CHICAGO — DePaul’s defense turned DePaul vs Georgetown into a grind and cashed it in late, holding the Hoyas to one made field goal after halftime in a 56-50 Big East win Tuesday night at Wintrust Arena. Georgetown went 1 for 23 from the floor in the second half, and the Blue Demons erased a three-point break deficit by stacking stops, rebounds and timely free throws, Jan. 6, 2026.
DePaul vs Georgetown: one field goal after halftime flips the night
Georgetown carried a 35-32 lead into the locker room, then watched the game slip away possession by possession. The Hoyas missed their first 12 shots of the second half and didn’t make another field goal after KJ Lewis completed a three-point play with 10:07 left. By the horn, Georgetown had scored 15 points after the break — 12 on free throws — while DePaul won the second half 24-15.
The ESPN box score showed just how extreme it got: Georgetown finished 12 of 53 (22.6%) from the field and 1 of 12 from 3-point range. DePaul shot 35.3% and didn’t need to be sharp offensively as long as it kept winning the empty trips.
Lewis led the Hoyas with 18 points and seven rebounds, while center Vince Iwuchukwu’s return added defensive punch — four blocks and three steals — but not enough scoring to stabilize the final 10 minutes. “I just thought physically and offensively we weren’t the team that we want to be,” Georgetown coach Ed Cooley said afterward, per the program’s recap.
For DePaul, Brandon Maclin delivered 13 points and 11 rebounds off the bench, and N.J. Benson hauled in 16 rebounds. DePaul said its second-half clampdown matched an NCAA shot-clock-era mark for fewest field goals allowed in a half, and noted it’s 7-0 when holding opponents under 65 points.
DePaul’s postgame notes also credited Benson’s rebounding as a Big East program benchmark and framed the 15 points allowed after halftime as the fewest the Blue Demons have ever surrendered to a conference opponent in the league’s era.
The Associated Press game report emphasized how little margin either side had in a low-possession finish — and how DePaul made the decisive plays anyway, with Maclin and Benson controlling the glass and the Blue Demons protecting a late lead even as their own shot-making lagged.
The AP recap noted Georgetown’s second-half shooting collapse and DePaul’s ability to win despite a modest offensive night.
What DePaul vs Georgetown means going forward
The result kept a recent DePaul vs Georgetown pattern rolling. DePaul has now won four straight in the series, a run that began with a 73-68 win in Washington in mid-January 2025 when Georgetown was short two starters, continued with an 83-77 decision in Chicago to close the regular season, and carried into a 71-67 Big East tournament win at Madison Square Garden.
Those earlier checkpoints: Jan. 17, 2025, at Capital One Arena; March 8, 2025, at Wintrust Arena; and March 12, 2025, in New York.
Next up, DePaul heads to No. 4 UConn on Saturday, Jan. 10, while Georgetown returns home to host Seton Hall the same day as the Hoyas try to reset their offense after a second-half drought that decided DePaul vs Georgetown long before the final buzzer.
