Connecticut converted on 60% of its shots in the game, and made 11 of 22 three pointers. In the second half, Connecticut made an astounding 70.8% of its field goals.

Junior forward Cleveland Melvin had a double-double, with 20 points and 10 rebounds. Brandon Young added 13 points and 6 assists, and Worrel Clahar contributed 10 points and 7 assists.

Connecticut guard Ryan Boatright, an Aurora native, had a nice homecoming game of sorts. The sophomore guard and former East Aurora standout finished with 17 points, 6 assists and 4 rebounds in front of a small contingent of family and friends.

Pivotal Moment:

Melvin hit a jumper to extend DePaul's lead to 47-46 with 14:47 left in the game, but Connecticut responded with a 13-0 run over the 3:19. The impressive run gave Connecticut a demanding 12 point lead and effectively put the game out of reach for DePaul.

Key Stats:

DePaul was outrebounded 32-21, but the stat is deceiving when you consider Connecticut made 30 of 50 field goal attempts. Melvin had 10 rebounds, and the second highest rebounders were Clahar, Jamee Crockett and Donnavan Kirk, at two a piece.

Another interesting stat was both team's turnovers. Connecticut committed 17 turnovers, compared to DePaul's 11 turnovers. But DePaul was only able to score 17 points off of Connecticut's turnovers. Connecticut scored 14 off of DePaul's 11 turnovers.

Next For DePaul:

DePaul (11-16, 2-12) takes on Louisville (22-5, 10-4) on Wednesday at 8:00 pm at the All State Arena.

Notes:

A pair of potential class of 2014 recruits were in attendance Saturday night, in addition to 2013 commit Billy Garrett Jr. Forward Marlon Jones from Orr and guard Larry Austin from Springfield Lanphier both took in Saturday's game.