Alabama A&M @ DePaul preview

DePaul looks to extend its current win streak to five when it hosts non-conference foe Alabama A&M on Monday. The Blue Demons come off a road victory over Illinois-Chicago Saturday, while winless Alabama A&M has been on an eight-day break from competition due to final exams.

The Bulldogs have struggled to score points this season, averaging 61.4 as a team, but guards De'Ederick Petty (12.9 points) and Arthur Johnson (12.5) have been its most consistent point producers. DePaul has been hot of late, despite the news that starting point guard Devin Gage (5.9 points, 2.8 assists) will miss the rest of the season after suffering a ruptured Achilles tendon Wednesday against Central Connecticut. Junior guard Eli Cain played much of the point guard minutes against Illinois-Chicago, tallying 14 points, eight rebounds, eight assists and four steals. Cain is second on the team in scoring (13.2) behind junior guard Max Strus (15.4).

TV: 9 p.m. ET, Fox Sports 1

ABOUT ALABAMA A&M (0-8): Alabama A&M coach Donnie Marsh likely spent a lot of the holiday break stressing to his team the importance of taking care of the basketball, as the Bulldogs own a turnover margin of minus-6.2. In the team's most recent loss, Austin Peay forced 26 turnovers and scored 28 points off those miscues in a 20-point victory. Marsh needs players like leading scorers Petty and Johnson - who are also 1-2 on the team in turnovers with 29 and 26, respectively - to play a little more under control and not give the opposition so many easy opportunities to score.

ABOUT DEPAUL (5-4): While Cain handled most of the point guard duties in the first game since the team lost Gage, coach Dave Leitao said he'd still prefer to have freshman Justin Roberts man the point and have Cain play off the ball. Leitao is hoping for more consistency from Roberts, who has had a 19-point game against Illinois and three contests of dishing out five assists but has also had five games where he had zero assists and five contests of two or fewer points. It's not just the offensive end where Leitao wants to see improvement either, as Roberts entered the Blue Demons' win over Illinois-Chicago Saturday and blew a defensive assignment on his first possession before being pulled.

TIP-INS

1. DePaul's current four-game winning streak is the longest for the team since a four-win run from November to December in 2015.

2. Blue Demons C Marin Maric passed the career 700-rebound plateau when he had three caroms in the win over Illinois-Chicago.

3. DePaul has gone 748 straight games with at least one made 3-pointer.

PREDICTION: DePaul 80, Alabama A&M 64