The DePauw men’s basketball team has now dropped five of their last six games after an underwhelming loss to Oberlin 49-48 on Saturday.
The Tigers had two chances to score in the final five seconds of the game, but failed to convert on either attempt.
“We came out flat coming off a tough loss to Denison,” sophomore guard Alex Payne said. “I think partially, we just overlooked (Oberlin). That just can’t happen especially in a new conference.”
The Tigers shot just 37.5 percent from the field in a loss that marked a steep turnaround from DePauw’s last game against Oberlin on Jan. 21, in which the Tigers dismantled the Yeomen 69-37. That win was only their second in conference play.
DePauw will finish its regular season this week, with games against the Wittenberg Tigers Wednesday night and Wooster on Saturday.
Those opponents are tall orders for these Tigers who stand at 13-10 overall, 7-7 in the NCAC.
Though the Tigers have struggled defensively at times, it is a more methodical and effective look on offense that has sparked former Tiger victories.
“Our recognition on the offense end needs to improve,” assistant coach Brian Oilar said. “We didn’t know what we were looking for and when to look for it. We have lost some offense chemistry a little bit and need to get the ball to multiple sides of floor.”
Regardless of recent struggles, DePauw still has an outside chance to gain home court advantage in the conference tournament beginning Feb. 21.
“If we can have two great performances in these next two games, I don’t think it’s going to matter who we play,” Oilar said. “We can beat anyone in the league. We’ve proven that at points in the season.”
The top eight teams out of 10 are invited to the NCAC Tournament. DePauw is currently sitting at sixth in the standings. To gain home court advantage, DePauw will need to be at least a No. 4 seed — they are currently two games back from Wabash, who hold that spot.
DePauw will look to surpass Denison for the No. 5 seed. Denison sits one game ahead of DePauw and finishes the year at home against Kenyon and away at Ohio Wesleyan.
“We are definitely thinking about [the NCAC Tournament],” junior Kevin Sullivan said. “As it stands, we will either be at Ohio Wesleyan or at Wabash. Those are two places we will have to stick it out and get a win.”
In the short term, Wittenberg is an immense challenge. The other Tigers from Springfield, Ohio, clinched at least a share of the NCAC regular season title with a 68-62 overtime victory over second place Wooster on Saturday.
“They offer a lot of big guys down low that can bang around,” Sullivan said. “I’m confident in [senior] Sean Haesley, [sophomore] Camron Burns, [junior] Barry Flynn and [freshman] Tommy Fernitz posting up down low. I’m confident in our matchups. We only lost at their place by four, I think it will be a different story once we have some fans in our seats.”
With a two-game lead and a confident victory, Wittenberg will be a challenge for a young Tiger team who have struggled shooting the ball all season.
The most prevalent challenge will be containing senior Clayton Black, who leads Wittenberg with 14.6 ppg and 7.2 rpg.
Black, who surpassed the 1,000-point marker for his career, is a physical, athletic and tenured force down on the blocks, making him a challenge for the Tigers both on offense and defense.
“We need to have better preventative defense on [Black],” Oilar said. “That means not letting him catch the ball on the first play. Once he’s got it, he’s really tough to handle. We want to push him off the blocks and off the lane.”
DePauw will need to rebound more effectively against Wittenberg as they were out-rebounded 35-to-25 in their last game against the Tigers and shot just 9-for-30 from three-point territory.
“We need to come out and follow the same game plan with fewer defensive lapses,” Payne said. “Wittenberg is a first place team and maybe this is exactly what we need to come out with more energy.”
Having endured a full schedule in a battle-tested NCAC, DePauw knows that losing at this stage is not an option.
The clock has struck, and it’s time to see if DePauw can culminate their season into one of progress and success.
