The game started off on the sloppy side. DePaul turned the ball over three times on their first four possessions. Southern Mississippi was no better. The Golden Eagles turned the ball over consistenly also, this was not due to a pressure applied by the Blue Demons defense. At 11:44 of the 1st half Southern Mississippi had turned around their offense. They were shooting a red hot 11 of 13 from the floor including 4 in a row. At this point they led the Blue Demons by eight 17 to 9. Bobby Simmons hit a three pointer at 10:44 to draw DePaul to within five at 17 to 12. Kevin Hartsfield bagged another three at the 10:00 minute mark to make it 19 to 15 Southern Mississippi still leading, a lead the Golden Eagles held for most of the game.
At 8:16 in the first half DePaul pulled to within 2 at 21 to 19. Quentin Richardson had yet to get heated up. Meanwhile former "Super Soph." for Indiana, Neil Reed, was already in double figures by the eight minute mark of the first half. Another Neil Reed bucket at the 7:00 minute mark gave him 12 points on 4 of 5 shooting from the floor. The Blue Demons old nemesis, the freethrow, continued to haunt them. DePaul was only shooting about 50% from the charity stripe. At 6:43 the "home crowd" for Southern Mississippi cost the Golden Eagles 5 points, and looking at the way this game ended, perhaps the game also. Someone in the crowd tossed a paper airplane on the court while the game was going on. The Referee gave the crowd a technical foul. Bobby Simmons went to the line for DePaul and managed to sink both freethrows. The Blue Demons were given possession after the freethrows. Willie Coleman nailed a three to give DePaul it's first lead at 28 to 26. DePaul had hit 4 of 6 from three point land. By the end of the first half Southern Mississippi had a 37 to 34 lead. At the 10:00 minute mark of the second half Southern Mississippi held a ten point lead, which was one point shy of their largest lead, at 54 to 47. By the 9:00 minute mark DePaul had committed 12 turnovers. At the 8:30 point Southern Mississippi was hanging onto a 2 point lead after a three by Willie Coleman. The Blue Demons were hanging tough with all world Freshman Quentin Richardson riding the bench. From this point on the tide began to turn. At the 6:20 mark DePaul had gone on a 12 to 2 run. USM was stone cold. The game was tied at 56 for a full three minutes. Both offenses died. USM went without a bucket for an incredible eight minutes. DePaul's own problems kept the Golden Eagles in the game. The game heated up with only 1:34 left. Senior guard Willie Coleman got a steal and fed the ball to Rashon Burno who layed it in! He was fouled in the process. Burno missed both freethrows. With only 14 ticks on the clock Coleman nailed a clutch three point shot which was returned by Neil Reed. With only 1.4 seconds left Coleman drove to the rack off an out of bounds play and put in what proved to be the winning basket. USM's Reed narrowly missed a three quarter court toss with time running out. He drew iron but the ball bounced away to the right. Final score in a thriller:DePaul Blue Demons 65
Southern Mississippi 64