A week ago, players walked out of the locker room with emotionless faces and head coach Bill Fenlon sat in the athletic training room with his hands buried in his face after a loss to Oberlin College.
After the men's most recent game this past Saturday, the post-game scenario was notably opposite, as thunderous applause and a slight gait accompanied the DePauw men's basketball team.
The Tigers led by as many as 26 points against the College of Wooster, and Fenlon reached deep into his bench in the waning minutes to close out the game, 68-52. The Fighting Scots - ranked No. 9 in the country by D3Hoops.com - were outplayed on both ends of the floor as DePauw shot 53.8 percent from the field in the first half, and their top scorer, Doug Thorpe, did not score.
The victory locked up the No. 4 spot in the North Coast Athletic Conference standings for the Tigers and they will host their first round game Tuesday against Wittenberg University.
"You beat the No. 9 team in the country going into the conference tournament, I don't think you can feel any better about things," Fenlon said. "There are a lot of things over the course of the season that we'd like to have as do-overs. ... I like the direction that we're going in and we'll see if we can keep it going."
DePauw started off in a flurry against Wooster (21-4, 14-2 NCAC), scoring on their first six of eight offensive possessions. After eight minutes, the Tigers had a 10 point lead, prompting a timeout by Fighting Scots head coach, Steve Moore.
"It was real good defense," Moore said about his team's struggles on offense. "[DePauw] played extremely well on both ends of the floor. They are a really good basketball team and they're playing really well right now."
By the end of the first half, the Tigers led by 12, 42-30 and Barry Flynn had 15 of his total 21 points. The senior said after the game he and his teammates learned much from their earlier season match-up with Wooster.
"Last time we played them they had a lot of trouble with our pick-and-rolls," Flynn said. "Our guards did a good job of coming off the screen and attacking the middle. Our guards getting in the middle and creating for us really made a huge difference tonight."
Despite the lead, DePauw was outrebounded 17-13 at the break and surrendered nine offensive boards as well. Fenlon urged his team to focus on boxing out to reduce the Fighting Scots' second-chance opportunities and they responded.
Wooster gained just four offensive boards in the second half, and watched their deficit balloon with an 18-3 Tigers scoring run over 11 minutes.
"DePauw played a great game, not just the first half but overall," Moore said. "They were driving around us. They were explosive and really fired up. I was extremely impressed by the way they played."
Thorpe, who coming in to Saturday's contest led Wooster with 13.6 points per game, played sparingly in the second half, and finished the game 0-6 from the field.
"We are playing a lot of guys and a lot of guys got an opportunity to guard Thorpe today," Fenlon said. "[Assistant coach] Brian Oilar who had the scout on Wooster emphasized that all week - you don't guard Thorpe with one guy."
DePauw ended shooting 33.3 percent from the field in the second, but conversely held Wooster to 26.1 percent shooting to close out the game. The Tigers nailed seven three-pointers out of 17 attempts compared to a 3-15 performance from the Fighting Scots beyond the arc.
Backing Flynn's 21 point effort, freshman Adam Botts had nine and Kevin Sullivan and Connor Rich both pitched in with eight apiece.
The win ended DePauw's regular season with a final mark of 16-9 overall and 9-7 in the NCAC. Last season, the Tigers finished 7-9 in conference, and fell in the first round of the NCAC tournament to Wooster.
Fenlon hopes this final win gives his team confidence going forward, and can continue to play at a high level after winning two straight games in the shadow of a loss to Oberlin College last weekend.
"When you look at what's coming up, this team has been very hard to predict," Fenlon said. "This is not how you would predict it to happen. But our response after a really bad loss last Saturday is exactly what you would like to see from your team."
Added Flynn, "There's no reason why we can't view ourselves as an elite team that can make some noise in the NCAC tournament and possibly the NCAA tournament.
"Everyone on the team would agree that we're hot right now and everyone is fired up and excited about being a member of this DePauw basketball team."