Freshman guard Billy Garrett Jr. has been a huge part of the improvement we’ve seen in DePaul Blue Demons basketball this season. They’re 2-3 in the Big East, and if you look at how they’ve been competitive in every league game this year, they might be around .500 in conference play when it’s all said and done.
Sure, that’s not the Final Four or anything, but you have to remember what DePaul has been in the Oliver Purnell era. His best year in the Big East was 3-15, so he’s obviously poised to finish much better than that in 2014. And star frosh Billy Garrett Jr. is a big reason why.
“I thought our guards were outstanding. That’s an example of guards winning for you,” Purnell said after DePaul’s win over St. John’s. It marked the first time the Demons have won back to back conference games since 2008.
Billy Garrett Jr. is developing chemistry with senior guard Brandon Young.
“Our chemistry is getting a lot better. I know where he’s going to be, he knows where I’m going to be,” Garrett said.
Said Young after the victory: “Today was a good win. Everybody contributed.”
Billy Garrett Jr. accomplished a lot before he even set foot on the Lincoln Park campus. He was ninth in Illinois Mr. Basketball voting during his final season at Morgan Park high school. He finished up as the school’s all-time leading scorer, and is one of just two players to have his jersey retired in MP history. McDonald’s All-American and Louisville wing Wayne Blackshear is the other. And Garrett has some basketball lineage. The grandfather of Billy Garrett Jr. was the first African-American in the history of the Big Ten (Indiana Hoosiers) and his father is an assistant on the DePaul staff.
Paul M. Banks is the owner of The Sports Bank.net, an affiliate of Fox Sports. He’s also an analyst for multiple news talk radio stations across the country; with regular weekly segments discussing: Illinois, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Bears and Bulls on NBC and Fox Sports Radio. President Barack Obama follows him on Twitter (@paulmbanks)